Can someone please summarize what it does because I couldn't figure out from website? It says its "on Postgres", is it a flavor of PG? or it sits on top of multiple PG instances.
TimescaleDB is a distributed time-series database that is packaged as a Postgres extension (a "mega-extension" to quote someone else on this thread).
TimescaleDB:
* Scales to over 10 million of metrics per second [0]
* Supports native compression, using delta-delta, Gorilla, Simple-8B RLE, and other best-in-class compression algorithms (achieving a median 94% compression based on user data) [1]
* Offers native time-series capabilities, such as data retention policies, continuous aggregate views, real-time aggregates, downsampling, data gap-filling, and interpolation
* Handles high cardinality [2]
* Outperforms other non-relational databases including InfluxDB [3], Mongo [4], Cassandra [5] for time-series data
With TimescaleDB you also get all of the goodness that is built into Postgres: full SQL, a variety of data types (numerics, text, arrays, JSON, booleans), ACID semantics, and operationally mature capabilities including high-availability, streaming backups, upgrades over time, roles and permissions, and security.
