head to head · open source
monolog vs flogger
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars, 1,920 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. flogger has 1,481 stars, 133 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. monolog leads on adoption by 1,345% (21,402 vs 1,481 stars). monolog is written in PHP under MIT; flogger is written in Java under Apache-2.0. monolog has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, flogger 9%. flogger 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
| monolog | flogger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 133 |
| 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 flogger if
- You want the flogger 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 flogger 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 flogger
Flogger: A Fluent Logging API for Java What is it? Flogger is a fluent logging API for Java. It supports a wide variety of features, and has [many benefits] over existing logging APIs. Come for more self documenting log statements: Stay for additional features that help you manage your logging better: Benefits While some users prefer "fluency" as a style, this is not what the argument for Flogger rests on. Flogger offers these key, concrete advantages over other logging APIs: Logging at disabled levels is [effectively free]. Finally, you can add as many fine grained log statements to your code as you want…
read the full flogger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monolog or flogger more popular?
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars and flogger has 1,481. monolog has the larger community by that measure.
Are monolog and flogger free?
Both are open source. monolog is licensed under MIT and flogger under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monolog and flogger?
monolog is written in PHP and flogger 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, monolog or flogger?
Choose monolog if you want the larger community (21,402 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose flogger if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.