head to head · open source
NetData vs aya
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aya has 4,886 stars, 484 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 1,563% (81,255 vs 4,886 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; aya is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, aya 10%. 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 | aya | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 484 |
| 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 aya if
- You want the aya feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and aya 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 aya
[![Crates.io][crates badge]][crates url] ![License][license badge] [![Build status][build badge]][build url] [![Book][book badge]][book url] [![Gurubase][gurubase badge]][gurubase url] [crates badge]: [crates url]: [license badge]: [build badge]: [build url]: [book badge]: [book url]: [gurubase badge]: [gurubase url]: API Documentation [![Unreleased Documentation][git docs badge]][git api docs] [![Documentation][api docs badge]][api docs] [git docs badge]: [git api docs]: [api docs badge]: [api docs]: Community [![Discord][discord badge]][chat url] [![Awesome][awesome badge]][awesome aya] Join [the conversation…
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or aya more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and aya has 4,886. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and aya free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and aya under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and aya?
NetData is written in Go and aya 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 aya?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose aya if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.