Cube vs Grafana Loki

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureCubeGrafana Loki
CategoryDashboards & StartpagesMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageRustGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, sourcedocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 20,572★ 28,687
First released20192018
ReplacesLooker, AtScaleSplunk, Datadog Logs

Why pick each one

Choose Cube if…

  • Consistent metrics across tools
  • Strong API surface
Cube details

Choose Grafana Loki if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is Cube or Grafana Loki better?

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

Are Cube and Grafana Loki free and open-source?

Yes. Cube 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 Cube and Grafana Loki with Docker?

Cube: yes. Grafana Loki: yes.

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