head to head · open source
NetData vs Nagios
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Nagios has 2,065 stars, 488 forks, 206 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. NetData leads on adoption by 3,835% (81,255 vs 2,065 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; Nagios is written in C under GPL-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Nagios 24%. 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 | Nagios | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 488 |
| 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 Nagios if
- You want the Nagios feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and Nagios 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 Nagios
Nagios 4.x ========== Nagios is a host/service/network monitoring program written in C and released under the GNU General Public License, version 2. CGI programs are included to allow you to view the current status, history, etc via a web interface if you so desire. Visit the Nagios homepage at for documentation, new releases, bug reports, information on discussion forums, and more. Features Monitoring of network services (via SMTP, POP3, HTTP, PING, etc). Monitoring of host resources (processor load, disk usage, etc.). A plugin interface to allow for user developed service monitoring methods. Ability to define…
read the full Nagios overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or Nagios more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and Nagios has 2,065. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and Nagios free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Nagios under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and Nagios?
NetData is written in Go and Nagios in C. 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 Nagios?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Nagios if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.