Pushgateway vs Uptrace
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Pushgateway | Uptrace |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSL-1.1 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 32 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,369 | ★ 4,290 |
| First released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Datadog | Datadog, New Relic |
What are Pushgateway and Uptrace?
Pushgateway
The Prometheus Pushgateway allows ephemeral and batch jobs to expose their metrics to Prometheus. Jobs push metrics to the gateway, which Prometheus then scrapes on its regular schedule.
- Accepts pushed metrics
- Bridges batch jobs to Prometheus
- Persists metrics to disk
- Tiny footprint
Uptrace
Uptrace is an open-source observability tool that uses OpenTelemetry to collect distributed traces, metrics, and logs. It stores data in ClickHouse and provides a clean UI for analyzing application performance.
- Distributed tracing
- Metrics and logs support
- ClickHouse storage
- OpenTelemetry-native
Pushgateway vs Uptrace: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Pushgateway versus BSL-1.1 for Uptrace. Pushgateway is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Uptrace. Pushgateway is the more established project (first released 2015), while Uptrace arrived in 2021.
Why pick each one
Choose Pushgateway if…
- Solves batch job monitoring
- Simple to run
Watch out for
- Not for high-frequency metrics
- Can become a single point of failure
Choose Uptrace if…
- Efficient ClickHouse backend
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- BSL license restrictions
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Pushgateway or Uptrace better?
Neither is universally better. Uptrace has the larger community, while Pushgateway is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Pushgateway and Uptrace free and open-source?
Yes. Pushgateway is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Uptrace under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pushgateway and Uptrace with Docker?
Pushgateway: yes. Uptrace: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Pushgateway or Uptrace?
Pushgateway has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Uptrace. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.