head to head · open source
monolog vs CocoaLumberjack
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars, 1,920 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. CocoaLumberjack has 13,320 stars, 2,272 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. monolog leads on adoption by 61% (21,402 vs 13,320 stars). monolog is written in PHP under MIT; CocoaLumberjack is written in Objective-C under BSD-3-Clause. monolog has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, CocoaLumberjack 17%. monolog was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (logger, 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
| monolog | CocoaLumberjack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 13K |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | PHP | Objective-C |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick monolog if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick CocoaLumberjack if
- You want the CocoaLumberjack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Objective-C
- You evaluated both and CocoaLumberjack fits your workflow better
About monolog
Monolog Logging for PHP Note This is the documentation for Monolog 3.x , if you are using older releases see the documentation for Monolog 2.x or Monolog 1.x Monolog sends your logs to files, sockets, inboxes, databases and various web services. See the complete list of handlers below. Special handlers allow you to build advanced logging strategies. This library implements the PSR 3 interface that you can type hint against in your own libraries to keep a maximum of interoperability. You can also use it in your applications to make sure you can always use another compatible logger at a later time. As of 1.11.0…
read the full monolog overview →
About CocoaLumberjack
CocoaLumberjack =============== CocoaLumberjack is a fast & simple, yet powerful & flexible logging framework for macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS and visionOS. How to get started First, install CocoaLumberjack via Swift Package Manager, CocoaPods, Carthage or manually. Then use DDOSLogger for iOS 10 and later, or DDTTYLogger and DDASLLogger for earlier versions to begin logging messages. Swift Package Manager As of CocoaLumberjack 3.6.0, you can use the Swift Package Manager as integration method. If you want to use the Swift Package Manager as integration method, either use Xcode to add the package dependency or add…
read the full CocoaLumberjack overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monolog or CocoaLumberjack more popular?
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars and CocoaLumberjack has 13,320. monolog has the larger community by that measure.
Are monolog and CocoaLumberjack free?
Both are open source. monolog is licensed under MIT and CocoaLumberjack under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monolog and CocoaLumberjack?
monolog is written in PHP and CocoaLumberjack in Objective-C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, monolog or CocoaLumberjack?
Choose monolog if you want the larger community (21,402 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose CocoaLumberjack if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.