head to head · open source
Prometheus vs FerretDB
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars, 10,839 forks, 890 open issues and last shipped yesterday. FerretDB has 11,070 stars, 488 forks, 448 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Prometheus leads on adoption by 497% (66,109 vs 11,070 stars). Prometheus is written in Go under Apache-2.0; FerretDB is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Prometheus has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, FerretDB 4%. Prometheus was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (hacktoberfest), 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
| Prometheus | FerretDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-06-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 488 |
| 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 FerretDB if
- You want the FerretDB 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 FerretDB 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 FerretDB
FerretDB is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed proxy written in Go that converts MongoDB 5.0+ wire protocol queries into SQL and stores the data in PostgreSQL with the DocumentDB extension, giving developers a drop in MongoDB compatible document database without MongoDB's SSPL licence.
read the full FerretDB overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Prometheus or FerretDB more popular?
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars and FerretDB has 11,070. Prometheus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prometheus and FerretDB free?
Both are open source. Prometheus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and FerretDB under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Prometheus and FerretDB?
Prometheus is written in Go and FerretDB 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, Prometheus or FerretDB?
Choose Prometheus if you want the larger community (66,109 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose FerretDB if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.