InfluxDB vs OpenObserve

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureInfluxDBOpenObserve
CategoryMonitoring & StatusDeveloper Tools & Git
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageRustTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 31,683★ 20,592
First released20132023
ReplacesDatadog, AWS TimestreamDatadog, Elasticsearch

Why pick each one

Choose InfluxDB if…

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

Choose OpenObserve if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 20.6k GitHub stars
OpenObserve details

Frequently asked questions

Is InfluxDB or OpenObserve 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 OpenObserve free and open-source?

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

Can I run InfluxDB and OpenObserve with Docker?

InfluxDB: yes. OpenObserve: yes.

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