head to head · open source
Prometheus vs Dragonfly
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars, 10,839 forks, 890 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Dragonfly has 31,579 stars, 1,264 forks, 308 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Prometheus leads on adoption by 109% (66,109 vs 31,579 stars). Prometheus is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Dragonfly is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence. Prometheus has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Dragonfly 4%. Dragonfly was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Prometheus | Dragonfly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 32K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Prometheus if
- You weight community size — 66K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Dragonfly if
- You want the Dragonfly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Dragonfly fits your workflow better
About Prometheus
Prometheus is an open source monitoring system and time series database, part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation ecosystem. It collects metrics from configured targets at defined intervals, evaluates alerting rules, and visualizes results. Designed for reliability in dynamic environments, it operates without reliance on distributed storage, ensuring each server node functions independently.
read the full Prometheus overview →
About Dragonfly
Dragonfly is a C++ in memory data store that speaks the Redis and Memcached APIs, built for teams that want more throughput and lower resource use from an existing cache or key value workload without changing application code.
read the full Dragonfly overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Prometheus or Dragonfly more popular?
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars and Dragonfly has 31,579. Prometheus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prometheus and Dragonfly free?
Both are open source. Prometheus is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Dragonfly has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Prometheus and Dragonfly?
Prometheus is written in Go and Dragonfly in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Prometheus or Dragonfly?
Choose Prometheus if you want the larger community (66,109 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Dragonfly if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.