Grafana Loki vs Zabbix

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 LokiZabbix
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageGoGo Template
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM512 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, helmdocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 28,687★ 6,228
First released20182001
ReplacesSplunk, Datadog LogsDatadog, Nagios

Why pick each one

Choose Grafana Loki if…

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

Choose Zabbix if…

  • Comprehensive and mature
  • Scales to large estates
  • Fully free
Zabbix details

Frequently asked questions

Is Grafana Loki or Zabbix better?

Grafana Loki is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Zabbix if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Grafana Loki and Zabbix free and open-source?

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

Can I run Grafana Loki and Zabbix with Docker?

Grafana Loki: yes. Zabbix: yes.

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