Grafana k6 vs Grafana Mimir

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?
FeatureGrafana k6Grafana Mimir
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM256 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, bare-metaldocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 31,211★ 5,201
First released20172022
ReplacesLoadRunner, BlazeMeterDatadog, Chronosphere

Why pick each one

Choose Grafana k6 if…

  • Developer-friendly scripting
  • Great CI integration
Grafana k6 details

Choose Grafana Mimir if…

  • Proven at billion-series scale
  • Easier to operate than Cortex
Grafana Mimir details

Frequently asked questions

Is Grafana k6 or Grafana Mimir better?

Grafana k6 is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Grafana Mimir if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Grafana k6 and Grafana Mimir free and open-source?

Yes. Grafana k6 is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Grafana Mimir under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Grafana k6 and Grafana Mimir with Docker?

Grafana k6: yes. Grafana Mimir: yes.

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