head to head · open source
NetData vs Checkmk
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Checkmk has 2,368 stars, 555 forks, 55 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 3,302% (80,561 vs 2,368 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; Checkmk is written in Python under GPL-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Checkmk 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 | Checkmk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 555 |
| 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 Checkmk if
- You want the Checkmk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Checkmk 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 Checkmk
Checkmk is a comprehensive IT monitoring system for infrastructure and application monitoring across physical, virtual, containerized, and cloud environments. It is an open source Python project released under the GNU GPL v2, and it lives in the infrastructure monitoring and observability ecosystem. The project provides a central monitoring engine, a web based interface, and support for many official and community maintained plugins.
read the full Checkmk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or Checkmk more popular?
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars and Checkmk has 2,368. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and Checkmk free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Checkmk under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and Checkmk?
NetData is written in Go and Checkmk 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 Checkmk?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,561 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Checkmk if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.