head to head · open source
NetData vs nerdlog
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nerdlog has 1,563 stars, 40 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. NetData leads on adoption by 5,054% (80,564 vs 1,563 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; nerdlog is written in Go under BSD-2-Clause. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, nerdlog 3%. 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 | nerdlog | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 40 |
| 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 nerdlog if
- You want the nerdlog feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and nerdlog 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 nerdlog
Nerdlog is a fast, remote first, multi host terminal user interface log viewer with a timeline histogram that needs no central server, built in Go for engineers who read system logs from several remote hosts at once.
read the full nerdlog overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or nerdlog more popular?
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars and nerdlog has 1,563. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and nerdlog free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and nerdlog under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and nerdlog?
NetData is written in Go and nerdlog 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 nerdlog?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,564 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose nerdlog if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.