Druid 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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FeatureDruidGrafana Loki
CategoryWeb AnalyticsMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageJavaGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 14,042★ 28,687
First released20262018
ReplacesSplunk, Datadog Logs

Why pick each one

Choose Druid if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 14k GitHub stars
  • Written in Java
Druid details

Choose Grafana Loki if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is Druid 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 Druid and Grafana Loki free and open-source?

Yes. Druid 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 Druid and Grafana Loki with Docker?

Druid: yes. Grafana Loki: yes.

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