Comparison · Self-hosted vs Self-hosted

Homestead vs Netdata

Netdata is Free (OSS) / $19/mo (Cloud). Homestead is a self-hosted alternative at $0.99/mo. Here's when each makes sense.

Try Homestead Free Homestead overview

At a glance

	Homestead	Netdata
Hosting	Self-hosted, your infra	Agent is open source. Cloud features require Netdata Cloud account.
Data location	Your server, your disk	Your server (if self-hosted)
Free tier	5 servers	Free
Pro pricing	$0.99/mo	Free (OSS) / $19/mo (Cloud)
Dependencies	None (single binary + SQLite)	Docker, Postgres, etc.
Setup time	~30 seconds	15-30 minutes (self-host)
Dashboard	Built-in at /ui	Web UI
License	BSL 1.1	Open source

When to use Homestead

Pick Homestead when you want simplicity and ownership.

Single binary — the monitor IS the dashboard
$0.99/mo vs $19/mo for cloud features
Server inventory with asset tracking
Simpler to deploy across servers

Homestead is a single Go binary with embedded SQLite. Install it with one command, and you are running in under a minute. Your data stays on your server.

curl -fsSL https://stockyard.dev/homestead/install.sh | sh

Install Homestead Homestead docs

When Netdata fits better

Netdata makes sense when you need more.

Incredible real-time monitoring detail (1-second granularity)
Auto-detection of 800+ metrics
Beautiful, fast dashboard
Large open-source community

Netdata is the best real-time server monitoring tool available — the level of detail and auto-detection is unmatched. If you want deep, real-time server metrics, install Netdata. If you want a simple server inventory with basic health monitoring, Homestead is lighter.

How to choose

Netdata is a strong product. There is no point pretending otherwise. Where Homestead earns its place is in situations where Netdata cannot be used — airgapped environments, regulated industries, teams with strict data sovereignty requirements, or simply developers who prefer tools they can inspect end to end. If none of those constraints apply, Netdata may genuinely be the better choice.

Technical differences

Homestead runs as a single static binary with an embedded SQLite database. There is no application server, no cache layer, no background worker. One process handles HTTP requests and reads from and writes to the database file directly. This simplicity is the entire point — fewer moving parts means fewer things that can break at 2 AM.

Netdata can be self-hosted, but the experience differs significantly from Homestead. Agent is open source. Cloud features require Netdata Cloud account. With Homestead, self-hosting means downloading one file and running it. The gap in operational complexity matters most for small teams without dedicated DevOps staff.

Moving to Homestead

Switching from Netdata to Homestead is straightforward for most teams. Export your data from Netdata (most services offer CSV or JSON export), then POST each record to Homestead's API. A migration script that reads the export and writes to /api/ endpoints typically takes less than 50 lines of code. The reverse migration is equally simple — Homestead's SQLite database is a standard file you can query with any SQLite client.

FAQ

Is Homestead a Netdata alternative?

Netdata provides deep real-time monitoring with 800+ auto-detected metrics. Homestead is a server inventory tool with basic health monitoring. Different depth, different purpose.

Does Homestead do real-time monitoring?

Homestead tracks server health and uptime at configurable intervals. For 1-second real-time monitoring, Netdata is significantly more detailed.

Get started

Self-hosted server inventory and monitor in 30 seconds.

Single binary. Free to start. $0.99/mo for Pro.

Install Homestead All 150 tools for $29/mo →