head to head · open source
NetData vs Pulse
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pulse has 7,217 stars, 376 forks, 46 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. NetData leads on adoption by 1,016% (80,561 vs 7,217 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; Pulse is written in Swift under MIT. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Pulse 5%. 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 | Pulse | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 7.2K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 376 |
| 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 Pulse if
- You want the Pulse feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and Pulse 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 Pulse
Pulse is an MIT licensed Swift logging framework for Apple platforms that records logs and URLSession network requests inside iOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS apps, then displays them through SwiftUI views so developers and QA teams can inspect and share them directly from the device.
read the full Pulse overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or Pulse more popular?
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars and Pulse has 7,217. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and Pulse free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Pulse under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and Pulse?
NetData is written in Go and Pulse in Swift. 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 Pulse?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,561 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Pulse if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.