Glances vs Thanos
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
Thanos
Highly available Prometheus setup with long-term storage
| Feature | Glances | Thanos |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 94 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 33,666 | ★ 14,214 |
| First released | 2012 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Datadog | Datadog, Grafana Cloud |
What are Glances and Thanos?
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
Thanos
Thanos extends Prometheus with global query view, unlimited retention, and high availability. It uses object storage to keep metrics cheaply for years while presenting a single query endpoint across many Prometheus instances.
- Global query view
- Unlimited metric retention
- Object storage backend
- Downsampling for fast queries
Glances vs Thanos: key differences
Glances is written in Python, while Thanos is built with Go. Licensing differs — LGPL-3.0 for Glances versus Apache-2.0 for Thanos. Glances is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Thanos. Glances is the more established project (first released 2012), while Thanos arrived in 2018. Glances has the considerably larger community, at 33,666 GitHub stars versus 14,214.
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 Thanos if…
- Scales Prometheus to massive deployments
- Cheap long-term storage
Watch out for
- Complex multi-component architecture
- Steep learning curve
Frequently asked questions
Is Glances or Thanos better?
Glances is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Thanos if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Glances and Thanos free and open-source?
Yes. Glances is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Thanos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Glances and Thanos with Docker?
Glances: yes. Thanos: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Glances or Thanos?
Glances has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Thanos. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.