head to head · open source
NetData vs opentelemetry-ruby
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. opentelemetry-ruby has 606 stars, 301 forks, 144 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. NetData leads on adoption by 13,194% (80,564 vs 606 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; opentelemetry-ruby is written in Ruby under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, opentelemetry-ruby 50%. 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-ruby | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 606 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 301 |
| 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-ruby if
- You want the opentelemetry-ruby feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and opentelemetry-ruby 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-ruby
OpenTelemetry Ruby is the vendor neutral Ruby client for OpenTelemetry — an Apache 2.0 API and SDK that lets Ruby applications produce distributed traces, metrics and other telemetry — built for Ruby developers and platform teams who want observability data without committing to a single vendor's agent.
read the full opentelemetry-ruby overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or opentelemetry-ruby more popular?
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars and opentelemetry-ruby has 606. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and opentelemetry-ruby free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and opentelemetry-ruby under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and opentelemetry-ruby?
NetData is written in Go and opentelemetry-ruby in Ruby. 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-ruby?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,564 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose opentelemetry-ruby if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.