head to head · open source
monolog vs kotlin-logging
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars, 1,920 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. kotlin-logging has 3,116 stars, 131 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. monolog leads on adoption by 587% (21,402 vs 3,116 stars). monolog is written in PHP under MIT; kotlin-logging is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0. monolog has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, kotlin-logging 4%. kotlin-logging 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 | kotlin-logging | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 131 |
| 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 kotlin-logging if
- You want the kotlin-logging feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and kotlin-logging 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 kotlin-logging
kotlin logging Lightweight Multiplatform logging framework for Kotlin, written in . A convenient and performant logging facade. Call log methods, without checking whether the respective log level is enabled Behind the scenes the expensive message do not get evaluated if debug is not enabled: Define the logger, without explicitly specifying the class name Behind the scenes val logger will be created in the class, with the class/file name: Log exceptions in a Kotlin style Fluent logging in a Kotlin style Getting started Download Important note: kotlin logging depends on slf4j api (in the JVM artifact). In runtime…
read the full kotlin-logging overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monolog or kotlin-logging more popular?
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars and kotlin-logging has 3,116. monolog has the larger community by that measure.
Are monolog and kotlin-logging free?
Both are open source. monolog is licensed under MIT and kotlin-logging under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monolog and kotlin-logging?
monolog is written in PHP and kotlin-logging in Kotlin. 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 kotlin-logging?
Choose monolog if you want the larger community (21,402 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose kotlin-logging if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.