Beszel vs Netdata: Server Monitoring Compared

Quick Verdict

If you run a handful of servers and want a clean dashboard without configuration overhead, Beszel is the right tool. It deploys in minutes, uses minimal resources, and shows exactly what a homelab operator needs — CPU, memory, disk, network, and Docker container stats. Netdata is for operators who need deep observability: thousands of per-second metrics, anomaly detection, and granular application-level monitoring across a fleet of machines.

Updated February 2026: Verified with latest Docker images and configurations.

Overview

Beszel is a newer monitoring tool built specifically for the self-hosting community. It uses a hub-agent architecture where a central server collects metrics from lightweight agents running on each monitored host. The focus is simplicity — a single Go binary per component, SQLite storage, and a clean web UI.

Netdata has been around since 2016 and takes a different approach. It collects over 2,000 metrics per node by default, with per-second granularity. Every running agent serves its own real-time dashboard, and Netdata Cloud (optional) provides a centralized view across nodes. It’s designed to monitor everything — from system metrics to application-specific collectors for databases, web servers, containers, and more.

Feature	Beszel	Netdata
Architecture	Hub + agent	Distributed agents (optional cloud)
Default metrics	~20 (CPU, RAM, disk, network, containers)	2,000+ per node
Granularity	10-second intervals	1-second intervals
Storage	SQLite (hub only)	Per-node dbengine (RAM + disk)
RAM usage (agent)	~15 MB	~150-300 MB
RAM usage (hub/parent)	~50 MB	~300-500 MB
Docker monitoring	Container CPU/RAM/network	Container + per-process metrics
Alerting	Built-in (webhook, email)	Built-in (300+ preconfigured alerts)
Language	Go	C (agent), Go (orchestrator)
License	MIT	GPL v3 (Agent), proprietary (Cloud)
Web UI	Hub dashboard	Per-agent dashboard + optional cloud
Authentication	Built-in user management	None (agent) / Netdata Cloud SSO
Mobile app	No	Yes (via Netdata Cloud)

Installation Complexity

Beszel

The hub runs as a single container. Each monitored host runs a lightweight agent — either as a container or a standalone binary.

# Hub (central server)
services:
  beszel:
    image: henrygd/beszel:0.18.4
    ports:
      - "8090:8090"
    volumes:
      - beszel_data:/beszel/data
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  beszel_data:

Agent on each monitored host:

services:
  beszel-agent:
    image: henrygd/beszel-agent:0.18.4
    network_mode: host
    environment:
      KEY: "your-ssh-public-key-from-hub"
      PORT: "45876"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
    restart: unless-stopped

Total setup: deploy hub, add each host through the web UI (generates a key), paste the key into the agent config. Under 5 minutes for a full homelab.

Netdata

Each node runs its own full agent:

services:
  netdata:
    image: netdata/netdata:v2.9.0
    pid: host
    network_mode: host
    cap_add:
      - SYS_PTRACE
      - SYS_ADMIN
    security_opt:
      - apparmor:unconfined
    volumes:
      - netdata_config:/etc/netdata
      - netdata_lib:/var/lib/netdata
      - netdata_cache:/var/cache/netdata
      - /etc/passwd:/host/etc/passwd:ro
      - /etc/group:/host/etc/group:ro
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - /proc:/host/proc:ro
      - /sys:/host/sys:ro
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  netdata_config:
  netdata_lib:
  netdata_cache:

Netdata requires host PID namespace, SYS_PTRACE, and multiple host filesystem mounts to collect system-level metrics. The Docker Compose is more involved because Netdata introspects the host system deeply.

For multi-node setups, you either use Netdata Cloud (free tier available) or configure parent-child streaming between agents — both add configuration steps Beszel avoids.

Performance and Resource Usage

Resource	Beszel Agent	Beszel Hub (10 nodes)	Netdata Agent
RAM	10-20 MB	50-80 MB	150-300 MB
CPU (idle)	<1%	<1%	1-3%
Disk (per day)	0 (agent stores nothing)	~5 MB	~200-500 MB
Network	~1 KB/10s per host	Receives from all agents	~0 (local dashboard)

Beszel’s agent is an order of magnitude lighter than Netdata’s. On a Raspberry Pi 4 with 2 GB of RAM, the difference between a 15 MB agent and a 250 MB agent matters. On a 32 GB server, it doesn’t.

Netdata’s higher resource usage buys you per-second granularity across thousands of metrics. Beszel’s lower overhead reflects its narrower scope — it collects fewer metrics at longer intervals.

Dashboard and Visualization

Beszel’s dashboard is designed around the homelab use case. You see all your servers in a grid, each showing CPU, RAM, disk, and network at a glance. Click a server for detailed charts. The UI is clean and loads fast, but you cannot create custom dashboards or add arbitrary data sources.

Netdata’s dashboard is a real-time metrics explorer. Every collected metric has its own interactive chart. You can zoom into microsecond-level data, correlate metrics across collectors, and drill into application-specific metrics (MySQL query latency, Nginx connections, Docker container stats). The depth is unmatched, but the interface can overwhelm users who just want to know if their server is healthy.

Alerting

Beszel provides basic alerting: CPU, memory, disk, and network thresholds with webhook and email notifications. You configure alerts per host through the web UI.

Netdata ships with over 300 preconfigured alerts out of the box. It detects anomalies using machine learning, alerts on unusual metric patterns, and supports escalation chains. Alert configuration uses YAML files — powerful but more complex than Beszel’s UI-driven approach.

Use Cases

Choose Beszel If…

• You monitor 1-20 servers in a homelab or small infrastructure
• You want a clean overview dashboard without configuration overhead
• Resource usage matters (Raspberry Pi, low-RAM VPS instances)
• Docker container visibility (up/down, CPU, RAM) is sufficient
• You prefer a simple hub-agent model over distributed agents
• You don’t need per-second granularity or application-level metrics

Choose Netdata If…

• You need deep observability into application performance (database queries, web server connections, queue depths)
• Per-second metric granularity matters for troubleshooting
• You want 300+ preconfigured alerts with anomaly detection
• You monitor a larger fleet (20+ servers) and need centralized views
• You need to correlate metrics across services during incidents
• You want to monitor non-Docker services (systemd, bare-metal apps)

Final Verdict

Beszel wins on simplicity and resource efficiency. For a homelab with a few Docker hosts, it provides exactly the right level of monitoring without the overhead. The hub-agent model is elegant, the UI is purposeful, and you’ll be monitoring within minutes of deployment.

Netdata wins on depth. If you’ve ever needed to answer “why is my MySQL slow right now?” or “which container is causing this CPU spike?”, Netdata’s per-second metrics and 2,000+ collectors give you the data to find out. The trade-off is more RAM, more disk, and more complexity.

For most self-hosters running Docker stacks at home, Beszel is enough. Graduate to Netdata (or a Grafana + Prometheus stack) when you need application-level observability.

FAQ

Can Beszel and Netdata run on the same host?

Yes. They collect metrics independently. Some operators run Beszel for the overview dashboard and Netdata on specific nodes that need deeper monitoring. The combined agent overhead is around 170-320 MB of RAM.

Does Beszel support Grafana integration?

Not currently. Beszel stores data in SQLite and has no Prometheus-compatible export endpoint. If you need Grafana dashboards, use Netdata (which has a Prometheus exporter) or switch to a Prometheus-based stack.

Is Netdata Cloud required?

No. Each Netdata agent runs independently with its own local dashboard. Netdata Cloud adds centralized multi-node views, composite charts, and alert management — the free tier covers up to 5 nodes.

Can Beszel monitor non-Docker services?

Beszel monitors system-level metrics (CPU, RAM, disk, network) regardless of how services run. However, its application-level monitoring is limited to Docker containers. Bare-metal services appear only as system resource consumers, without per-process detail.

Related

• How to Self-Host Beszel
• How to Self-Host Netdata
• Grafana vs Netdata: Dashboards Compared
• Grafana vs Prometheus: Monitoring Stack Compared
• Uptime Kuma vs Beszel: Monitoring Compared
• Best Self-Hosted Monitoring Tools
• How to Self-Host Uptime Kuma
• Docker Compose Basics