head to head · open source
NetData vs metrics
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. metrics has 17,365 stars, 2,300 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. NetData leads on adoption by 368% (81,255 vs 17,365 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; metrics is written in JavaScript under MIT. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, metrics 13%. NetData 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 | metrics | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 17K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-05-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| 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 metrics if
- You want the metrics feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and metrics 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 metrics
📊 Metrics Generate metrics that can be embedded everywhere, including your GitHub profile readme! Supports users, organizations, and even repositories! For user accounts For organization accounts 🧩 Customizable with 47 plugins and 335 options! 📅 Isometric commit calendar 🈷️ Languages activity Full year calendar Half year calendar Indepth analysis (clone and analyze repositories) Recently used (analyze recent activity events) Default algorithm Default algorithm (with details) ✨ Stargazers 👨💻 Lines of code changed Classic charts Graph charts Worldmap Repositories and diff history Compact display in base…
read the full metrics overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or metrics more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and metrics has 17,365. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and metrics free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and metrics under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and metrics?
NetData is written in Go and metrics in JavaScript. 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 metrics?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose metrics if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.