What is KX kdb+ used for?

KX kdb+ is a time-series database and analytics platform from KX, built for high-frequency financial market data and other fast-moving sensor and event streams. It is a good fit for storing tick data for trading analytics, streaming analytics on IoT sensor data and compliance monitoring of trading activity.

How much does KX kdb+ cost?

KX kdb+ doesn't publish fixed prices; pricing is quoted on request.

Is KX kdb+ open source?

No. KX kdb+ is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to KX kdb+ include QuestDB, InfluxDB and TimescaleDB.

Can I self-host KX kdb+?

Yes. Although KX kdb+ is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers, and the vendor also offers a hosted version.

What are some alternatives to KX kdb+?

KX kdb+ competes with Azure Data Explorer, SingleStore and Tinybird. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source KX kdb+ alternatives.

KX kdb+: features, pricing and alternatives

About KX kdb+

KX kdb+ is a time-series database used to store and analyze very fast, timestamped data such as market ticks and sensor readings. It is best known in capital markets, where firms rely on it to query large volumes of historical and real-time data together. Queries are typically written in the q language.

KX has grown the product into a wider platform. The vendor now promotes KDB-X for time-series, vector and AI workloads, including GPU acceleration with NVIDIA hardware, and kdb Insights as a cloud-native and on-premises analytics option. Related offerings cover exchange market data, trade surveillance and a vector database called KDB.AI.

kdb+ is proprietary commercial software. Teams can run it on their own infrastructure or use KX's managed cloud products, and the vendor maintains a public pricing page for the details.

Key features

Time-series storage for tick and sensor data
Combined real-time and historical queries
Vector search for AI workloads
GPU acceleration with NVIDIA hardware
Cloud-native and on-premises deployment
Trade surveillance and market data products

Good fit for

→Storing tick data for trading analytics
→Streaming analytics on IoT sensor data
→Compliance monitoring of trading activity

Tags: time-series; database; analytics; capital-markets; streaming; vector-database; q-language; enterprise

KX kdb+: questions and answers

What is KX kdb+ used for?: KX kdb+ is a time-series database and analytics platform from KX, built for high-frequency financial market data and other fast-moving sensor and event streams. It is a good fit for storing tick data for trading analytics, streaming analytics on IoT sensor data and compliance monitoring of trading activity.
How much does KX kdb+ cost?: KX kdb+ doesn't publish fixed prices; pricing is quoted on request.
Is KX kdb+ open source?: No. KX kdb+ is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to KX kdb+ include QuestDB, InfluxDB and TimescaleDB.
Can I self-host KX kdb+?: Yes. Although KX kdb+ is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers, and the vendor also offers a hosted version.
What are some alternatives to KX kdb+?: KX kdb+ competes with Azure Data Explorer, SingleStore and Tinybird. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source KX kdb+ alternatives.