Netdata vs Telegraf

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?
FeatureNetdataTelegraf
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, kubernetesdocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 80,075★ 17,736
First released20132015
ReplacesDatadog, New RelicDatadog Agent

Why pick each one

Choose Netdata if…

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

Choose Telegraf if…

  • Huge plugin catalog
  • Trivial to deploy
Telegraf details

Frequently asked questions

Is Netdata or Telegraf 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 Netdata and Telegraf free and open-source?

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

Can I run Netdata and Telegraf with Docker?

Netdata: yes. Telegraf: yes.

Related comparisons