head to head · open source
NetData vs RedELK
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. RedELK has 2,670 stars, 391 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 2,917% (80,564 vs 2,670 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; RedELK is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, RedELK 15%. RedELK 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 | RedELK | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 391 |
| 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 RedELK if
- You want the RedELK feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and RedELK 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 RedELK
RedELK is a red team's SIEM — an Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibana based system that collects operational logs from red team teamservers and traffic logs from redirectors into one enriched central location, built for red team operators and for the white teams that need oversight of long running engagements.
read the full RedELK overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or RedELK more popular?
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars and RedELK has 2,670. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and RedELK free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and RedELK under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and RedELK?
NetData is written in Go and RedELK 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 RedELK?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,564 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose RedELK if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.