What is the main difference between Grafana and VictoriaMetrics?

Grafana and VictoriaMetrics are both infrastructure monitoring tools but differ in their approach, features, and target audience. Compare their GitHub stats, technology stack, and community adoption to make the best choice.

Which is better: Grafana or VictoriaMetrics?

The choice between Grafana and VictoriaMetrics depends on your specific needs, technical requirements, and team preferences. Both are quality open source solutions with active communities.

Can I migrate from Grafana to VictoriaMetrics?

Migration between Grafana and VictoriaMetrics is possible but requires careful planning. Consider data export/import capabilities, feature parity, and potential workflow changes.

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Grafana vs VictoriaMetrics

Learn how Grafana and VictoriaMetrics differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these infrastructure monitoring tools is best for you.

Grafana

Grafana unifies metrics, logs, traces, profiles, and business data into one OpenTelemetry-native platform with AI-assisted root cause analysis and adaptive cost controls.

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77,638stars+587(+0.8%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
9 hours ago
Repository age
13 years
Version
v13.3.0
License
AGPL-3.0
Self-hosted
Yes
Repository
grafana/grafana

VictoriaMetrics

Time series database and monitoring platform compatible with Prometheus, handling billions of metrics with lower resource usage than most alternatives.

Visit VictoriaMetrics Read more

18,000stars+184(+1%)

Last 30 days

Last commit
14 hours ago
Repository age
8 years
Version
v1.155.0
License
Apache-2.0
Self-hosted
Yes
Repository
victoriametrics

Detailed Comparison

Both Grafana and VictoriaMetrics have their unique strengths and serve similar purposes effectively. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.

Grafana wins

Community & Popularity

Grafana significantly outpaces VictoriaMetrics in community adoption with 77,638 stars compared to 18,000 stars on GitHub. This 4.3x difference suggests Grafana has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Grafana has 14,905 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.

VictoriaMetrics wins

Growth Momentum

VictoriaMetrics is growing faster, adding 184 stars in the last 30 days (+1%) against adding 587 stars for Grafana (+0.8%). VictoriaMetrics is the smaller project of the two, so it is closing the gap rather than extending a lead.

Comparable

Development Activity

Both projects show recent activity, with Grafana last updated 9 hours ago and VictoriaMetrics 14 hours ago.

Comparable

Technology Stack

Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, Bash, Typescript, JSX, Golang. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Grafana uses CSS, Python, Ruby while VictoriaMetrics leverages SCSS, Perl.

Grafana wins

Project Maturity

Grafana has been in development longer, starting 13 years ago, compared to VictoriaMetrics which began 8 years ago. This 4.9-year head start suggests Grafana may have more mature features and established processes.

Comparable

Licensing

The projects use different licenses: Grafana is licensed under AGPL-3.0 while VictoriaMetrics uses Apache-2.0. Consider the licensing requirements when choosing for your project.

Comparable

Use Cases & Features

Both tools serve similar use cases in Infrastructure Monitoring. However, they also have distinct specializations: Grafana also focuses on Performance Monitoring (APM), Data Visualization while VictoriaMetrics extends into Time Series Databases.

Comparable