Apache Exporter vs Grafana Loki

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureApache ExporterGrafana Loki
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, kubernetesdocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 361★ 28,687
First released20152018
ReplacesDatadog Apache, New Relic ApacheSplunk, Datadog Logs

Why pick each one

Choose Apache Exporter if…

  • Easy to set up
  • No runtime dependencies
Apache Exporter details

Choose Grafana Loki if…

  • Cheap to run compared to full-text indexers
  • Familiar Prometheus-style labels
Grafana Loki details

Frequently asked questions

Is Apache Exporter or Grafana Loki better?

Neither is universally better. Grafana Loki has the larger community, while Apache Exporter is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Apache Exporter and Grafana Loki free and open-source?

Yes. Apache Exporter is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Grafana Loki under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Apache Exporter and Grafana Loki with Docker?

Apache Exporter: yes. Grafana Loki: yes.

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