head to head · open source
NetData vs viztracer
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. viztracer has 7,743 stars, 475 forks, 33 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 940% (80,561 vs 7,743 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; viztracer is written in Python under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, viztracer 6%. 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 | viztracer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 7.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 475 |
| 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 viztracer if
- You want the viztracer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and viztracer 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 viztracer
VizTracer is a low overhead Python tracing, debugging and profiling tool that records code execution and renders it as an interactive timeline with source code, built for Python developers who need to see what their scripts, threads, subprocesses, async tasks and PyTorch calls are actually doing.
read the full viztracer overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or viztracer more popular?
NetData has 80,561 GitHub stars and viztracer has 7,743. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and viztracer free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and viztracer under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and viztracer?
NetData is written in Go and viztracer 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 viztracer?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (80,561 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose viztracer if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.