head to head · open source
NetData vs kube-state-metrics
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kube-state-metrics has 6,204 stars, 2,194 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 1,199% (80,561 vs 6,204 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; kube-state-metrics is written in Go under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, kube-state-metrics 35%. 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 | kube-state-metrics | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 6.2K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 2.2K |
| 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 kube-state-metrics if
- You want the kube-state-metrics 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 kube-state-metrics 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 kube-state-metrics
kube state metrics is an Apache 2.0 add on agent for Kubernetes that listens to the Kubernetes API server and exposes metrics about the state of cluster objects, built for platform teams and operators who run Prometheus based monitoring.
read the full kube-state-metrics overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or kube-state-metrics more popular?
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars and kube-state-metrics has 6,204. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and kube-state-metrics free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and kube-state-metrics under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and kube-state-metrics?
NetData is written in Go and kube-state-metrics 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 kube-state-metrics?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,561 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose kube-state-metrics if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.