Grafana Loki vs MySQL Server Exporter
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?
Grafana Loki
Log aggregation system inspired by Prometheus
VS
MySQL Server Exporter
Official Prometheus exporter for MySQL and MariaDB
| Feature | Grafana Loki | MySQL Server Exporter |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, binary, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,687 | ★ 2,460 |
| First released | 2018 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Splunk, Datadog Logs | Datadog MySQL, VividCortex |
Why pick each one
Choose Grafana Loki if…
- Cheap to run compared to full-text indexers
- Familiar Prometheus-style labels
Choose MySQL Server Exporter if…
- Reliable and well-tested
- Granular collector toggles
Frequently asked questions
Is Grafana Loki or MySQL Server Exporter better?
Neither is universally better. Grafana Loki has the larger community, while MySQL Server Exporter is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Grafana Loki and MySQL Server Exporter free and open-source?
Yes. Grafana Loki is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and MySQL Server Exporter under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Grafana Loki and MySQL Server Exporter with Docker?
Grafana Loki: yes. MySQL Server Exporter: yes.