head to head · open source
monolog vs logging-operator
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars, 1,920 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. logging-operator has 1,716 stars, 369 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped yesterday. monolog leads on adoption by 1,147% (21,402 vs 1,716 stars). monolog is written in PHP under MIT; logging-operator is written in Go under Apache-2.0. monolog has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, logging-operator 22%. logging-operator 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 | logging-operator | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 369 |
| 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-operator if
- You want the logging-operator feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and logging-operator 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-operator
Logging operator The Logging operator is now a CNCF Sandbox project. The Logging operator solves your logging related problems in Kubernetes environments by automating the deployment and configuration of a Kubernetes logging pipeline. 1. The operator deploys and configures a log collector (currently a Fluent Bit DaemonSet) on every node to collect container and application logs from the node file system. 1. Fluent Bit queries the Kubernetes API and enriches the logs with metadata about the pods, and transfers both the logs and the metadata to a log forwarder instance. 1. The log forwarder instance receives…
read the full logging-operator overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is monolog or logging-operator more popular?
monolog has 21,402 GitHub stars and logging-operator has 1,716. monolog has the larger community by that measure.
Are monolog and logging-operator free?
Both are open source. monolog is licensed under MIT and logging-operator under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between monolog and logging-operator?
monolog is written in PHP and logging-operator 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 logging-operator?
Choose monolog if you want the larger community (21,402 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose logging-operator if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.