Prometheus vs Thanos
Prometheus: CNCF-graduated pull-based monitoring system with a local TSDB, PromQL and alerting rules. Thanos: Sidecar-plus-object-storage layer giving Prometheus global queries, HA dedup and long retention.
key differences
- Thanos is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Prometheus (≤ 100 GB).
- Horizontal scaling is manual in Prometheus and native in Thanos.
choose prometheus for
- +Kubernetes and microservice monitoring
- +SLO and symptom-based alerting
- +Host and infrastructure metrics via exporters
- +Short-term metrics store feeding a long-term backend via remote write
best at · Observability, Time-series
choose thanos for
- +Long-term storage for multi-cluster Prometheus
- +Global dashboards across regions
- +Cost-efficient metrics retention on S3/GCS
best at · Observability, Time-series
Prometheus vs Thanos: FAQ
What is the difference between Prometheus and Thanos?
Prometheus: CNCF-graduated pull-based monitoring system with a local TSDB, PromQL and alerting rules. Thanos: Sidecar-plus-object-storage layer giving Prometheus global queries, HA dedup and long retention. Thanos is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Prometheus (≤ 100 GB). Horizontal scaling is manual in Prometheus and native in Thanos.
When should I choose Prometheus over Thanos?
Choose Prometheus for kubernetes and microservice monitoring; SLO and symptom-based alerting; and host and infrastructure metrics via exporters. Choose Thanos for long-term storage for multi-cluster Prometheus, global dashboards across regions and cost-efficient metrics retention on S3/GCS.
Is Prometheus or Thanos more popular?
Prometheus ranks #9 on the WhichDB Score (70.8/100) and Thanos ranks #257 (13.1/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.
Are Prometheus and Thanos open source?
Yes. Prometheus is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. Thanos is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.