head to head · open source
NetData vs elastdocker
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. elastdocker has 2,066 stars, 338 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. NetData leads on adoption by 3,800% (80,564 vs 2,066 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; elastdocker is written in Dockerfile under MIT. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, elastdocker 16%. NetData was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (docker), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 13541 open source comparisons
Side by side
| NetData | elastdocker | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Dockerfile |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 338 |
| 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 elastdocker if
- You want the elastdocker feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Dockerfile
- You evaluated both and elastdocker 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 elastdocker
elastdocker is a Docker Compose composition that runs the Elastic Stack (ELK) version 9.4.2 — Elasticsearch, Kibana, Logstash, Beats, and the supporting components — preconfigured with security, self monitoring, and tooling for logging, metrics, APM, alerting, machine learning, and SIEM, aimed at developers and small teams who want the full stack running with a single command instead of wiring it together by hand.
read the full elastdocker overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Monitoring & Observability projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Monitoring & Observability field.
Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or elastdocker more popular?
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars and elastdocker has 2,066. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and elastdocker free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and elastdocker under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and elastdocker?
NetData is written in Go and elastdocker in Dockerfile. 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 elastdocker?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,564 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose elastdocker if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.