head to head · open source
monolog vs logchef
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars, 1,920 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. logchef has 928 stars, 61 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. monolog leads on adoption by 2,206% (21,402 vs 928 stars). monolog is written in PHP under MIT; logchef is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. monolog has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, logchef 7%. monolog 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 | logchef | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 928 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 61 |
| 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 logchef if
- You want the logchef feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and logchef 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 logchef
The open source log workspace for ClickHouse and VictoriaLogs. Search, live tail, dashboards, alerts, and access control in one self hosted binary. Try Demo · Read Documentation · What's new in v2.0 Logchef is a lightweight, self hosted log analytics and observability platform for teams that want a strong query and control plane on top of the log backends they already run. Connect ClickHouse, VictoriaLogs, or both. Logchef gives them one workflow for exploration, dashboards, saved queries, alerting, and access control — without moving or reshaping your data. If you are evaluating VictoriaLogs specifically, start…
read the full logchef overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monolog or logchef more popular?
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars and logchef has 928. monolog has the larger community by that measure.
Are monolog and logchef free?
Both are open source. monolog is licensed under MIT and logchef under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monolog and logchef?
monolog is written in PHP and logchef 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, monolog or logchef?
Choose monolog if you want the larger community (21,402 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose logchef if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.