Smokeping vs Prometheus

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?
FeatureSmokepingPrometheus
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseGPL-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguagePerlGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, docker, sourcedocker, binary, helm
GitHub stars★ 1,938★ 65,616
First released20032015
ReplacesPRTGDatadog

Why pick each one

Choose Smokeping if…

  • Excellent for connection quality
  • Lightweight
Smokeping details

Choose Prometheus if…

  • Powerful query language
  • Reliable and scalable
  • Huge ecosystem
Prometheus details

Frequently asked questions

Is Smokeping or Prometheus better?

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

Are Smokeping and Prometheus free and open-source?

Yes. Smokeping is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Prometheus under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Smokeping and Prometheus with Docker?

Smokeping: yes. Prometheus: yes.

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