Jaeger 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 | Jaeger | Netdata |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 97 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, bare-metal, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,234 | ★ 80,637 |
| First released | 2017 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Datadog APM, New Relic | Datadog, New Relic |
What are Jaeger and Netdata?
Jaeger
Jaeger is a distributed tracing system used to monitor and troubleshoot transactions in complex microservice architectures. It supports trace collection, sampling, and root-cause analysis through a rich UI.
- Distributed transaction tracing
- Service dependency graphs
- Adaptive sampling
- OpenTelemetry compatible
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
Jaeger vs Netdata: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Jaeger versus GPL-3.0 for Netdata. Netdata is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Jaeger. Netdata is the more established project (first released 2013), while Jaeger arrived in 2017. Netdata has the considerably larger community, at 80,637 GitHub stars versus 23,234.
Why pick each one
Choose Jaeger if…
- CNCF graduated project
- Mature and widely adopted
Watch out for
- Storage backend required
- Focused only on traces
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 Jaeger or Netdata better?
Netdata is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Jaeger if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Jaeger and Netdata free and open-source?
Yes. Jaeger is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Netdata under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Jaeger and Netdata with Docker?
Jaeger: yes. Netdata: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Jaeger or Netdata?
Netdata has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Jaeger. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.