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Comparison · Analytics

GoAccess vs TimescaleDB

A side-by-side editorial comparison of GoAccess and TimescaleDB — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

GoAccess vs TimescaleDB: at a glance

FeatureGoAccessTimescaleDB
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.05.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themeslog-analytics, open-source, developer-tooling, web-analyticstime-series, columnstore, compression, query-planner
Last editorial update1mo ago2d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is GoAccess?

GoAccess 1.11 cuts storage memory 20% and parsing time 35% — meaningful gains for large log volumes.

GoAccess is a mature open-source web log analyzer with both a terminal UI and a self-contained HTML report. The 1.10 release cycle added city-level geolocation, bar charts, panel reordering in the TUI, expandable subitems, compressed log parsing via zlib, and a refreshed HTML dashboard. The 1.11 release follows with performance gains that compound: 20% less storage memory and 35% faster parsing, alongside crash-safe auto-migration of persisted databases to a new storage format.

Read the full GoAccess trajectory →

What is TimescaleDB?

TimescaleDB 2.31 speeds columnstore UPDATE/DELETE and previews a new integer compressor.

TimescaleDB ships on a steady biweekly cadence where most releases are bug-fix patches for the columnstore, SkipScan and continuous aggregates. Feature releases have chipped at the cost of big hypertables: 2.30.0 made last-point LIMIT queries independent of chunk count, and 2.31.0 vectorizes UPDATE and DELETE on compressed data, adds non-blocking move_to_columnstore(), and previews an Adaptive Integer Compressor claiming up to 20% better integer compression. The 2.30.x patches fixed duplicate rows and crashes from the previous release's new planner node.

Read the full TimescaleDB trajectory →

GoAccess vs TimescaleDB: editorial side-by-side

G
GoAccess
ANALYTICS
0.0

GoAccess 1.11 cuts storage memory 20% and parsing time 35% — meaningful gains for large log volumes.

◆ Current state

GoAccess is a mature open-source web log analyzer with both a terminal UI and a self-contained HTML report. The 1.10 release cycle added city-level geolocation, bar charts, panel reordering in the TUI, expandable subitems, compressed log parsing via zlib, and a refreshed HTML dashboard. The 1.11 release follows with performance gains that compound: 20% less storage memory and 35% faster parsing, alongside crash-safe auto-migration of persisted databases to a new storage format.

◆ Where it's heading

GoAccess ships consistent maintenance releases every 1–3 months, adding geolocation resolution depth, browser and OS detection breadth, and accessibility improvements without changing the core architecture. The pattern is reliability and performance refinement, not capability expansion. The storage format migration in 1.11 is the most infrastructural change visible — it suggests the team is addressing technical debt in the persistence layer.

◆ Prediction

The next release will likely continue incremental refinements: more browser/OS entries, additional translations, and further performance work. The storage v3 format migration sets up for future capability additions in persisted data, but a directional shift is not visible from these entries alone.

T
TimescaleDB
ANALYTICS
5.0

TimescaleDB 2.31 speeds columnstore UPDATE/DELETE and previews a new integer compressor.

◆ Current state

TimescaleDB ships on a steady biweekly cadence where most releases are bug-fix patches for the columnstore, SkipScan and continuous aggregates. Feature releases have chipped at the cost of big hypertables: 2.30.0 made last-point LIMIT queries independent of chunk count, and 2.31.0 vectorizes UPDATE and DELETE on compressed data, adds non-blocking move_to_columnstore(), and previews an Adaptive Integer Compressor claiming up to 20% better integer compression. The 2.30.x patches fixed duplicate rows and crashes from the previous release's new planner node.

◆ Where it's heading

The columnstore is being made a place where data can be changed, not just queried: chunk-level locking for DML in 2.29, vectorized DML and non-blocking compression in 2.31. Granular continuous-aggregate refresh is maturing alongside with APIs, views and refresh statistics. Each minor release is still followed by correctness patches.

◆ Prediction

2.32.0 will enable the Adaptive Integer Compressor by default, as the 2.31 notes state. Expect a couple of 2.31.x patches for the new DML and compression paths first.

Alternatives to GoAccess and TimescaleDB

Other Analytics products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either GoAccess or TimescaleDB.

See all GoAccess alternatives → · See all TimescaleDB alternatives →

Recent activity from GoAccess and TimescaleDB

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 3d agoTimescaleDB2.31.0: faster columnstore DML, adaptive integer compression preview
  2. 24d agoTimescaleDB2.30.2: chunk-merge crash fixes and renamed cagg refresh options
  3. 1mo agoTimescaleDB2.30.1: fixes duplicate rows from the new DeferredChunkAppend
  4. 1mo agoTimescaleDB2.30.0: last-point LIMIT queries no longer scale with chunk count
  5. 2mo agoTimescaleDB2.29.2: SkipScan and sparse-index wrong-result fixes
  6. 2mo agoTimescaleDB2.29.1: security fixes for compressed-data handling
  7. 3mo agoGoAccessGoAccess 1.11: 35% faster parsing, 20% less memory, crash-safe DB migration
  8. 6mo agoGoAccessGoAccess 1.10.2
  9. 8mo agoGoAccessGoAccess 1.10.1
  10. 8mo agoGoAccessGoAccess 1.10: city geolocation, bar charts, panel reordering, compressed log support
  11. 1y agoGoAccess# Release 1.9.4 Monday, March 31, 2025
  12. 2y agoGoAccessGoAccess 1.9.3

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between GoAccess and TimescaleDB?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. TimescaleDB is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is GoAccess better than TimescaleDB?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. TimescaleDB is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to GoAccess?

Top GoAccess alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "GoAccess alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/goaccess for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to TimescaleDB?

Top TimescaleDB alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "TimescaleDB alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/timescaledb for the full list with editorial commentary on each.