Alternatives to Prometheus
Metrics database that scrapes targets and evaluates alerting rules. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Prometheus
Metrics database that scrapes targets and evaluates alerting rules.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Prometheus.
InfluxDB 1.x / TICK Stack
Legacy self-hosted time-series platform bundling InfluxDB with Telegraf, Chronograf and Kapacitor.
InfluxDB 1.x with the TICK Stack bundles collection, storage, visualization and alerting in one open-source stack, but is described as legacy and means running four components.
Zabbix
Enterprise-scale open-source monitoring for networks and applications.
Zabbix is an AGPL-3.0 monitoring platform with a web interface and a large template library, scaling with proxies, though its configuration is extensive and the interface dense.
Netdata
Per-second metrics for a machine with no configuration, and charts that appear the moment you install it.
Netdata gives per-second metrics and dashboards with no configuration, keeping data on the machine, but long retention across many machines pushes toward its paid cloud.
OpenObserve
Collect logs, metrics and traces in a unified observability application.
OpenObserve collects logs and traces as well as metrics in one AGPL-3.0 application, with hosted services and enterprise features priced separately.
Checkmk
Hybrid open-source and commercial monitoring with agent-based and SNMP auto-discovery.
Checkmk uses agent-based and SNMP auto-discovery instead of a scrape and PromQL model, with advanced features and scaling gated behind paid commercial editions.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Prometheus as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Performance Co-Pilot
A toolkit for collecting, archiving and analysing performance metrics across many systems.
Prometheus is a scraping metrics database with PromQL and alerting rules, needing exporters on each host and extra tools for long retention.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Grafana
Dashboard and visualization front end for metrics, logs and traces.
Prometheus Alertmanager
A server that deduplicates, groups and routes alerts from Prometheus to email, PagerDuty and other receivers.
Thanos
Extend Prometheus with long-term storage and a shared query layer.
Cortex
Provide scalable, multi-tenant storage for Prometheus-compatible metrics.
windows_exporter
Expose Windows system metrics to Prometheus.
karma
A self-hosted web dashboard for viewing, grouping and silencing alerts from Prometheus Alertmanager.
