Glances vs Gatus
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, ratings, and alternatives.
Glances is an open‑source, cross‑platform monitoring tool that provides a concise, real‑time view of system resources such as CPU, memory, disk I/O, network, and processes. It runs on Linux, Windows, macOS and can be accessed via a web interface, making it ideal for both local and remote monitoring. Designed for system administrators and DevOps teams, Glances aggregates metrics into a single dashboard, supports customizable alerts, and integrates with scripts or APIs for automated workflows. Its lightweight design ensures minimal overhead while delivering comprehensive performance insights.
Gatus is a lightweight, self‑hosted monitoring solution that continuously checks the health of your services and endpoints. It provides real‑time status pages and integrates with popular incident management tools. Designed for DevOps engineers and system administrators, Gatus runs on any web server and offers flexible alert routing via Slack, PagerDuty, and email, all without any licensing costs.
- Fully open‑source and free
- Runs on all major operating systems
- Lightweight with low resource overhead
- Extensible via plugins and API
- Completely free and open‑source
- Easy to self‑host with minimal dependencies
- Flexible alert routing to multiple channels
- Simple YAML configuration for version control
- No native mobile app
- Limited built‑in visualization compared to commercial tools
- Alerting requires manual configuration or external scripts
- Limited built‑in visualization compared to commercial tools
- No native mobile app for push notifications
- Requires manual setup of external integrations
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The Verdict
AI-generated from listing dataBoth tools are free and open‑source, but Glances is a general‑purpose system monitor while Gatus focuses on endpoint health checks and alert routing; choose Glances for broad OS metrics, Gatus for service‑level monitoring.
Key differences
- •Metric scope: Glances monitors CPU, memory, disk, network, processes; Gatus checks HTTP/TCP/DNS health and TLS certs.
- •Alerting: Glances requires manual scripts; Gatus has built‑in routing to Slack, PagerDuty, email.
- •Configuration: Glances uses command‑line/API; Gatus uses simple YAML files for version‑controlled setups.
- •Export formats: Glances can export JSON, CSV, InfluxDB; Gatus exports Prometheus‑compatible metrics.
- •Extensibility: Glances offers plugins for Docker, MySQL, hardware sensors; Gatus has fewer plugin options.
Pricing & value
Both are free, open‑source tools with comparable cost‑to‑value.
Ease of use / learning curve
Gatus uses declarative YAML files, making initial setup simpler than Glances' command‑line and plugin configuration.
Features & depth
Glances provides comprehensive system‑level metrics (CPU, memory, disk I/O, network, processes) beyond health checks.
Integrations & ecosystem
Gatus includes native alert routing to Slack, PagerDuty, email and Prometheus export; Glances lacks built‑in integrations.
Collaboration
Gatus' YAML configs are version‑control friendly, facilitating team collaboration; Glances lacks a comparable config format.
Scalability
Glances runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and supports plugins for containers and databases, scaling across diverse environments.
Support
Both rely on community support via email and GitHub issues; no commercial support listed.
Choose Glances if…
Admins needing real‑time OS resource monitoring across multiple platforms.
Choose Gatus if…
Teams focused on service health checks, SLA monitoring, and integrated alert routing.
Common questions
Is there any cost to use either tool?
Both Glances and Gatus are free and open‑source.
Which tool offers built‑in alert notifications?
Gatus provides native alert routing to Slack, PagerDuty, and email; Glances requires manual scripts or external tools.
Can I monitor Docker containers with these tools?
Glances supports Docker via plugins; Gatus does not have a Docker‑specific sensor.