head to head · open source
NetData vs ktop
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ktop has 1,109 stars, 25 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. NetData leads on adoption by 7,165% (80,564 vs 1,109 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; ktop is written in Go under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, ktop 2%. NetData was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (kubernetes), 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.
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Side by side
| NetData | ktop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 25 |
| 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 ktop if
- You want the ktop 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 ktop 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 ktop
ktop is an Apache 2.0 licensed, Go based terminal tool that shows live metrics for nodes, pods, and containers in a Kubernetes cluster, built for operators and developers who want top style cluster visibility without installing anything inside the cluster.
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or ktop more popular?
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars and ktop has 1,109. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and ktop free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ktop under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and ktop?
NetData is written in Go and ktop 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 ktop?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,564 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ktop if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.