head to head · open source
Grafana vs client_java
Grafana has 76,792 GitHub stars, 14,752 forks, 3,326 open issues and last shipped today. client_java has 2,289 stars, 833 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped today. Grafana leads on adoption by 3,255% (76,792 vs 2,289 stars). Grafana is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; client_java is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Grafana has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, client_java 36%. Grafana was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (metrics), 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 | client_java | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 833 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Grafana if
- You weight community size — 77K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick client_java if
- You want the client_java 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 client_java fits your workflow better
About Grafana
Grafana is an open source observability platform for visualizing metrics, logs, and traces across diverse data sources. It runs in the infrastructure and operations ecosystem, designed for teams needing unified visibility into system behavior without vendor lock in. Built with TypeScript and Go, it provides a composable architecture that integrates with existing toolchains.
read the full Grafana overview →
About client_java
Prometheus Java Metrics Library [![Build][build badge]][build workflow] [build badge]: [build workflow]: Documentation Contributing and community See CONTRIBUTING.md and the community section of the Prometheus homepage. The Prometheus Java community is present on the CNCF Slack on prometheus java , and we have a fortnightly community call in the Prometheus public calendar. Previous Releases The source code for 0.16.0 and older is on the simpleclient branch. License Apache License 2.0, see LICENSE.
read the full client_java overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Grafana or client_java more popular?
Grafana has 76,792 GitHub stars and client_java has 2,289. Grafana has the larger community by that measure.
Are Grafana and client_java free?
Both are open source. Grafana is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and client_java under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Grafana and client_java?
Grafana is written in TypeScript and client_java 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 or client_java?
Choose Grafana if you want the larger community (76,792 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose client_java if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.