head to head · open source
OpenObserve vs metrics
OpenObserve has 22,777 GitHub stars, 1,179 forks, 598 open issues and last shipped yesterday. metrics has 17,363 stars, 2,303 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. OpenObserve leads on adoption by 31% (22,777 vs 17,363 stars). OpenObserve is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; metrics is written in JavaScript under MIT. OpenObserve has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, metrics 13%. OpenObserve was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (metrics), 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
| OpenObserve | metrics | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 17K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-05-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenObserve if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick metrics if
- You want the metrics feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and metrics fits your workflow better
About OpenObserve
Open source Datadog alternative for logs, metrics, traces, and frontend monitoring. Modern observability platform: 10x easier, 140x lower storage cost, high performance, petabyte scale. Cloud · Documentation · Slack · Quickstart OpenObserve (O2) is a cloud native observability platform for logs, metrics, traces, analytics, Real User Monitoring (RUM), and AI/LLM observability. It's a cost effective alternative to Datadog, Splunk, and Elasticsearch for teams that need full observability without the complexity or cost — with Parquet columnar storage and an S3 native design that cuts storage costs by up to 140x…
read the full OpenObserve overview →
About metrics
📊 Metrics Generate metrics that can be embedded everywhere, including your GitHub profile readme! Supports users, organizations, and even repositories! For user accounts For organization accounts 🧩 Customizable with 47 plugins and 335 options! 📅 Isometric commit calendar 🈷️ Languages activity Full year calendar Half year calendar Indepth analysis (clone and analyze repositories) Recently used (analyze recent activity events) Default algorithm Default algorithm (with details) ✨ Stargazers 👨💻 Lines of code changed Classic charts Graph charts Worldmap Repositories and diff history Compact display in base…
read the full metrics overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenObserve or metrics more popular?
OpenObserve has 22,777 GitHub stars and metrics has 17,363. OpenObserve has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenObserve and metrics free?
Both are open source. OpenObserve is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and metrics under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenObserve and metrics?
OpenObserve is written in TypeScript and metrics in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenObserve or metrics?
Choose OpenObserve if you want the larger community (22,777 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose metrics if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.