Grafana Loki 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?
FeatureGrafana LokiObservium
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguageGoShell
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, helmbare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 28,687★ 1
First released20182010
ReplacesSplunk, Datadog LogsSolarWinds, PRTG

Why pick each one

Choose Grafana Loki if…

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

Choose Observium if…

  • Discovers devices automatically
  • Clean interface
Observium details

Frequently asked questions

Is Grafana Loki or Observium 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 Grafana Loki and Observium free and open-source?

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

Can I run Grafana Loki and Observium with Docker?

Grafana Loki: yes. Observium: check the project docs for container support.

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