head to head · open source
Grafana vs g3log
Grafana has 76,792 GitHub stars, 14,752 forks, 3,326 open issues and last shipped yesterday. g3log has 964 stars, 280 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. Grafana leads on adoption by 7,866% (76,792 vs 964 stars). Grafana is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; g3log is written in C++ under Unlicense. Grafana has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, g3log 29%. Grafana 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
| Grafana | g3log | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 964 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Unlicense |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 280 |
| 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 g3log if
- You want the g3log feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Unlicense license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and g3log 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 g3log
G3log is an asynchronous, crash safe C++ logging library for OSX, Windows, and several Linux distributions, aimed at C++ developers building critical task systems that must not lose log records when a process dies.
read the full g3log overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Grafana or g3log more popular?
Grafana has 76,792 GitHub stars and g3log has 964. Grafana has the larger community by that measure.
Are Grafana and g3log free?
Both are open source. Grafana is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and g3log under Unlicense. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Grafana and g3log?
Grafana is written in TypeScript and g3log 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, Grafana or g3log?
Choose Grafana if you want the larger community (76,792 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose g3log if its feature set, stack or Unlicense licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.