Lunalytics vs Monika
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Lunalytics
Simple self-hosted website and service uptime monitor
VS
Monika
Synthetic monitoring with HTTP probes from config
| Feature | Lunalytics | Monika |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 0 · At risk | 66 · Good |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | CSS | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1 | ★ 628 |
| First released | 2023 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Pingdom, Better Uptime | Pingdom, Datadog Synthetics |
What are Lunalytics and Monika?
Lunalytics
Lunalytics is a self-hosted uptime monitoring application that tracks websites and services and notifies you of downtime. It offers a clean interface, multi-user support, and several notification channels.
- Website and API monitoring
- Multi-user access
- Notification integrations
- Clean dashboard
Monika
Monika is a free and open-source synthetic monitoring tool that runs HTTP probes defined in a configuration file and alerts on failures. It checks uptime, response times, and assertions.
- Config-driven probes
- Response assertions
- Many alert channels
- Synthetic monitoring
Lunalytics vs Monika: key differences
Lunalytics is written in CSS, while Monika is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Lunalytics versus Apache-2.0 for Monika. Monika is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Lunalytics. Monika is the more established project (first released 2021), while Lunalytics arrived in 2023. Monika has the considerably larger community, at 628 GitHub stars versus 1.
Why pick each one
Choose Lunalytics if…
- Easy to set up
- Friendly interface
Watch out for
- Newer project
- Smaller feature set
Choose Monika if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Lunalytics or Monika better?
Neither is universally better. Monika has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Lunalytics and Monika free and open-source?
Yes. Lunalytics is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Monika under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Lunalytics and Monika with Docker?
Lunalytics: yes. Monika: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Lunalytics or Monika?
Monika has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Lunalytics. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.