pgmetrics
pgmetrics is a lightweight command-line tool that collects and displays real-time statistics and diagnostic information from PostgreSQL servers. It helps teams troubleshoot performance issues, monitor database health, and automate operational tasks without requiring additional infrastructure.
Key facts
Objective fields from the source. Values we can't verify are shown as “Unknown” rather than guessed.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | rapidloop/pgmetrics |
| Owner | rapidloop |
| Primary language | Go |
| License | Apache-2.0 — OSI-approved |
| Stars | 1.1k |
| Forks | 80 |
| Open issues | 14 |
| Latest release | v1.19.0 (2026-01-18) |
| Last updated | 2026-07-03 |
| Source | https://github.com/rapidloop/pgmetrics |
What pgmetrics is
Written in Go, pgmetrics connects directly to PostgreSQL servers to gather metrics including table/index statistics, query performance, replication status, and resource utilization. It outputs results in human-readable or JSON formats suitable for scripting and integration into monitoring pipelines.
Get the pgmetrics source
Clone the repository and explore it locally.
git clone https://github.com/rapidloop/pgmetrics.gitcd pgmetrics# follow the project's README for install & configurationNeed it deployed, integrated, or customized instead? DEV.co ships production installs.
Best use cases
Implementation considerations
- Network connectivity: pgmetrics must have direct TCP/IP access to PostgreSQL servers; ensure firewall rules, DNS resolution, and authentication credentials are properly configured.
- PostgreSQL user privileges: the connection user should have sufficient permissions (e.g., pg_monitor role or equivalent) to read system catalog and statistics tables.
- Output integration: decide on collection frequency, storage backend, and alerting rules before deploying; JSON output simplifies piping to external systems.
- Version compatibility: verify pgmetrics version is compatible with target PostgreSQL versions (typically back to PostgreSQL 9.1+, but requires review of release notes).
- Binary distribution and updates: plan for how to distribute the Go binary to servers and keep it current with security patches and feature releases.
When to avoid it — and what to weigh
- Real-time streaming metrics at high frequency — pgmetrics is a pull-based tool designed for periodic sampling; it is not optimized for continuous streaming of metrics or sub-second measurement intervals.
- Persistent metric storage and long-term trending — pgmetrics does not store historical data; you must integrate it with a time-series database (InfluxDB, Prometheus) to retain and analyze trends over time.
- Large-scale multi-database monitoring dashboards — While suitable for small to medium deployments, use dedicated monitoring solutions (Datadog, New Relic, Percona Monitoring) for centralizing metrics across many PostgreSQL instances.
- Non-Go/CLI-based environments — pgmetrics is a standalone CLI tool; if your team requires a web UI, API, or language-specific library, custom integration or alternative tooling will be necessary.
License & commercial use
pgmetrics is licensed under Apache License 2.0 (Apache-2.0), an OSI-approved permissive open-source license.
Apache-2.0 permits commercial use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions (retain copyright and license notices, include CHANGES file). No warranty is provided. Use in commercial monitoring workflows is permitted, but review your organization's OSS policy and consider vendor support if deployment is mission-critical.
DEV.co evaluation signals
Editorial assessment — not user reviews. Directional, with an explicit confidence level.
| Signal | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Maintenance | Active |
| Documentation | Adequate |
| License clarity | Clear |
| Deployment complexity | Low |
| DEV.co fit | Good |
| Assessment confidence | High |
pgmetrics requires database credentials (username/password or SSL client certs) to connect; store credentials securely (e.g., .pgpass, environment variables, secrets management tools). The tool itself is read-only for statistics, reducing risk of data modification. No security vulnerabilities or audit results are evident from the data provided; review release notes and advisories for any reported issues. No assertion of security certification is made.
Alternatives to consider
pgAdmin
Full-featured web UI for PostgreSQL administration and monitoring; more heavyweight but provides persistent dashboards and alerting; requires separate deployment.
Prometheus PostgreSQL exporter
Native Prometheus integration with built-in scraping and time-series storage; better suited for continuous, centralized monitoring in Kubernetes/cloud environments.
Datadog, New Relic, AWS CloudWatch RDS
Fully managed SaaS monitoring; includes persistent dashboards, anomaly detection, and multi-database aggregation; suitable for large enterprise deployments.
Build on pgmetrics with DEV.co software developers
Contact our team to evaluate pgmetrics for your PostgreSQL infrastructure, design collection strategies, and integrate with your existing monitoring and alerting systems.
Talk to DEV.coRelated open-source tools
Surfaced by semantic similarity across the DEV.co open-source index.
Related on DEV.co
Explore the category and the services that help you build with it.
pgmetrics FAQ
Does pgmetrics store historical data?
What PostgreSQL versions are supported?
Can pgmetrics modify the database?
Is pgmetrics suitable for production use?
Software development & web development with DEV.co
Adopting pgmetrics is usually one piece of a larger software development effort. As a software development agency, DEV.co provides software development services and web development expertise — pairing senior software developers and web developers with your team to design, build, and operate open-source observability software in production.
Ready to integrate pgmetrics into your monitoring stack?
Contact our team to evaluate pgmetrics for your PostgreSQL infrastructure, design collection strategies, and integrate with your existing monitoring and alerting systems.