InfluxDB vs Observium

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?
FeatureInfluxDBObservium
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguageRustShell
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarybare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 31,683★ 1
First released20132010
ReplacesDatadog, AWS TimestreamSolarWinds, PRTG

Why pick each one

Choose InfluxDB if…

  • Excellent for IoT and metrics
  • Rich tooling and integrations
InfluxDB details

Choose Observium if…

  • Discovers devices automatically
  • Clean interface
Observium details

Frequently asked questions

Is InfluxDB or Observium better?

Neither is universally better. InfluxDB has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are InfluxDB and Observium free and open-source?

Yes. InfluxDB is licensed under MIT and Observium under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run InfluxDB and Observium with Docker?

InfluxDB: yes. Observium: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons