head to head · open source
NetData vs datadog-agent
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. datadog-agent has 3,772 stars, 1,525 forks, 721 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 2,054% (81,255 vs 3,772 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; datadog-agent is written in Go under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, datadog-agent 40%. datadog-agent 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 | datadog-agent | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| 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 datadog-agent if
- You want the datadog-agent feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and datadog-agent 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 datadog-agent
Datadog Agent This repository contains the source code of the Datadog Agent version 7 and version 6. Please refer to the Agent user documentation for information about differences between Agent v5, Agent v6 and Agent v7. Additionally, we provide a list of prepackaged binaries for an easy install process here. Documentation The developer docs site contains information about how to develop the Datadog Agent itself. The source of the content is located under the docs directory and may contain pages that are not yet published. Contributing code You'll find information and help on how to contribute code to this…
read the full datadog-agent overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or datadog-agent more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and datadog-agent has 3,772. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and datadog-agent free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and datadog-agent under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and datadog-agent?
NetData is written in Go and datadog-agent in Go. 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 datadog-agent?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose datadog-agent if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.