Gatus vs Peekaping
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Gatus | Peekaping |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 72 · Good |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 12,145 | ★ 1,195 |
| First released | 2019 | 2024 |
| Replaces | UptimeRobot, Pingdom | Pingdom, Better Uptime |
What are Gatus and Peekaping?
Gatus
Gatus is a developer-oriented health dashboard that monitors endpoints and exposes a status page driven by simple YAML config. It targets engineers wanting a config-as-code uptime monitor. It is deployed via Docker or a single binary.
- Configuration entirely as YAML
- Health checks and conditions
- Many alerting providers
- Tiny resource footprint
Peekaping
Peekaping is a self-hosted uptime monitoring tool with status pages and notifications, inspired by Uptime Kuma. It supports many monitor types and aims for a fast, modern user experience.
- Multiple monitor types
- Status pages
- Notification integrations
- Modern UI
Gatus vs Peekaping: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Gatus versus MIT for Peekaping. Gatus is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Peekaping. Gatus is the more established project (first released 2019), while Peekaping arrived in 2024. Gatus has the considerably larger community, at 12,145 GitHub stars versus 1,195.
Why pick each one
Choose Gatus if…
- Config as code
- Extremely lightweight
- Easy to version control
Watch out for
- No UI-based editing
- Basic visualizations
Choose Peekaping if…
- Lightweight Go backend
- Clean interface
Watch out for
- Young project
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Gatus or Peekaping better?
Neither is universally better. Gatus has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Gatus and Peekaping free and open-source?
Yes. Gatus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Peekaping under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gatus and Peekaping with Docker?
Gatus: yes. Peekaping: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Gatus or Peekaping?
Gatus has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Peekaping. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.