head to head · open source
NetData vs prometheus-operator
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. prometheus-operator has 9,993 stars, 3,894 forks, 296 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 713% (81,255 vs 9,993 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; prometheus-operator is written in Go under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, prometheus-operator 39%. NetData was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | prometheus-operator | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 10.0K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 3.9K |
| 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 prometheus-operator if
- You want the prometheus-operator 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 prometheus-operator 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 prometheus-operator
Prometheus Operator Overview The Prometheus Operator provides Kubernetes native deployment and management of Prometheus and related monitoring components. The purpose of this project is to simplify and automate the configuration of a Prometheus based monitoring stack for Kubernetes clusters. The Prometheus operator includes, but is not limited to, the following features: Kubernetes Custom Resources : Use Kubernetes custom resources to deploy and manage Prometheus, Alertmanager, and related components. Simplified Deployment Configuration : Configure the fundamentals of Prometheus like versions, persistence…
read the full prometheus-operator overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or prometheus-operator more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and prometheus-operator has 9,993. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and prometheus-operator free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and prometheus-operator under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and prometheus-operator?
NetData is written in Go and prometheus-operator 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 prometheus-operator?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose prometheus-operator if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.