head to head · open source
Grafana vs transmittable-thread-local
Grafana has 76,791 GitHub stars, 14,749 forks, 3,326 open issues and last shipped yesterday. transmittable-thread-local has 8,306 stars, 1,722 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Grafana leads on adoption by 825% (76,791 vs 8,306 stars). Grafana is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; transmittable-thread-local is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Grafana has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, transmittable-thread-local 21%. 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 | transmittable-thread-local | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 8.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-06-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 transmittable-thread-local if
- You want the transmittable-thread-local 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 transmittable-thread-local 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 transmittable-thread-local
TransmittableThreadLocal (TTL) is a small, zero dependency Java library from Alibaba that provides an enhanced InheritableThreadLocal capable of transmitting values between threads even when those threads are pooled and reused. It lives in the Java ecosystem and targets framework and middleware developers who need reliable context propagation across asynchronous execution boundaries. The library is Apache 2.0 licensed, roughly 1000 SLOC, and supports Java 6 through 21.
read the full transmittable-thread-local overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Grafana or transmittable-thread-local more popular?
Grafana has 76,791 GitHub stars and transmittable-thread-local has 8,306. Grafana has the larger community by that measure.
Are Grafana and transmittable-thread-local free?
Both are open source. Grafana is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and transmittable-thread-local under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Grafana and transmittable-thread-local?
Grafana is written in TypeScript and transmittable-thread-local 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 transmittable-thread-local?
Choose Grafana if you want the larger community (76,791 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose transmittable-thread-local if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.