Prometheus vs VictoriaMetrics

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?
FeaturePrometheusVictoriaMetrics
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, helmdocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 65,616★ 17,488
First released20152018
ReplacesDatadogDatadog, Grafana Cloud

Why pick each one

Choose Prometheus if…

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

Choose VictoriaMetrics if…

  • Excellent compression and speed
  • Easy single-binary deployment
VictoriaMetrics details

Frequently asked questions

Is Prometheus or VictoriaMetrics better?

Neither is universally better. Prometheus has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Prometheus and VictoriaMetrics free and open-source?

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

Can I run Prometheus and VictoriaMetrics with Docker?

Prometheus: yes. VictoriaMetrics: yes.

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