Skip to content
SPECIFICTION
Get listed

Performance Co-Pilot

pcp.io

Free plan WindowsmacOSLinuxAPISelf-hosted
Visit pcp.io
Spec score 7.8 #20 of 34 in Infrastructure Monitoring

What it is

Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) is a free, open-source, self-hosted toolkit and framework for system performance monitoring and management. It gathers metrics from systems, combines data from multiple hosts and operating systems, and supports both real-time and historical analysis. Users can compare hosts and time periods to find trends or unusual patterns. Agents collect information about CPU, disks, memory, networking, filesystems, databases, web servers, mail systems, and cluster infrastructure. Its client-server architecture allows several clients to monitor one host or one client to monitor many hosts. APIs, libraries, and a plugin framework let applications and other sources provide or use performance data. PCP offers integrations including a Grafana plugin, Ansible roles, Java instrumentation, and a PDF graph converter. Optional encrypted connections, authentication, and access restrictions are available. Linux distribution packages and a macOS installer are listed; Windows and Solaris require source builds.

Spec sheet

Purpose
PCP is a system performance analysis toolkit and framework for system-level performance monitoring and management.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Intended users
The FAQ says PCP is particularly suited to centralized monitoring of distributed processing, clusters, web server farms, and large systems, while some features also help with difficult performance problems on smaller systems.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Integrations
The project provides a Grafana plugin, Ansible roles, Java instrumentation, and a PDF graph converter.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Security
Recent releases support optional encrypted secure connections with user authentication and access restrictions based on hosts, users, or groups.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Support
The project directs users to GitHub issue trackers, mailing lists, Slack, and the #pcp Libera Chat IRC channel for community help.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Analysis
It supports real-time and historical performance analysis, including comparing hosts and time intervals to identify trends and abnormal patterns.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Architecture
Its client-server architecture lets multiple clients monitor one host and one client monitor multiple hosts for centralized distributed monitoring.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Collection
It collects performance metrics from systems and collates metrics from multiple hosts and operating systems.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Export
The October 2026 release notes describe OpenTelemetry export and a REST API that can return OpenTelemetry JSON or OpenMetrics text.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Extensibility
PCP provides APIs, libraries, and a plugin framework for collecting and using performance data from applications and other sources.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Licensing
PCP libraries use GNU LGPL version 2.1 and the other components use GNU GPL version 2 or later.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Linux support
The download page says PCP is included in popular distributions including RHEL, Debian, Fedora, SUSE, and Ubuntu.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
macOS support
The download page offers a macOS DMG installer.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Metrics
Its agents collect data across areas including CPU, disk, memory, networking, filesystems, databases, web servers, mail systems, and cluster infrastructure.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io
Platform limits
The download page says Windows and Solaris have no downloads and require building from source.Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io

Plans and prices

Performance Co-Pilot Free Open-source toolkit; no paid plans or pricing stated on the pages reviewed Read 9 Oct 2026 · pcp.io

Every Performance Co-Pilot plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Free open-source toolkit
  • Real-time and historical analysis
  • Monitors many metric categories
  • Centralized multi-host architecture
  • Grafana and Ansible integrations

Limits

  • Windows requires building from source
  • Solaris requires building from source
  • Self-hosted deployment required
  • Agentless monitoring is unavailable

Who it suits

PCP suits teams needing centralized monitoring for distributed processing, clusters, web-server farms, or large systems. It can also help investigate difficult performance issues on smaller systems.

Verdict

PCP combines broad metric collection with live and historical analysis in a self-hosted package. Its platform support is strongest where Linux packages or the macOS installer are available.

Where Specifiction places it

Alternatives to Performance Co-PilotAll alternatives →