Smokeping vs Grafana Loki

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?
FeatureSmokepingGrafana Loki
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseGPL-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguagePerlGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, docker, sourcedocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 1,938★ 28,687
First released20032018
ReplacesPRTGSplunk, Datadog Logs

Why pick each one

Choose Smokeping if…

  • Excellent for connection quality
  • Lightweight
Smokeping details

Choose Grafana Loki if…

  • Cheap to run compared to full-text indexers
  • Familiar Prometheus-style labels
Grafana Loki details

Frequently asked questions

Is Smokeping or Grafana Loki better?

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

Are Smokeping and Grafana Loki free and open-source?

Yes. Smokeping is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Grafana Loki under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Smokeping and Grafana Loki with Docker?

Smokeping: yes. Grafana Loki: yes.

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