Graphite vs Zabbix
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?
Graphite
Scalable real-time graphing and time series storage
VS
Zabbix
Enterprise-grade open-source monitoring solution
| Feature | Graphite | Zabbix |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Go Template |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,102 | ★ 6,228 |
| First released | 2008 | 2001 |
| Replaces | Datadog | Datadog, Nagios |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Graphite or Zabbix better?
Neither is universally better. Zabbix has the larger community, while Graphite is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Graphite and Zabbix free and open-source?
Yes. Graphite is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Zabbix under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Graphite and Zabbix with Docker?
Graphite: yes. Zabbix: yes.