head to head · open source
cilium vs Logfire
cilium has 25,768 GitHub stars, 4,210 forks, 1,085 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Logfire has 4,533 stars, 351 forks, 191 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. cilium leads on adoption by 468% (25,768 vs 4,533 stars). cilium is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Logfire is written in Python under MIT. cilium has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Logfire 8%. cilium 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| cilium | Logfire | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 351 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cilium if
- You weight community size — 26K 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 Logfire if
- You want the Logfire feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Logfire fits your workflow better
About cilium
.. raw:: html Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF based dataplane. It provides a simple flat Layer 3 network with the ability to span multiple clusters in either a native routing or overlay mode. It is L7 protocol aware and can enforce network policies on L3 L7 using an identity based security model that is decoupled from network addressing. Cilium implements distributed load balancing for traffic between pods and to external services, and is able to fully replace kube proxy, using efficient hash tables in eBPF, allowing for almost unlimited scale. It also supports advanced…
read the full cilium overview →
About Logfire
Pydantic Logfire: Know more. Build faster. From the team behind Pydantic Validation, Pydantic Logfire is an observability platform built on the same belief as our open source library: that the most powerful tools can be easy to use. What sets Logfire apart: Simple and Powerful: Logfire's dashboard is simple relative to the power it provides, ensuring your entire engineering team will actually use it. Python centric Insights: From rich display of Python objects, to event loop telemetry, to profiling Python code and database queries, Logfire gives you unparalleled visibility into your Python application's…
read the full Logfire overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Monitoring & Observability projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Monitoring & Observability field.
Frequently asked questions
Is cilium or Logfire more popular?
cilium has 25,768 GitHub stars and Logfire has 4,533. cilium has the larger community by that measure.
Are cilium and Logfire free?
Both are open source. cilium is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Logfire under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cilium and Logfire?
cilium is written in Go and Logfire in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, cilium or Logfire?
Choose cilium if you want the larger community (25,768 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Logfire if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.