OpenObserve vs Thanos
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
OpenObserve
Open-source observability platform for logs, metrics and traces
VS
Thanos
Highly available Prometheus setup with long-term storage
| Feature | OpenObserve | Thanos |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Developer Tools & Git | Monitoring & Status |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 20,592 | ★ 14,167 |
| First released | 2023 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Datadog, Elasticsearch | Datadog, Grafana Cloud |
Why pick each one
Choose OpenObserve if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 20.6k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenObserve or Thanos better?
OpenObserve is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Thanos if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are OpenObserve and Thanos free and open-source?
Yes. OpenObserve is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Thanos under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenObserve and Thanos with Docker?
OpenObserve: yes. Thanos: yes.