Kapacitor 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?
FeatureKapacitorNetdata
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, binarydocker, bare-metal, kubernetes
GitHub stars★ 2,373★ 80,075
First released20152013
ReplacesDatadog Monitors, Splunk ITSIDatadog, New Relic

Why pick each one

Choose Kapacitor if…

  • Tight InfluxDB integration
  • Flexible alert routing
Kapacitor details

Choose Netdata if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is Kapacitor or Netdata better?

Netdata is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Kapacitor if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Kapacitor and Netdata free and open-source?

Yes. Kapacitor is licensed under MIT and Netdata under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kapacitor and Netdata with Docker?

Kapacitor: yes. Netdata: yes.

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