WatchYourLAN 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?
WatchYourLAN
Lightweight network IP scanner with web UI
VS
Grafana Loki
Log aggregation system inspired by Prometheus
| Feature | WatchYourLAN | Grafana Loki |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,290 | ★ 28,687 |
| First released | 2021 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Fing, Angry IP Scanner | Splunk, Datadog Logs |
Why pick each one
Choose WatchYourLAN if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 7.3k GitHub stars
Choose Grafana Loki if…
- Cheap to run compared to full-text indexers
- Familiar Prometheus-style labels
Frequently asked questions
Is WatchYourLAN or Grafana Loki better?
Neither is universally better. Grafana Loki has the larger community, while WatchYourLAN is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are WatchYourLAN and Grafana Loki free and open-source?
Yes. WatchYourLAN is licensed under MIT and Grafana Loki under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run WatchYourLAN and Grafana Loki with Docker?
WatchYourLAN: yes. Grafana Loki: yes.