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Comparison · Infra & APIs

Prometheus Alertmanager vs Clair

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Prometheus Alertmanager and Clair — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Prometheus Alertmanager vs Clair: at a glance

FeaturePrometheus AlertmanagerClair
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score6.32.5
Sparks · 30d10
Top themesalerting, prometheus, observability, breaking-changescontainer-security, vulnerability-scanning, sbom, red-hat
Last editorial update3d ago8h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Prometheus Alertmanager?

Alertmanager 0.35 adds a gRPC API and a new UI, and breaks event recorder configs

Alertmanager handles deduplication, grouping, silencing and routing of Prometheus alerts. 0.35.0 (November 9) is the largest release in the feed: an experimental ConnectRPC API (Connect, gRPC and gRPC-Web) beside api/v2, a new Mantine UI at /ui/, Slack thread replies for alert updates, and breaking changes that require named event recorder outputs, move its output to an events/v2 schema and promote auto-gomemlimit to a plain flag. It follows 0.34.2, which turned CORS off by default.

Read the full Prometheus Alertmanager trajectory →

What is Clair?

Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.

Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.

Read the full Clair trajectory →

Prometheus Alertmanager vs Clair: editorial side-by-side

P6.3

Alertmanager 0.35 adds a gRPC API and a new UI, and breaks event recorder configs

◆ Current state

Alertmanager handles deduplication, grouping, silencing and routing of Prometheus alerts. 0.35.0 (November 9) is the largest release in the feed: an experimental ConnectRPC API (Connect, gRPC and gRPC-Web) beside api/v2, a new Mantine UI at /ui/, Slack thread replies for alert updates, and breaking changes that require named event recorder outputs, move its output to an events/v2 schema and promote auto-gomemlimit to a plain flag. It follows 0.34.2, which turned CORS off by default.

◆ Where it's heading

The project is replacing its interfaces in parallel rather than in place: a new API generation and a new UI now run alongside the old ones. The event recorder introduced in 0.33 is being reshaped with breaking schema changes, so anything consuming it is tracking a moving target.

◆ Prediction

Expect 0.35.x patch releases fixing fallout from the breaking changes, and further services added to the ConnectRPC API beyond the initial status service.

C
Clair
INFRA · APIS
2.5

Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.

◆ Current state

Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.

◆ Where it's heading

Since 4.8 Clair has moved from Red Hat's older OVAL data to VEX, and each release follows Red Hat's security data more closely. 4.10 adds SBOMs as an input, so Clair can match what an image's own manifest declares, not only what it finds on disk.

◆ Prediction

More 4.10 release candidates and then a final are likely; the long gap between releases suggests that could take weeks.

Alternatives to Prometheus Alertmanager and Clair

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Prometheus Alertmanager or Clair.

See all Prometheus Alertmanager alternatives → · See all Clair alternatives →

Recent activity from Prometheus Alertmanager and Clair

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 13h agoClairClair 4.10 RC reads CycloneDX SBOMs for Java matching
  2. 4d agoPrometheus Alertmanager0.35.0: gRPC API, new UI, Slack threads, breaking recorder changes ⚡
  3. 16d agoPrometheus Alertmanager0.34.2: CORS off by default, eMudhra CAs distrusted
  4. 1mo agoPrometheus Alertmanager0.34.1: inhibition fixes stop alerts being wrongly un-muted
  5. 2mo agoPrometheus AlertmanagerNotification failure reasons split; templatable route labels added
  6. 4mo agoPrometheus AlertmanagerSilence snapshot legacy matchers field restored
  7. 5mo agoPrometheus AlertmanagerPer-group alert markers replace the global one; event recorder lands ⚡
  8. 11mo agoClairClair 4.9 moves CVSS data to NVD's 2.0 feeds
  9. 2y agoClairClair 4.8 replaces Red Hat OVAL data with VEX
  10. 2y agoClairClair 4.7.4 changes the default layer download location
  11. 2y agoClairClair 4.7.3 requires TLS 1.2 or newer
  12. 3y agoClairClair 4.7.2 drops the retired CRDA source

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Prometheus Alertmanager and Clair?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Prometheus Alertmanager is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Prometheus Alertmanager better than Clair?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Prometheus Alertmanager is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Prometheus Alertmanager?

Top Prometheus Alertmanager alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Prometheus Alertmanager alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/alertmanager for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Clair?

Top Clair alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Clair alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clair for the full list with editorial commentary on each.