mtail vs VictoriaLogs
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | mtail | VictoriaLogs |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 54 · Fair | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, kubernetes | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,032 | ★ 2,311 |
| First released | 2015 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Splunk, Datadog Log Metrics | Splunk, Elasticsearch |
What are mtail and VictoriaLogs?
mtail
mtail is a tool from Google for extracting metrics from application logs to be exported into a time series database. It runs small programs that parse log lines and increment counters or gauges, bridging log data into Prometheus monitoring.
- Turns log lines into metrics
- Compact pattern language
- Prometheus export endpoint
- Low overhead tailing
VictoriaLogs
VictoriaLogs is an open-source log management solution from the VictoriaMetrics team. It offers fast full-text search, low resource usage, and the purpose-built LogsQL query language for analyzing logs at scale.
- LogsQL query language
- Low memory and disk usage
- High ingestion throughput
- Single-binary deployment
mtail vs VictoriaLogs: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Mtail is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for VictoriaLogs. Mtail is the more established project (first released 2015), while VictoriaLogs arrived in 2023.
Why pick each one
Choose mtail if…
- Bridges legacy logs to metrics
- Tiny footprint
Watch out for
- Custom program language to learn
- Not a full log pipeline
Choose VictoriaLogs if…
- Very efficient on hardware
- Fast log queries
Watch out for
- Newer and less battle-tested
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is mtail or VictoriaLogs better?
Neither is universally better. mtail has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are mtail and VictoriaLogs free and open-source?
Yes. mtail is licensed under Apache-2.0 and VictoriaLogs under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run mtail and VictoriaLogs with Docker?
mtail: yes. VictoriaLogs: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, mtail or VictoriaLogs?
mtail has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for VictoriaLogs. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.