Grafana Beyla vs Netdata
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Netdata
Real-time per-second infrastructure monitoring
| Feature | Grafana Beyla | Netdata |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, bare-metal, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,135 | ★ 80,637 |
| First released | 2023 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Datadog APM, New Relic | Datadog, New Relic |
What are Grafana Beyla and Netdata?
Grafana Beyla
Beyla is an eBPF-based tool that automatically instruments applications to produce metrics and traces without any code changes. It exports data in Prometheus and OpenTelemetry formats for existing observability stacks.
- eBPF auto-instrumentation
- No code changes needed
- Prometheus metrics export
- OpenTelemetry traces
Netdata
Netdata is a real-time monitoring agent that collects thousands of metrics per second and visualizes them with zero configuration. It targets administrators who want instant, granular system insight. It is deployed via Docker or native packages.
- Per-second real-time metrics
- Zero-configuration auto-discovery
- Built-in anomaly detection
- Thousands of collectors
Grafana Beyla vs Netdata: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Grafana Beyla versus GPL-3.0 for Netdata. Grafana Beyla is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Netdata. Netdata is the more established project (first released 2013), while Grafana Beyla arrived in 2023. Netdata has the considerably larger community, at 80,637 GitHub stars versus 2,135.
Why pick each one
Choose Grafana Beyla if…
- Instrument without code
- Low overhead
Watch out for
- Requires modern kernel
- Limited language depth
Choose Netdata if…
- Instant insight out of the box
- Beautiful real-time charts
- Easy install
Watch out for
- Long retention needs tuning
- Cloud features are commercial
Frequently asked questions
Is Grafana Beyla or Netdata better?
Netdata is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Grafana Beyla if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Grafana Beyla and Netdata free and open-source?
Yes. Grafana Beyla is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Netdata under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Grafana Beyla and Netdata with Docker?
Grafana Beyla: yes. Netdata: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Grafana Beyla or Netdata?
Grafana Beyla has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Netdata. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.