Glances vs Kibana
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Glances
Cross-platform system monitoring at a glance
VS
Kibana
Visualization and exploration for Elasticsearch data
| Feature | Glances | Kibana |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 33,666 | ★ 21,299 |
| First released | 2012 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Datadog | Splunk, Datadog |
What are Glances and Kibana?
Glances
Glances is a cross-platform system monitoring tool that presents a wide range of host metrics in a terminal or web view. It targets administrators wanting a quick overview of a single machine. It is deployed via Docker, pip, or packages.
- Terminal and web monitoring views
- Wide range of metrics
- REST API and exporters
- Cross-platform support
Kibana
Kibana is a visualization and management interface for Elasticsearch, widely used for log analytics and observability. It provides dashboards, search, and alerting over indexed operational data.
- Log and metric dashboards
- Discover search interface
- Alerting and machine learning
- Maps and visualizations
Glances vs Kibana: key differences
Glances is written in Python, while Kibana is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — LGPL-3.0 for Glances versus AGPL-3.0 for Kibana. Glances is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Kibana.
Why pick each one
Choose Glances if…
- Very easy to run
- Lightweight
- Good single-host overview
Watch out for
- Best for one host at a time
- Limited history
Choose Kibana if…
- Rich visualization options
- Mature ecosystem
Watch out for
- Tied to Elasticsearch
- Heavy resource usage
Frequently asked questions
Is Glances or Kibana better?
Glances is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Kibana if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Glances and Kibana free and open-source?
Yes. Glances is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Kibana under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Glances and Kibana with Docker?
Glances: yes. Kibana: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Glances or Kibana?
Glances has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Kibana. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.