Apache-2.0

Prometheus

Open-source metrics monitoring and alerting

An open-source time-series monitoring system that scrapes metrics and evaluates alert rules.

Prometheus main image

In depth

What it is

Prometheus is an open-source time-series monitoring system that scrapes metrics and evaluates alert rules.

Key features

  • Scraping - Pull-based metrics scraping and service discovery.
  • PromQL - PromQL query language for metrics.
  • Alerting - Alerting integration via Alertmanager.
  • Ecosystem - Exporter ecosystem for common services.

Strengths

  • Scraping - Pull-based metrics scraping and service discovery.
  • PromQL - PromQL query language for metrics.
  • Alerting - Alerting integration via Alertmanager.

Trade-offs

  • Long-term storage - Long retention requires remote storage components.
  • Cardinality - High-cardinality metrics can cause performance issues.
  • Scaling - Large environments need federation and sharding patterns.

Pricing

Open-source software. Direct license cost is zero; costs are typically infrastructure, operations, and optional paid support or hosting.

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