Grafana OnCall vs Robusta
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Grafana OnCall | Robusta |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 87 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,886 | ★ 3,101 |
| First released | 2021 | 2021 |
| Replaces | PagerDuty, Opsgenie | Datadog, PagerDuty |
What are Grafana OnCall and Robusta?
Grafana OnCall
Grafana OnCall is an on-call management tool that handles alert escalation, schedules, and notifications across phone, SMS, Slack, and more. It deduplicates and routes alerts so the right person is paged.
- On-call schedules and rotations
- Escalation chains
- Phone, SMS, and chat alerts
- Alert grouping and routing
Robusta
Robusta enhances Prometheus alerts for Kubernetes with enriched context, automated troubleshooting, and notifications to Slack and other channels. It helps teams understand and respond to cluster issues faster.
- Enriched Kubernetes alerts
- Automated remediation playbooks
- Slack and Teams notifications
- Crash and OOM diagnostics
Grafana OnCall vs Robusta: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Grafana OnCall's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Robusta is actively maintained. Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Grafana OnCall versus MIT for Robusta. Robusta is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Grafana OnCall. Grafana OnCall lists first-class Docker deployment; Robusta does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Grafana OnCall if…
- Strong PagerDuty alternative
- Integrates with Grafana
Watch out for
- Several components to deploy
- Telephony needs external provider
Choose Robusta if…
- Makes alerts actionable
- Strong Kubernetes focus
Watch out for
- Kubernetes only
- Best with Prometheus already running
Frequently asked questions
Is Grafana OnCall or Robusta better?
Neither is universally better. Grafana OnCall has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Grafana OnCall and Robusta free and open-source?
Yes. Grafana OnCall is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Robusta under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Grafana OnCall and Robusta with Docker?
Grafana OnCall: yes. Robusta: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Grafana OnCall or Robusta?
Robusta has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Grafana OnCall. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.