InfluxDB vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB comparison

InfluxData and Microsoft are both solutions in the NoSQL Databases category. InfluxData is ranked #3 with an average rating of 9.0, while Microsoft is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.3. InfluxData holds a 8.8% mindshare in ND, compared to Microsoft’s 3.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of InfluxData users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

InfluxDB

Read 11 InfluxDB reviews

1,869 Views
1,305 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Read 92 Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB reviews

604 Views
171 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

InfluxDB

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

InfluxDB and Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB are competing in the database category, with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB often holding an upper hand due to its comprehensive features and extensive global reach.

Features: InfluxDB specializes in handling time-series data with efficient data aggregation and integration capabilities. Its robust ecosystem, including the Telegraf agent for data collection, Kapacitor for batch jobs, and compatibility with Grafana for monitoring, stands out. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB offers multi-model support, rapid data ingestion, and a globally scalable infrastructure. Its wide compatibility with APIs like MongoDB makes it versatile for diverse applications, and Cosmos DB’s change feed and auto-scaling capabilities add to its robustness.

Room for Improvement: InfluxDB could enhance scalability and support for various data models to better serve global enterprises. Although its integration with Grafana and other tools is strong, the documentation and community support could be expanded. Additionally, it could improve on flexibility for non-time-series data. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB might benefit from more competitive pricing structures and further optimization of its complex setups. There are also opportunities to streamline its learning curve for new users and reduce the complexity associated with managing diverse data models, despite its high initial usability and setup simplicity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: InfluxDB offers a user-friendly deployment process catering to time-series data, with effective support services that complement its straightforward setup. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, however, provides seamless integration within the Azure ecosystem, allowing for quick global distribution, extensive support, and efficient customer service, making it ideal for those within the Microsoft ecosystem seeking comprehensive solutions.

Pricing and ROI: InfluxDB generally presents a more cost-effective setup, particularly beneficial for businesses focused on time-series data, providing substantial return on investment at a lower cost point. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB, conversely, carries higher expenses justified by its extensive feature set and global reach, which can deliver considerable ROI for organizations needing advanced capabilities and far-reaching scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed InfluxDB vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

InfluxDB vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

June 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

InfluxDB

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Non-Relational Databases (2nd), Open Source Databases (9th), Network Monitoring Software (23rd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (23rd)

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Database as a Service (DBaaS) (6th), Managed NoSQL Databases (1st), Vector Databases (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of InfluxDB is 8.8%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is 3.9%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NoSQL Databases

Featured Reviews

DeepakR

Site Reliability Engineer(Observability) at Sapiens

An open-source database that can be used to insert data

InfluxDB is generally stable, but we've encountered issues with the configuration file in our ticket stack. For instance, a mistake in one of the metrics out of a hundred KPIs can disrupt data collection for all KPIs. This happens because the agent stops working if there's an issue with any configuration part. To address this, it is essential to ensure that all configurations are part of the agent's EXE file when provided. This makes it easier to package the agent for server installation and ensures all KPIs are available from the server. Additionally, the agent cannot encrypt and decrypt passwords for authentication, which can be problematic when monitoring URLs or requiring authentication tokens. This requires additional scripting and can prolong service restart times.

Read full review

MichaelJohn

Director | Data & AI at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Very efficient for application-facing scenarios

There are several areas for improvement. Firstly, having a local development emulator or simulator for Azure Cosmos DB would be beneficial. It would be very handy to have a Docker container that developers can use locally. Although, I know there is a free tier and so on and so forth, having a local environment would be nice. For example, SQL Server is very portable. You can even install it on your machine. That is the number one thing that is missing in Azure Cosmos DB. The second improvement area is the IDE of choice. That means how you interact with Azure Cosmos DB. For example, with SQL Server, you have SQL Server Management Studio. I know there is a little bit of support for Azure Cosmos DB in Azure Data Studio, but it is not heavily advertised or it does not feel like first-class citizen support. Developer experience or developer tooling is missing in terms of interacting with the database. Better developer tools or an IDE for interacting with Azure Cosmos DB would enhance the developer experience. Lastly, there is some mixed messaging about what Azure Cosmos DB is, given its multiple APIs. There are so many Azure Cosmos DB APIs available. There is NoSQL. There are MongoDB, Gremlin, and others. There is still some mixed messaging for others who are new to Azure Cosmos DB about what Azure Cosmos DB is. Is this like MongoDB, but then there is also MongoDB in Azure Cosmos DB? I know it well, and I know that the default one is just NoSQL, but others I have interacted with over the last ten years or so get confused.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"InfluxDB's best feature is that it's a cloud offering. Other good features include its time-series DB, fast time-bulk queries, and window operations."

"In our case, it started with a necessity to fill the gap that we had in monitoring. We had very reactive monitoring without trend analysis and without some advanced features. We were able to implement them by using a time series database. We are able to have all the data from applications, logs, and systems, and we can use a simple query language to correlate all the data and make things happen, especially with monitoring. We could more proactively monitor our systems and our players' trends."

"The platform operates very quickly. It is easy to configure, connect, and query and integrates seamlessly with Grafana."

"InfluxDB is a database where you can insert data. However, it would be best if you had different components for alerting, data sending, and visualization. You need to install tools to collect data from servers. It must be installed on Windows or Linux servers. During installation, ensure that the configuration file is correct to prevent issues. Once data is collected, it can be sent to InfluxDB. For visualization, you can use open-source tools like Grafana."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is we can use InfluxDB to integrate with and plug into any other tools."

"The most valuable features are aggregating the data and integration with Graphana for monitoring."

"While I would rate InfluxDB a ten on a scale of one to ten, users should be thoughtful about matching the engine to their specific needs."

"InfluxDB works as expected with excellent scalability and stability, which is critical for our application."

More InfluxDB pros

"Cosmos DB is a document database that stores data in JSON format for faster retrieval of unstructured data. I personally appreciate the speed, which is significantly better for unstructured data, especially since Cosmos DB had JSON as a data type early on."

"The solution is stable."

"For modern applications, I would recommend Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB."

"Cosmos DB is a pretty stable solution. I would rate it a ten out of ten."

"From a global distribution perspective, Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is good and easy to handle."

"Azure Cosmos DB's graph queries are its most valuable feature. Although I have not yet explored vector search, it's coming to Cosmos DB, and I plan to look into it. Having data in a flat file format in a document database speeds up processes, which is the primary purpose. Additionally, Cosmos DB's use of the Mongo platform makes it intuitive and cost-effective."

"It's not a specific feature that I value, but the scalability of this system is the most impressive aspect."

"Our customer is very satisfied with it."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB pros

Cons

"In terms of features that I would like to see or have, in the community version, some features are not available. I would like to have clustering and authentication in the community version."

"The solution's UI can be more user-friendly."

"It is challenging to get long-running backups while running InfluxDB in a Microsoft Azure Kubernetes cluster."

"The error logging capability can be improved because the logs are not very informative."

"InfluxDB is generally stable, but we've encountered issues with the configuration file in our ticket stack. For instance, a mistake in one of the metrics out of a hundred KPIs can disrupt data collection for all KPIs. This happens because the agent stops working if there's an issue with any configuration part. To address this, it is essential to ensure that all configurations are part of the agent's EXE file when provided. This makes it easier to package the agent for server installation and ensures all KPIs are available from the server. Additionally, the agent cannot encrypt and decrypt passwords for authentication, which can be problematic when monitoring URLs or requiring authentication tokens. This requires additional scripting and can prolong service restart times."

"One area for improvement is the querying language. InfluxDB deprecated FluxQL, which was intuitive since developers are already familiar with standard querying."

"InfluxDB cannot be used for high-cardinality data. It's also difficult and time-consuming to write queries, and there are some issues with bulk API."

"InfluxDB can improve by including new metrics on other technologies. They had some changes recently to pool data from endpoints but the functionality is not good enough in the industry."

More InfluxDB cons

"Azure Cosmos DB could be better for business intelligence and analytical queries."

"One of the primary challenges with Cosmos DB as a non-relational data store is the careful data modeling required due to the lack of collection-level joins when using the SQL API."

"A further simple application is required for Brazil."

"Sometimes, the solution's access request takes time, which should be improved."

"The pricing of the solution is an area with certain shortcomings."

"Currently, it doesn't support cross-container joins, forcing developers to retrieve data from each container separately and combine it using methods like LINQ queries."

"They can implement a better backup system or alert system on Microsoft's end. We do receive notices for regular maintenance or updates, but sudden issues create significant problems."

"Microsoft's support services are inadequate, especially during critical incidents."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the open-source version of InfluxDB."

"The tool is an open-source product."

"InfluxDB recently increased its price. It is very expensive now."

"InfluxDB is open-source, but there are additional costs for scaling."

"Cosmos DB is expensive compared to any virtual machine based on conventional RDBMS like MySQL or PostgreSQL."

"From a startup point of view, it appears to be expensive. If I were to create my startup, it would not have the pricing appeal compared to the competition, such as Supabase. All those other databases are well-advertised by communities. I know there is a free tier with Azure Cosmos DB. It is just not well advertised."

"It is cost-efficient as long as you understand the right setup to optimize usage. Knowing the data needs of the organization and adjusting the Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB usage accordingly helps save costs, but if you don't know, you could end up spending more than necessary."

"Cosmos DB gave us three accounts for $400. We pay according to the usage."

"The cost is the biggest limitation of this solution."

"Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB pricing is based on RUs. Reading 1 KB document costs one RU, whereas writing one document costs five RUs. Pricing for querying depends on the complexity of the query. If you increase the document size, it will automatically increase the RU cost."

"The Cosmos DB pricing model, initially quite complicated, became clear after consulting with Azure Advisor, allowing us to proceed with confidence."

"The pricing for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is good. Initially, it seemed like an expensive way to manage a NoSQL data store, but so many improvements that have been made to the platform have made it cost-effective."

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Legal Firm

13%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about InfluxDB?

InfluxDB is a database where you can insert data. However, it would be best if you had different components for alerting, data sending, and visualization. You need to install tools to collect data ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with InfluxDB?

It is challenging to get long-running backups while running InfluxDB in a Microsoft Azure Kubernetes cluster. Replicating data for on-prem development and testing is difficult. Having a SQL abstrac...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for InfluxDB?

InfluxDB is the main component in our large enterprise-scale streaming data application for maritime vessels. We collect position data from vessels around the coast once per second, put it on a Kaf...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

The initial setup is simple and straightforward. You can set up a Cosmos DB in a day, even configuring things like availability zones around the world.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

It is cost-efficient as long as you understand the right setup to optimize usage. Knowing the data needs of the organization and adjusting the Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB usage accordingly helps save...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

What is missing in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is definitely cold storage. We know it's coming, but that's currently what is missing—the possibility to park older data in a cold tier. Aside from the ...

See all answers

Comparisons

ClickHouse vs InfluxDB

Compared 25% of the time

MongoDB vs InfluxDB

Compared 20% of the time

PostgreSQL vs InfluxDB

Compared 6% of the time

ScyllaDB vs InfluxDB

Compared 6% of the time

More InfluxDB Competitors

Chroma vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 14% of the time

Pinecone vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 12% of the time

Neo4j Graph Database vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 5% of the time

Amazon Neptune vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 5% of the time

Amazon DynamoDB vs Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

InfluxDB

June 2025

Download InfluxDB product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

May 2025

Download Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB product report

Also Known As

No data available

Microsoft Azure DocumentDB, MS Azure Cosmos DB

Overview

InfluxDB is open-source software that helps developers and enterprises alike to collect, store, process, and visualize time series data and to build next-generation applications. InfluxDB provides monitoring and insight on IoT, application, system, container, and infrastructure quickly and easily without complexities or compromises in scale, speed, or productivity.

InfluxDB has become a popular insight system for unified metrics and events enabling the most demanding SLAs. InfluxDB is used in just about every type of industry across a wide range of use cases, including network monitoring, IoT monitoring, industrial IoT, and infrastructure and application monitoring.

InfluxDB offers its users:

Infrastructure and application monitoring: Collect, process, and analyze real-time data from edge devices to help optimize distributed infrastructure.

IoT monitoring and analytics: InfluxDB is designed to store large volumes of time series data and quickly perform real-time analysis on that data. Gain insights from all the sensor data and use the collected data to create and perform automated tasks.

Network monitoring: Manage responsive and high-performing networks with widely distributed resources.

InfluxDB Benefits

There are several benefits to using InfluxDB . Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

APIs and ready toolset: InfluxDB can be accessed via a set of powerful tools enabling users to get started quickly, with less programming required. This includes a REST API, extensive client libraries, a wide variety of open-source integrations, and Flux - a functional data scripting language for querying, analysis, and events. The InfluxDB API can be used to write data from edge devices to the InfluxDB instance

Time series engine: Get any data - events, logs, traces - from any edge device - systems, sensors, queues, databases, and networks. This data is stored in a powerful and high-performing engine capable of ingesting millions of data points per second.

Community: InfluxDB has a large community of cloud and open-source developers ready to assist users.

Ready-made templates: Use InfluxDB Templates, a set of tools with a packager and other ready monitoring solutions. These tools allow users to share their monitoring expertise with coworkers and other community members around the world. The Templates gallery offers available templates for some of the most popular tools and applications.

Enhanced UI: InfluxDB’s UI includes an explorer, dashboarding tools, and a script editor. Use it to easily browse the collected metric and event data and apply common transformations. The dashboarding tool comes with a variety of visualization options that help users view insights from the data. The script editor assists users to quickly master Flux with easily accessible examples, auto-completion, and real-time syntax checking.

Reviews from Real Users

InfluxDB stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its flexible integration options and its data aggregation feature.

Shalauddin Ahamad S., a software engineer at a tech services company, notes, “The most valuable features are aggregating the data and the integration with Grafana for monitoring.”

InfluxData

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed, multi-model database service providing scalability, user-friendliness, and seamless integration, suitable for managing large volumes of structured and unstructured data across diverse applications.

Azure Cosmos DB is renowned for its scalability, stability, and ease of integration, offering robust support for multiple data models and APIs. Its capacity for handling unstructured data efficiently and providing real-time analytics makes it ideal for applications requiring high performance and global distribution. With features like automatic failover and integration with Microsoft products, users benefit from cost optimization and secure data handling. Enhancement opportunities include simplifying queries, improving documentation, and expanding backup and analytics functionalities.

What are the most important features of Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB?

Scalability and Autoscaling: Efficiently handles growing data and user demands.
Multi-Model Support: Adapts to different data models seamlessly.
Global Distribution: Provides low-latency access across multiple regions.
Automatic Failover: Ensures high availability and reliability.
Integration with Microsoft Products: Offers seamless connectivity with Azure services.

What benefits should users look for in Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB reviews?

Performance and Speed: Exceptionally fast processing for real-time data analytics.
Cost Optimization: Tools for managing expenses effectively.
Secure Data Handling: Implements strong data security measures.
Flexible Data Ingestion: Supports diverse data ingestion methods.

Azure Cosmos DB is frequently used in sectors like web, mobile, IoT, and analytics. It supports applications as a key-value store, processes real-time data, and enables global scalability with low-latency access. Its big data management capabilities and integration with Azure services enhance its utility across industries.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

ebay, AXA, Mozilla, DiDi, LeTV, Siminars, Cognito, ProcessOut, Recommend, CATS, Smarsh, Row 44, Clustree, Bleemeo

TomTom, KPMG Australia, Bosch, ASOS, Mercedes Benz, NBA, Zero Friction, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Kinectify

Buyer's Guide

InfluxDB vs. Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB

June 2025

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