head to head · open source
NetData vs opentelemetry-python
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped today. opentelemetry-python has 2,637 stars, 1,005 forks, 425 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 2,955% (80,564 vs 2,637 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; opentelemetry-python is written in Python under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, opentelemetry-python 38%. 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 | opentelemetry-python | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 opentelemetry-python if
- You want the opentelemetry-python feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and opentelemetry-python 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 opentelemetry-python
OpenTelemetry Python Project Status See the OpenTelemetry Instrumentation for Python. Project versioning information and stability guarantees can be found here. Breaking Changes [!IMPORTANT] We are working on stabilizing the Log signal which would require making deprecations and breaking changes. We will try to reduce the releases that may require an update to your code, especially for instrumentations or for SDK developers. Getting started You can find the getting started guide for OpenTelemetry Python here. If you are looking for examples on how to use the OpenTelemetry API to instrument your code manually, or …
read the full opentelemetry-python overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or opentelemetry-python more popular?
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars and opentelemetry-python has 2,637. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and opentelemetry-python free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and opentelemetry-python under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and opentelemetry-python?
NetData is written in Go and opentelemetry-python in Python. 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 opentelemetry-python?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,564 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose opentelemetry-python if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.