Beszel vs Blackbox Exporter

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?
FeatureBeszelBlackbox Exporter
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseMITApache-2.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB32 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 24,108★ 5,818
First released20242016
ReplacesUptimeRobotPingdom

Why pick each one

Choose Beszel if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Simple multi-host view
  • Easy setup
Beszel details

Choose Blackbox Exporter if…

  • Simple uptime monitoring
  • Tiny footprint
Blackbox Exporter details

Frequently asked questions

Is Beszel or Blackbox Exporter better?

Neither is universally better. Beszel has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Beszel and Blackbox Exporter free and open-source?

Yes. Beszel is licensed under MIT and Blackbox Exporter under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Beszel and Blackbox Exporter with Docker?

Beszel: yes. Blackbox Exporter: yes.

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