Graphite vs Netdata
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Graphite
Scalable real-time graphing and time series storage
VS
Netdata
Real-time per-second infrastructure monitoring
| Feature | Graphite | Netdata |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 72 · Good | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,119 | ★ 80,637 |
| First released | 2008 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Datadog | Datadog, New Relic |
What are Graphite and Netdata?
Graphite
Graphite is a monitoring tool that stores numeric time series data and renders graphs of it on demand. It consists of Carbon for metric ingestion, Whisper for storage, and a Django-based web app for visualization.
- Time series storage with Whisper
- On-demand graph rendering
- Plain-text metric protocol
- Widely supported by collectors
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
Graphite vs Netdata: key differences
Graphite is written in JavaScript, while Netdata is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Graphite versus GPL-3.0 for Netdata. Netdata is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Graphite. Graphite is the more established project (first released 2008), while Netdata arrived in 2013. Netdata has the considerably larger community, at 80,637 GitHub stars versus 6,119.
Why pick each one
Choose Graphite if…
- Simple metric protocol
- Mature and stable
Watch out for
- Dated architecture
- Scaling requires extra components
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 Graphite or Netdata better?
Netdata is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Graphite if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Graphite and Netdata free and open-source?
Yes. Graphite is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Netdata under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Graphite and Netdata with Docker?
Graphite: yes. Netdata: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Graphite or Netdata?
Netdata has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Graphite. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.