head to head · open source
Logstash vs dozzle
Logstash has 14,944 GitHub stars, 3,496 forks, 2,254 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dozzle has 14,410 stars, 617 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Logstash leads on adoption by 4% (14,944 vs 14,410 stars). Logstash is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence; dozzle is written in Go under MIT. Logstash has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, dozzle 4%. Logstash 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
| Logstash | dozzle | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 14K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 617 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Logstash if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dozzle if
- You want the dozzle feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and dozzle fits your workflow better
About Logstash
Logstash is a server side data processing pipeline that transports and processes logs, events, or other data. It is part of the Elastic Stack with Beats, Elasticsearch, and Kibana, and it sits in the Infrastructure & Operations / Monitoring & Observability category. The project uses Java and JRuby, and its topics describe it as an ETL framework for logging, real time processing, and streaming.
read the full Logstash overview →
About dozzle
Dozzle is a lightweight, web based application for monitoring Docker logs in real time. It is written in Go and distributed under the MIT license, and it lives in the container and orchestration ecosystem alongside Docker, Docker Swarm and Kubernetes, which its topics and tagline both name. The project ships as a small container — roughly 7 MB compressed — and its user interface is built with Vue.js. It exposes a browser view over logs rather than writing them anywhere: the README states plainly that Dozzle stores no log files and exists purely for live log viewing.
read the full dozzle overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Logstash or dozzle more popular?
Logstash has 14,944 GitHub stars and dozzle has 14,410. Logstash has the larger community by that measure.
Are Logstash and dozzle free?
Both are open source. Logstash has no licence declared in this registry, and dozzle is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Logstash and dozzle?
Logstash is written in Java and dozzle in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Logstash or dozzle?
Choose Logstash if you want the larger community (14,944 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose dozzle if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.