head to head · open source
Prometheus vs spicedb
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars, 10,839 forks, 890 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. spicedb has 7,071 stars, 421 forks, 157 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Prometheus leads on adoption by 835% (66,109 vs 7,071 stars). Prometheus is written in Go under Apache-2.0; spicedb is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Prometheus has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, spicedb 6%. spicedb 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 | spicedb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 7.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 421 |
| 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 spicedb if
- You want the spicedb 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 spicedb 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 spicedb
SpiceDB is an open source, Google Zanzibar inspired database written in Go that stores and queries fine grained authorization data, and it is built for platform and product teams that need a reliable answer to whether subject X can perform action Y on resource Z.
read the full spicedb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Prometheus or spicedb more popular?
Prometheus has 66,109 GitHub stars and spicedb has 7,071. Prometheus has the larger community by that measure.
Are Prometheus and spicedb free?
Both are open source. Prometheus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and spicedb under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Prometheus and spicedb?
Prometheus is written in Go and spicedb 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 spicedb?
Choose Prometheus if you want the larger community (66,109 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose spicedb if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.