compare
Cortex vs Prometheus
The same facts for both, read from GitHub every night, and the relation a person reviewed.
| Fact | Cortex | Prometheus |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Go | Go |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Stars | 5.9k | 66k |
| Latest | v1.21.1 | v3.15.0 |
| Last push | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-06 |
| Release cadence | too few releases | about 13 days between releases |
| Active contributors | 22 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days | 74+ commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days |
| Flags | none | none |
How they relate
Cortex replaces Prometheus. Alternatives to Prometheus →
PartialHorizontally scaled, multi-tenant long-term storage for Prometheus metrics, fed by remote write.
Cortex
- v1.22.0-rc.22026-09-26This is the third release candidate for v1.22.0.pre-release
- v1.22.0-rc.12026-09-21This is the second release candidate for v1.22.0.pre-release
- v1.22.0-rc.02026-09-12This is the first release candidate for v1.22.0.pre-release
- v1.21.12026-06-05[BUGFIX] gRPC: Fix panic when grpc_compression is set to snappy on ingester client or store-gateway client configuratio…
- v1.21.1-rc.02026-06-01[BUGFIX] gRPC: Fix panic when grpc_compression is set to snappy on ingester client or store-gateway client configuratio…pre-release
Prometheus
- v3.13.42026-10-023.13.4 / 2026-09-29
- v3.15.02026-09-253.15.0 / 2026-09-24
- v3.15.0-rc.12026-09-223.15.0-rc.1 / 2026-09-21pre-release
- v3.15.0-rc.02026-09-143.15.0-rc.0 / 2026-09-09pre-release
- v3.13.32026-09-073.13.3 / 2026-09-07
Cortex
✓ signed The latest release, v1.21.1, carries a signature GitHub verified.
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Prometheus
unsigned The latest release, v3.15.0, carries no signature GitHub could verify.
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