mtail vs OpenSearch
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?
mtail
Extract Prometheus metrics from application log files
VS
OpenSearch
Search and observability suite with logs and dashboards
| Feature | mtail | OpenSearch |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, kubernetes | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,024 | ★ 13,480 |
| First released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Splunk, Datadog Log Metrics | Elasticsearch, Splunk |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is mtail or OpenSearch better?
Neither is universally better. OpenSearch has the larger community, while mtail is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are mtail and OpenSearch free and open-source?
Yes. mtail is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenSearch under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run mtail and OpenSearch with Docker?
mtail: yes. OpenSearch: yes.