head to head · open source
Prometheus vs couchdb
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars, 10,839 forks, 890 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. couchdb has 6,953 stars, 1,077 forks, 376 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Prometheus leads on adoption by 851% (66,109 vs 6,953 stars). Prometheus is written in Go under Apache-2.0; couchdb is written in Erlang under Apache-2.0. Prometheus has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, couchdb 15%. couchdb 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 | couchdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 7.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Erlang |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 couchdb if
- You want the couchdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Erlang
- You evaluated both and couchdb 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 couchdb
Apache CouchDB is an Apache licensed, Erlang built document database with an HTTP/JSON API and multi primary syncing replication, aimed at developers and operators who need data to stay consistent across several nodes, devices, or sites rather than behind one primary server.
read the full couchdb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Prometheus or couchdb more popular?
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars and couchdb has 6,953. Prometheus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prometheus and couchdb free?
Both are open source. Prometheus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and couchdb under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Prometheus and couchdb?
Prometheus is written in Go and couchdb in Erlang. 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 couchdb?
Choose Prometheus if you want the larger community (66,109 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose couchdb if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.