head to head · open source
Grafana vs Logstash
Grafana has 76,791 GitHub stars, 14,749 forks, 3,326 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Logstash has 14,944 stars, 3,496 forks, 2,254 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Grafana leads on adoption by 414% (76,791 vs 14,944 stars). Grafana is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Logstash is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence. Grafana has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, Logstash 23%. 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 | Logstash | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 15K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 3.5K |
| 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 Logstash if
- You want the Logstash feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Logstash 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 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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Grafana or Logstash more popular?
Grafana has 76,791 GitHub stars and Logstash has 14,944. Grafana has the larger community by that measure.
Are Grafana and Logstash free?
Both are open source. Grafana is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Logstash has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Grafana and Logstash?
Grafana is written in TypeScript and Logstash 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 Logstash?
Choose Grafana if you want the larger community (76,791 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Logstash if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.