Hertzbeat vs Thanos
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?
Hertzbeat
Real-time monitoring system with customizable templates
VS
Thanos
Highly available Prometheus setup with long-term storage
| Feature | Hertzbeat | Thanos |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Java | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,351 | ★ 14,167 |
| First released | 2022 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Zabbix, Datadog | Datadog, Grafana Cloud |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Hertzbeat or Thanos better?
Neither is universally better. Thanos has the larger community, while Hertzbeat is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Hertzbeat and Thanos free and open-source?
Yes. Hertzbeat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Thanos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hertzbeat and Thanos with Docker?
Hertzbeat: yes. Thanos: yes.