head to head · open source
NetData vs aya
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped today. aya has 4,811 stars, 477 forks, 201 open issues and last shipped today. NetData leads on adoption by 1,575% (80,564 vs 4,811 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%. aya 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 | ★ 4.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 477 |
| 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
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 aya
Aya is an eBPF library for the Rust programming language, built with a focus on developer experience and operability, and it exists so that Rust developers can load, attach, and drive eBPF programs running inside the Linux kernel without depending on C toolchains or C eBPF frameworks.
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or aya more popular?
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars and aya has 4,811. 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 (80,564 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.