Glances vs smartctl Exporter

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?
FeatureGlancessmartctl Exporter
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseLGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePythonGo
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, binarydocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 33,269★ 573
First released20122022
ReplacesDatadogCrystalDiskInfo

Why pick each one

Choose Glances if…

  • Very easy to run
  • Lightweight
  • Good single-host overview
Glances details

Choose smartctl Exporter if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Go
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
smartctl Exporter details

Frequently asked questions

Is Glances or smartctl Exporter better?

Glances is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider smartctl Exporter if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Glances and smartctl Exporter free and open-source?

Yes. Glances is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and smartctl Exporter under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Glances and smartctl Exporter with Docker?

Glances: yes. smartctl Exporter: yes.

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