head to head · open source
Prometheus vs Grist
Prometheus has 66,106 GitHub stars, 10,840 forks, 890 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Grist has 11,815 stars, 644 forks, 727 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Prometheus leads on adoption by 460% (66,106 vs 11,815 stars). Prometheus is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Grist is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Prometheus has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Grist 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 | Grist | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 12K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 644 |
| 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 Grist if
- You want the Grist feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Grist 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 Grist
Grist is a modern relational spreadsheet that combines spreadsheet flexibility with database robustness. It lives in the open source database and spreadsheet ecosystem, and the grist core repository provides the server needed to host spreadsheets. The project is positioned as an open alternative to Airtable and Microsoft Excel. Grist Community edition is also known as grist core.
read the full Grist overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Prometheus or Grist more popular?
Prometheus has 66,106 GitHub stars and Grist has 11,815. Prometheus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prometheus and Grist free?
Both are open source. Prometheus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Grist under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Prometheus and Grist?
Prometheus is written in Go and Grist in TypeScript. 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 Grist?
Choose Prometheus if you want the larger community (66,106 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Grist if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.