head to head · open source
NetData vs subtrace
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. subtrace has 3,103 stars, 88 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. NetData leads on adoption by 2,519% (81,255 vs 3,103 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; subtrace is written in Go under BSD-3-Clause. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, subtrace 3%. 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 | subtrace | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-01-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 88 |
| 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 subtrace if
- You want the subtrace feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and subtrace 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 subtrace
Subtrace Inspect HTTP requests in any server with just a single command. Linux macOS Currently in private beta. Join the waitlist if you primarily use macOS for development! Resources Docs Discord Guides Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Quickstart
read the full subtrace overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or subtrace more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and subtrace has 3,103. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and subtrace free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and subtrace under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and subtrace?
NetData is written in Go and subtrace 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 subtrace?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose subtrace if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.