head to head · open source
SigNoz vs ktop
SigNoz has 32,525 GitHub stars, 2,576 forks, 1,557 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ktop has 1,116 stars, 25 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. SigNoz leads on adoption by 2,814% (32,525 vs 1,116 stars). SigNoz is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; ktop is written in Go under Apache-2.0. SigNoz has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, ktop 2%. SigNoz was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (metrics), 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
| SigNoz | ktop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-07-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 25 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SigNoz if
- You weight community size — 33K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ktop if
- You want the ktop feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and ktop fits your workflow better
About SigNoz
中文 · Deutsch · Português SigNoz is an open source observability platform built on OpenTelemetry. We’re building an enterprise grade alternative to fragmented monitoring stacks, with logs, metrics, traces, alerts, and dashboards in one place. Choose how to run SigNoz SigNoz Cloud (Recommended) Fully managed SigNoz with a 30 day free trial, no credit card required, usage based pricing that starts at $49, and regional data hosting. Start free → Enterprise Enterprise Cloud, BYOC, or Enterprise Self Hosted with compliance, support, custom retention, RBAC, ingestion controls, data residency, and region selection…
read the full SigNoz overview →
About ktop
A top like tool for your Kubernetes cluster. Following the tradition of Unix/Linux top tools, ktop is a tool that displays useful metrics information about nodes, pods, and other workload resources running in a Kubernetes cluster. Features Real Time Monitoring Continuously updated view of nodes, pods, and containers Drill Down Navigation Explore from cluster overview → node → pod → container logs Zero Cluster Installation Runs locally using your kubeconfig; no agents or server side components Works Anywhere kubectl Works Connects through the Kubernetes API; no direct node access required Streaming Container Logs…
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Frequently asked questions
Is SigNoz or ktop more popular?
SigNoz has 32,525 GitHub stars and ktop has 1,116. SigNoz has the larger community by that measure.
Are SigNoz and ktop free?
Both are open source. SigNoz has no licence declared in this registry, and ktop is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SigNoz and ktop?
SigNoz is written in TypeScript and ktop 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, SigNoz or ktop?
Choose SigNoz if you want the larger community (32,525 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ktop if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.