head to head · open source
monolog vs logging-log4j2
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars, 1,920 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. logging-log4j2 has 3,641 stars, 1,760 forks, 212 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. monolog leads on adoption by 488% (21,402 vs 3,641 stars). monolog is written in PHP under MIT; logging-log4j2 is written in Java under Apache-2.0. monolog has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, logging-log4j2 48%. logging-log4j2 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 | logging-log4j2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 logging-log4j2 if
- You want the logging-log4j2 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 logging-log4j2 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 logging-log4j2
//// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the…
read the full logging-log4j2 overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monolog or logging-log4j2 more popular?
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars and logging-log4j2 has 3,641. monolog has the larger community by that measure.
Are monolog and logging-log4j2 free?
Both are open source. monolog is licensed under MIT and logging-log4j2 under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monolog and logging-log4j2?
monolog is written in PHP and logging-log4j2 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 logging-log4j2?
Choose monolog if you want the larger community (21,402 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose logging-log4j2 if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.