head to head · open source
NetData vs Logstash
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Logstash has 14,972 stars, 3,503 forks, 2,254 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 443% (81,255 vs 14,972 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; Logstash is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Logstash 23%. NetData was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| NetData | Logstash | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 15K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 3.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick NetData if
- You weight community size — 81K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Logstash if
- You want the Logstash feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Logstash fits your workflow better
About NetData
X Ray Vision for your infrastructure! Every Metric, Every Second. No BS. Visit our Home Page MENU: WHO WE ARE KEY FEATURES GETTING STARTED HOW IT WORKS FAQ DOCS COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTE LICENSE [!WARNING] People get addicted to Netdata. Once you use it on your systems, there's no going back. WHO WE ARE Netdata is an open source, real time infrastructure monitoring platform. Monitor, detect, and act across your entire infrastructure. Core Advantages: Instant Insights – With Netdata you can access per second metrics and visualizations. Zero Configuration – You can deploy immediately without complex setup. ML Powered –…
read the full NetData overview →
About Logstash
Logstash Logstash is part of the Elastic Stack along with Beats, Elasticsearch and Kibana. Logstash is a server side data processing pipeline that ingests data from a multitude of sources simultaneously, transforms it, and then sends it to your favorite "stash." (Ours is Elasticsearch, naturally.). Logstash has over 200 plugins, and you can write your own very easily as well. For more info, see Documentation and Getting Started You can find the documentation and getting started guides for Logstash on the elastic.co site For information about building the documentation, see the README in Downloads You can…
read the full Logstash overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or Logstash more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and Logstash has 14,972. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and Logstash free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0, and Logstash has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between NetData and Logstash?
NetData is written in Go and Logstash in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, NetData or Logstash?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Logstash if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.