head to head · open source
NetData vs alerta
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. alerta has 2,533 stars, 377 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. NetData leads on adoption by 3,108% (81,255 vs 2,533 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; alerta is written in Python under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, alerta 15%. 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 | alerta | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 377 |
| 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 alerta if
- You want the alerta feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and alerta 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 alerta
Alerta Release 9.1 ================== The Alerta monitoring tool was developed with the following aims in mind: distributed and de coupled so that it is SCALABLE minimal CONFIGURATION that easily accepts alerts from any source quick at a glance VISUALISATION with drill down to detail Requirements Release 9 only supports Python 3.9 or higher. The only mandatory dependency is MongoDB or PostgreSQL. Everything else is optional. Postgres version 13 or better MongoDB version 6.0 or better Installation To install MongoDB on Debian/Ubuntu run: $ sudo apt get install y mongodb org $ mongod To install MongoDB on…
read the full alerta overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or alerta more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and alerta has 2,533. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and alerta free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and alerta under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and alerta?
NetData is written in Go and alerta in Python. 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 alerta?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose alerta if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.