Netdata and OxiPulse take opposite approaches to monitoring. Netdata is a batteries-included platform: it collects metrics, stores them locally, renders dashboards, and fires alerts — all from a single process. OxiPulse is deliberately narrow: it collects system metrics and ships them to an OTLP backend. Nothing more.
Resource usage
This is where the comparison is most stark.
| OxiPulse | Netdata | |
|---|---|---|
| RAM | < 8 MB | 100–350 MB |
| CPU (idle) | < 0.05% | 1–5% |
| Disk writes | None (in-memory buffer) | Continuous (local DB) |
| Binary size | ~10 MB | ~50 MB + dependencies |
Netdata's resource usage is higher because it does far more: it runs a local time-series database, a web server, and an alert engine. On a server with 8+ GB of RAM this is invisible. On a 512 MB VPS or a Raspberry Pi it is a meaningful overhead.
Metrics collected
Both agents collect CPU, RAM, disk, and network. Netdata also collects hundreds of additional metrics out of the box: per-process stats, systemd service states, network socket counts, NFS, ZFS, Docker containers, database internals, and more. OxiPulse collects only the four core system metrics.
Storage model
Netdata stores metrics locally in a custom time-series database (dbengine). Dashboards are served directly from the agent. There is no external storage requirement for basic use.
OxiPulse has no local storage. Metrics are exported immediately via OTLP. If the backend is unreachable, they are buffered in memory for up to 24 hours.
Dashboards and alerts
Netdata ships with hundreds of pre-built dashboards and alert rules. You get a working monitoring setup with no additional infrastructure.
OxiPulse has no built-in dashboards. You visualise data in your existing stack — Grafana, the SecuryBlack dashboard, or whatever receives your OTLP data.
When to choose Netdata
- You want a self-contained monitoring setup with no external dependencies
- You need per-process, per-container, or application-level metrics out of the box
- You have comfortable RAM headroom on the monitored host
When to choose OxiPulse
- You already have an OTLP-compatible backend or are using SecuryBlack
- Resource overhead is a constraint (VPS, edge, embedded)
- You want metrics in the same pipeline as your application traces and logs
- You prefer a single binary with no daemon dependencies