head to head · open source
NetData vs sysstat
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. sysstat has 3,367 stars, 489 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. NetData leads on adoption by 2,293% (80,564 vs 3,367 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; sysstat is written in C under GPL-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, sysstat 15%. NetData was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (linux), 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 | sysstat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 489 |
| 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 sysstat if
- You want the sysstat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and sysstat 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 sysstat
sysstat is a GPL 2.0 licensed collection of C utilities that report and historize Linux system performance data, built for system administrators, SREs, and performance engineers who need per device, per CPU, and per process measurements on hosts they control.
read the full sysstat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or sysstat more popular?
NetData has 80,564 GitHub stars and sysstat has 3,367. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and sysstat free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and sysstat under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and sysstat?
NetData is written in Go and sysstat in C. 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 sysstat?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,564 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose sysstat if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.