head to head · open source
Uptime Kuma vs Icinga
Uptime Kuma has 91,477 GitHub stars, 8,426 forks, 805 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Icinga has 2,237 stars, 616 forks, 496 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Uptime Kuma leads on adoption by 3,989% (91,477 vs 2,237 stars). Uptime Kuma is written in JavaScript under MIT; Icinga is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Uptime Kuma has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Icinga 28%. Uptime Kuma was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (monitoring), 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
| Uptime Kuma | Icinga | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.4K | ⑂ 616 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Uptime Kuma if
- You weight community size — 91K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Icinga if
- You want the Icinga feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Icinga fits your workflow better
About Uptime Kuma
Uptime Kuma is a free, MIT licensed, self hosted monitoring tool with a reactive web dashboard, built for operators and teams that want to watch their own HTTP, TCP, and DNS endpoints and keep the resulting data on their own infrastructure.
read the full Uptime Kuma overview →
About Icinga
Icinga is an open source monitoring system for complex IT infrastructure. It checks the availability of network resources, notifies users of outages, and generates performance data for reporting. The project sits in the Infrastructure & Operations / Monitoring & Observability ecosystem, and Icinga 2 is the monitoring server component of the broader Icinga stack.
read the full Icinga overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Uptime Kuma or Icinga more popular?
Uptime Kuma has 91,477 GitHub stars and Icinga has 2,237. Uptime Kuma has the larger community by that measure.
Are Uptime Kuma and Icinga free?
Both are open source. Uptime Kuma is licensed under MIT and Icinga under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Uptime Kuma and Icinga?
Uptime Kuma is written in JavaScript and Icinga in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Uptime Kuma or Icinga?
Choose Uptime Kuma if you want the larger community (91,477 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Icinga if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.