Storing IoT Data: 8 Reasons Why You Should Use PostgreSQL

1. Scalability: TimescaleDB is built for scalability and can handle massive amounts of time-series data efficiently. It allows horizontal scaling across multiple servers or cloud instances, which helps to manage the workload more effectively. 2. Time-series specific optimizations: Unlike traditional databases that treat all types of data equally, TimescaleDB applies special optimizations for handling time-series data. These optimizations include efficient indexing mechanisms and partitioning strategies specifically designed for managing large amounts of timestamped data. 3. SQL Compatibility: While NoSQL databases might be more fashionable these days, SQL still has a lot going for it. It includes many powerful features like multiple complex WHERE predicates (backed by secondary indexes), multiple aggregations and orderings, window functions, libraries of mathematical and statistical functions, and more. 4. Broad Data Type Support: PostgreSQL supports a broad spectrum of data types. It allows for semi-structured data (via JSON / JSONB support) but also a variety of other data types, including many numeric types, geometric types, arrays, range types, and date/time types. 5. Geospatial Support: There is often a geospatial component in the data from connected devices —physical things exist in a particular space, after all. One IoT use case we often see is asset tracking, which requires geospatial support. PostgreSQL has this capability through an extension called PostGIS. 6. Plenty of Integration Opportunities: Since TimescaleDB works just like PostgreSQL, there are many integration opportunities available because of the thing.