cAdvisor vs Netdata

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeaturecAdvisorNetdata
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM64 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, bare-metal, kubernetes
GitHub stars★ 19,342★ 80,075
First released20142013
ReplacesDatadogDatadog, New Relic

Why pick each one

Choose cAdvisor if…

  • Zero configuration
  • Lightweight
cAdvisor details

Choose Netdata if…

  • Instant insight out of the box
  • Beautiful real-time charts
  • Easy install
Netdata details

Frequently asked questions

Is cAdvisor or Netdata better?

Neither is universally better. Netdata has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are cAdvisor and Netdata free and open-source?

Yes. cAdvisor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Netdata under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run cAdvisor and Netdata with Docker?

cAdvisor: yes. Netdata: yes.

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