HyperDX vs Thanos
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
HyperDX
Open-source observability for logs, traces, and session replay
VS
Thanos
Highly available Prometheus setup with long-term storage
| Feature | HyperDX | Thanos |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 94 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,912 | ★ 14,214 |
| First released | 2023 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Datadog, Sentry | Datadog, Grafana Cloud |
What are HyperDX and Thanos?
HyperDX
HyperDX is an open-source observability platform that correlates logs, metrics, traces, and session replays in one place. Built on OpenTelemetry and ClickHouse, it helps developers debug production issues quickly.
- Correlated logs, traces, and replays
- OpenTelemetry-native
- ClickHouse storage
- Full-text log search
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
HyperDX vs Thanos: key differences
HyperDX is written in TypeScript, while Thanos is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for HyperDX versus Apache-2.0 for Thanos. Thanos is the more established project (first released 2018), while HyperDX arrived in 2023.
Why pick each one
Choose HyperDX if…
- Session replay correlation
- Developer-focused UX
Watch out for
- Newer project
- Requires ClickHouse
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 HyperDX or Thanos better?
Neither is universally better. Thanos has the larger community, while HyperDX is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are HyperDX and Thanos free and open-source?
Yes. HyperDX is licensed under MIT and Thanos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run HyperDX and Thanos with Docker?
HyperDX: yes. Thanos: yes.