head to head · open source
NetData vs semantic_logger
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. semantic_logger has 956 stars, 140 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. NetData leads on adoption by 8,399% (81,255 vs 956 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; semantic_logger is written in Ruby under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, semantic_logger 15%. 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 | semantic_logger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 956 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 140 |
| 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 semantic_logger if
- You want the semantic_logger 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 semantic_logger 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 semantic_logger
Semantic Logger Semantic Logger is a high performance, asynchronous structured logging framework for Ruby and Rails. It differs from ordinary loggers in two important ways: 1. It logs structured data, not just strings. Along with the text message, each log entry can carry a payload (any Hash), an exception, a duration, metrics, and tags. That data is preserved all the way to the destination, so it stays searchable instead of being flattened into text. 2. It logs asynchronously. Log events are pushed onto an in memory queue and written to their destinations by a separate background thread, so your application is…
read the full semantic_logger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or semantic_logger more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and semantic_logger has 956. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and semantic_logger free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and semantic_logger under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and semantic_logger?
NetData is written in Go and semantic_logger 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 semantic_logger?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose semantic_logger if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.