head to head · open source
NetData vs opencost
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. opencost has 6,802 stars, 916 forks, 306 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. NetData leads on adoption by 1,095% (81,255 vs 6,802 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; opencost is written in Go under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, opencost 13%. NetData was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cncf, 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 | opencost | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 6.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 916 |
| 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 opencost if
- You want the opencost 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 opencost 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 opencost
OpenCost — your favorite open source cost monitoring tool for Kubernetes and cloud spend OpenCost give teams visibility into current and historical Kubernetes and cloud spend and resource allocation. These models provide cost transparency in Kubernetes environments that support multiple applications, teams, departments, etc. It also provides visibility into the cloud costs across multiple providers. OpenCost was originally developed and open sourced by Kubecost. This project combines a specification as well as a Golang implementation of these detailed requirements. The web UI is available in the…
read the full opencost overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or opencost more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and opencost has 6,802. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and opencost free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and opencost under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and opencost?
NetData is written in Go and opencost 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 opencost?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose opencost if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.