head to head · open source
Prometheus vs etcd
Prometheus has 66,106 GitHub stars, 10,840 forks, 890 open issues and last shipped yesterday. etcd has 52,270 stars, 10,504 forks, 351 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Prometheus leads on adoption by 26% (66,106 vs 52,270 stars). Prometheus is written in Go under Apache-2.0; etcd is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Prometheus has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, etcd 20%. etcd 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 | etcd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 52K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 11K |
| 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 etcd if
- You want the etcd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and etcd 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 etcd
etcd is an Apache 2.0 licensed, Go written distributed key value store that holds the most critical data of a distributed system in a Raft replicated log, aimed at the platform and infrastructure engineers who must keep that control plane data consistent and available.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Prometheus or etcd more popular?
Prometheus has 66,106 GitHub stars and etcd has 52,270. Prometheus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prometheus and etcd free?
Both are open source. Prometheus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and etcd under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Prometheus and etcd?
Prometheus is written in Go and etcd in Go. 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 etcd?
Choose Prometheus if you want the larger community (66,106 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose etcd if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.