Cube vs Grafana k6

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?
FeatureCubeGrafana k6
CategoryDashboards & StartpagesMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageRustGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, sourcedocker, binary, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 20,572★ 31,211
First released20192017
ReplacesLooker, AtScaleLoadRunner, BlazeMeter

Why pick each one

Choose Cube if…

  • Consistent metrics across tools
  • Strong API surface
Cube details

Choose Grafana k6 if…

  • Developer-friendly scripting
  • Great CI integration
Grafana k6 details

Frequently asked questions

Is Cube or Grafana k6 better?

Neither is universally better. Grafana k6 has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Cube and Grafana k6 free and open-source?

Yes. Cube is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Grafana k6 under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Cube and Grafana k6 with Docker?

Cube: yes. Grafana k6: yes.

Related comparisons