InfluxDB is a time series database designed for high write throughput and efficient querying of data based on timestamps, offering improved performance and features compared to traditional relational databases. Time series databases are gaining adoption due to the need for better performance and advanced features in software applications, as well as the ease of selecting specialized tools with microservice architectures. These databases are optimized for specific use cases such as application monitoring, IoT applications, and security, and offer trade-offs between write and query performance, compression, schema flexibility, and maintenance costs.