From 10c2836ee75b5dbfeac22cee47f1a5355496fb43 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: wuyangfan <1102042793@qq.com> Date: Sun, 17 May 2026 18:50:43 +0800 Subject: [PATCH] docs: clarify Prometheus TSDB storage and Graphite comparison Update the Graphite comparison to describe Prometheus 2.x TSDB blocks instead of one file per time series, and clarify when Graphite may be preferable for clustered long-term storage. Fixes prometheus/docs#1031 Fixes prometheus/docs#1388 Co-authored-by: Cursor --- docs/introduction/comparison.md | 14 ++++++++------ 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/introduction/comparison.md b/docs/introduction/comparison.md index b65813207..c250d5d1c 100644 --- a/docs/introduction/comparison.md +++ b/docs/introduction/comparison.md @@ -56,17 +56,19 @@ RRD-style database that expects samples to arrive at regular intervals. Every time series is stored in a separate file, and new samples overwrite old ones after a certain amount of time. -Prometheus also creates one local file per time series, but allows storing +Prometheus stores time series data in TSDB blocks on local disk (with compaction), +rather than one file per time series as in Prometheus 1.x. It allows storing samples at arbitrary intervals as scrapes or rule evaluations occur. Since new -samples are simply appended, old data may be kept arbitrarily long. Prometheus -also works well for many short-lived, frequently changing sets of time series. +samples are simply appended within a block, old data may be kept arbitrarily long. +Prometheus also works well for many short-lived, frequently changing sets of time series. ### Summary Prometheus offers a richer data model and query language, in addition to being -easier to run and integrate into your environment. If you want a clustered -solution that can hold historical data long term, Graphite may be a better -choice. +easier to run and integrate into your environment. Prometheus can retain data for +a configurable retention period on a single server; for a multi-node clustered +solution optimized for very large-scale long-term historical storage, Graphite +may be a better choice. ## Prometheus vs. InfluxDB