Apache Kafkavsprometheus
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| Apache Kafka | prometheus | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 83/100 | 90/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 of 12 in Message Broker | #1 of 104 in Monitoring & observability |
| GitHub stars | 34 152 | 66 849 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +327 | +637 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 0 | 16 |
| Latest release | — | v3.15.1 · 21 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Java | Go |
Which one should you pick?
prometheus scores 90/100 against 83/100 for Apache Kafka, so it is the safer default.
prometheus ships more often: 16 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for Apache Kafka.
If you want the quickest setup, prometheus is easier to run; Apache Kafka needs more configuration.
Apache Kafka details →prometheus details →