head to head · open source
NetData vs AutoKuma
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. AutoKuma has 898 stars, 47 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. NetData leads on adoption by 8,871% (80,561 vs 898 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; AutoKuma is written in Rust under MIT. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, AutoKuma 5%. NetData was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (docker), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | AutoKuma | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 898 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-06-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 47 |
| 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 AutoKuma if
- You want the AutoKuma feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and AutoKuma fits your workflow better
About NetData
Netdata is an open source, real time infrastructure monitoring platform written in Go and released under GPL 3.0, built for operators and lean teams who need per second visibility across Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, and Windows systems.
read the full NetData overview →
About AutoKuma
AutoKuma is an MIT licensed Rust utility that creates Uptime Kuma monitors automatically from Docker container labels, .json / .toml files, or Kubernetes custom resources, made for self hosters and operators who run Uptime Kuma next to containerized services and do not want to add monitors one by one in the web UI.
read the full AutoKuma overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or AutoKuma more popular?
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars and AutoKuma has 898. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and AutoKuma free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and AutoKuma under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and AutoKuma?
NetData is written in Go and AutoKuma in Rust. 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 AutoKuma?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,561 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose AutoKuma if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.