--- title: Cloud-exclusive features | Tiger Data Docs description: Learn about the features and capabilities available exclusively in Tiger Cloud --- ## Compare TimescaleDB Community Edition and Tiger Cloud TimescaleDB Community Edition is the open-source TimescaleDB engine you install and run yourself. Tiger Cloud hosts that engine as a service and adds the [managed platform capabilities](#managed-platform-and-operations). For a full matrix including AWS, Azure, and self-hosted deployment details, see the [feature comparison](/docs/get-started/feature-comparison/index.md). ### Core engine capabilities Both offerings include the same TimescaleDB database features. | Capability | TimescaleDB Community Edition | Tiger Cloud | | -------------------------------- | :---------------------------: | :---------: | | Hypertables | ✓ | ✓ | | Hypercore (rowstore/columnstore) | ✓ | ✓ | | Continuous aggregates | ✓ | ✓ | | Full PostgreSQL compatibility | ✓ | ✓ | | Data retention policies | ✓ | ✓ | | Hyperfunctions | ✓ | ✓ | ### Managed platform and operations | Capability | TimescaleDB Community Edition | Tiger Cloud | | -------------------------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------: | :---------: | | Tiered storage (high-performance and object tiers) | ✗ | ✓ | | Iceberg connector (sync to Iceberg tables in S3) | ✗ | ✓ | | Managed source connectors (S3, Kafka, PostgreSQL) | Manual | ✓ | | Performance insights | ✗ | ✓ | | Automatic high-availability replicas and managed read replicas | Manual | ✓ | | Metrics, dashboards, and alerting | ✗ | ✓ | | Platform-managed backups, upgrades, and patching | Manual | ✓ | | SOC 2 Type II (service organization controls) | ✗ | ✓ | **Legend:** - `✓` included, - `✗` not available, - `Manual` you can approximate with self-hosted tooling and your own operations. ## Tiered storage Tiger Cloud provides a [hierarchical storage architecture](/docs/learn/data-lifecycle/storage/about-storage-tiers/index.md) with two tiers: - **High-performance tier**: block storage optimized for fast reads and writes, available in standard (up to 16 TB, 16K IOPS) and enhanced (up to 64 TB, 32K IOPS) configurations. - **Object storage tier**: low-cost, virtually unlimited storage backed by AWS S3 or Azure Blob, using Apache Parquet format for efficient analytical queries. Tiering policies automate data movement between tiers based on age, so recent data stays fast and older data stays affordable. Tiered data remains fully queryable with standard SQL. Learn how to [manage storage](/docs/build/data-management/storage/manage-storage/index.md) and [query tiered data](/docs/build/data-management/storage/query-tiered-data/index.md). ## High-availability replicas Tiger Cloud supports automatic high-availability replicas that maintain a synchronized copy of your service. If the primary instance becomes unavailable, the replica is promoted automatically, minimizing downtime. HA replicas are available on Scale and Enterprise pricing plans. Learn more about high availability on [AWS](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-aws/high-availability/high-availability/index.md) or [Azure](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-azure/high-availability/high-availability/index.md). ## Read replicas Offload read-heavy workloads — dashboards, reporting queries, and analytics — to dedicated read replicas. Read replicas receive streaming replication from the primary and serve read-only queries independently, which helps avoid resource contention on the primary. Set up read replicas on [AWS](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-aws/high-availability/read-scaling/index.md) or [Azure](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-azure/high-availability/read-scaling/index.md). ## Built-in observability Tiger Console provides observability tools without requiring additional monitoring infrastructure: - **Insights**: analyze query performance, identify slow queries, and understand resource utilization patterns directly from Tiger Console. - **Service metrics**: monitor CPU, memory, storage, and connection usage with built-in dashboards. - **External integrations**: export metrics to CloudWatch, Datadog, Prometheus, or Azure Monitor to integrate with your existing monitoring stack. Learn more about monitoring on [AWS](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-aws/monitoring/index.md) or [Azure](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-azure/monitoring/index.md). ## Data connectors Tiger Cloud provides built-in connectors for ingesting and exporting data: - **[Source PostgreSQL connector](/docs/integrate/connectors/source/sync-from-postgres/index.md)**: replicate data from an external PostgreSQL database into your service. - **[Source S3 connector](/docs/integrate/connectors/source/sync-from-s3/index.md)**: import data from CSV and Parquet files stored in Amazon S3. - **[Kafka connector](/docs/integrate/connectors/source/sync-from-kafka/index.md)**: stream data from Apache Kafka topics directly into hypertables. - **[Iceberg connector](/docs/integrate/connectors/destination/tigerlake/index.md)**: export data from Tiger Cloud to Apache Iceberg tables for lakehouse analytics workflows. Note Connector availability varies by cloud provider and pricing plan. See the [feature comparison](/docs/get-started/feature-comparison/index.md) for details. ## Managed security and compliance Tiger Cloud includes security features managed at the platform level: - **Encryption**: data is encrypted at rest and in transit by default. - **Network isolation**: [VPC peering](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-aws/security/vpc/index.md) (AWS), [AWS Transit Gateway](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-aws/security/transit-gateway/index.md), and [Azure Private Link](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-azure/security/azure-privatelink/index.md) provide private connectivity between your application and service. - **SOC 2 compliance**: Tiger Cloud is SOC 2 Type II certified. Learn more about security on [AWS](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-aws/security/overview/index.md) or [Azure](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-azure/security/overview/index.md). ## Automated operations Tiger Cloud manages the operational overhead of running a production database: - **Automated backups**: continuous backups with point-in-time recovery (PITR). See backup and restore on [AWS](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-aws/high-availability/backup-restore/index.md) or [Azure](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-azure/high-availability/backup-restore/index.md). - **Upgrades**: PostgreSQL major version upgrades, TimescaleDB updates, and security patches are applied automatically with minimal disruption. See upgrades on [AWS](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-aws/upgrades/index.md) or [Azure](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-azure/upgrades/index.md). - **Scaling**: resize compute and storage independently through Tiger Console or the Tiger REST API. See scaling on [AWS](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-aws/service-management/change-resources/index.md) or [Azure](/docs/deploy/tiger-cloud/tiger-cloud-azure/service-management/change-resources/index.md). ## Compare features across products For a detailed side-by-side comparison of Tiger Cloud on AWS, Tiger Cloud on Azure, and self-hosted TimescaleDB, see the [feature comparison](/docs/get-started/feature-comparison/index.md).