PostgreSQL Exporter vs Prometheus

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?
FeaturePostgreSQL ExporterPrometheus
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, kubernetesdocker, binary, helm
GitHub stars★ 3,588★ 65,616
First released20162015
ReplacesDatadog PostgreSQL, pganalyzeDatadog

Why pick each one

Choose PostgreSQL Exporter if…

  • Battle-tested in production
  • Rich default metrics
PostgreSQL Exporter details

Choose Prometheus if…

  • Powerful query language
  • Reliable and scalable
  • Huge ecosystem
Prometheus details

Frequently asked questions

Is PostgreSQL Exporter or Prometheus better?

Neither is universally better. Prometheus has the larger community, while PostgreSQL Exporter is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are PostgreSQL Exporter and Prometheus free and open-source?

Yes. PostgreSQL Exporter is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Prometheus under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run PostgreSQL Exporter and Prometheus with Docker?

PostgreSQL Exporter: yes. Prometheus: yes.

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