head to head · open source
Grafana Loki vs Vortex
Grafana Loki has 29,120 GitHub stars, 4,173 forks, 1,620 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Vortex has 597 stars, 334 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. Grafana Loki leads on adoption by 4,778% (29,120 vs 597 stars). Grafana Loki is written in Go under AGPL-3.0; Vortex is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Grafana Loki has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, Vortex 56%. Grafana Loki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (logging), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Grafana Loki | Vortex | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 597 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2025-11-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 334 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Grafana Loki if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Vortex if
- You want the Vortex feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Vortex fits your workflow better
About Grafana Loki
Loki: like Prometheus, but for logs. Loki is a horizontally scalable, highly available, multi tenant log aggregation system inspired by Prometheus. It is designed to be very cost effective and easy to operate. It does not index the contents of the logs, but rather a set of labels for each log stream. Compared to other log aggregation systems, Loki: does not do full text indexing on logs. By storing compressed, unstructured logs and only indexing metadata, Loki is simpler to operate and cheaper to run. indexes and groups log streams using the same labels you’re already using with Prometheus, enabling you to…
read the full Grafana Loki overview →
About Vortex
Vortex Discord Moderation Bot Vortex is a bot designed to keep your server safe and your staff team organized. Its moderation and logging suite keep track of your members and keep your moderators accountable. Its auto moderator capabilities also allow it to filter out certain types of behavior without need for human intervention, lightening the load on the staff team. Finally, Vortex is designed to be fast and easy to use. Vortex Wiki ℹ About Vortex 🌀 Getting Started 🔨 Moderator Guide 🚩 Strikes 🛡 Auto Moderation 🌟 Vortex Pro 📜 Full Command Reference ⚠ Troubleshooting How do I report a bug or suggest a…
read the full Vortex overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Grafana Loki or Vortex more popular?
Grafana Loki has 29,120 GitHub stars and Vortex has 597. Grafana Loki has the larger community by that measure.
Are Grafana Loki and Vortex free?
Both are open source. Grafana Loki is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Vortex under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Grafana Loki and Vortex?
Grafana Loki is written in Go and Vortex in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Grafana Loki or Vortex?
Choose Grafana Loki if you want the larger community (29,120 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Vortex if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.