cAdvisor vs SigNoz
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
cAdvisor
Container resource usage and performance analysis
VS
SigNoz
Open-source APM and observability platform
| Feature | cAdvisor | SigNoz |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Developer Tools & Git |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,342 | ★ 31,790 |
| First released | 2014 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Datadog | Datadog, New Relic |
Why pick each one
Choose SigNoz if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 31.8k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is cAdvisor or SigNoz better?
Neither is universally better. SigNoz has the larger community, while cAdvisor is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are cAdvisor and SigNoz free and open-source?
Yes. cAdvisor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SigNoz under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run cAdvisor and SigNoz with Docker?
cAdvisor: yes. SigNoz: yes.