head to head · open source
NetData vs effect
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. effect has 16,097 stars, 747 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 400% (80,561 vs 16,097 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; effect is written in TypeScript under MIT. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, effect 5%. effect 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 | effect | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 16K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 747 |
| 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 effect if
- You want the effect feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and effect 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 effect
Effect is a TypeScript library for building robust, maintainable, type safe, and production grade applications. It lives in the TypeScript and JavaScript ecosystem, distributed as the core effect package alongside a monorepo of integration packages that extend it. The project is MIT licensed, has been developed for roughly seven years, and currently ships Effect V4 as a release candidate, with the main branch holding v4 development and the v3 branch retaining the previous line.
read the full effect overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or effect more popular?
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars and effect has 16,097. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and effect free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and effect under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and effect?
NetData is written in Go and effect in TypeScript. 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 effect?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,561 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose effect if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.