head to head · open source
Prometheus vs algernon
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars, 10,839 forks, 890 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. algernon has 3,028 stars, 149 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Prometheus leads on adoption by 2,083% (66,109 vs 3,028 stars). Prometheus is written in Go under Apache-2.0; algernon is written in JavaScript under BSD-3-Clause. Prometheus has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, algernon 5%. Prometheus was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Prometheus | algernon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 149 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Prometheus if
- You weight community size — 66K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick algernon if
- You want the algernon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and algernon fits your workflow better
About Prometheus
Prometheus is an open source monitoring system and time series database, part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation ecosystem. It collects metrics from configured targets at defined intervals, evaluates alerting rules, and visualizes results. Designed for reliability in dynamic environments, it operates without reliance on distributed storage, ensuring each server node functions independently.
read the full Prometheus overview →
About algernon
Algernon is a small, self contained web server written in pure Go that serves dynamic sites and applications from a single executable, with built in support for Lua, Teal, Markdown, Pongo2, TypeScript, npm less React 19, and a choice of SQLite, PostgreSQL, Redis and other database backends — aimed at developers and operators who want to run a web application without assembling and maintaining a separate runtime stack.
read the full algernon overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Prometheus or algernon more popular?
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars and algernon has 3,028. Prometheus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prometheus and algernon free?
Both are open source. Prometheus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and algernon under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Prometheus and algernon?
Prometheus is written in Go and algernon 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, Prometheus or algernon?
Choose Prometheus if you want the larger community (66,109 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose algernon if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.