HWMonitor vs Netdata
HWMonitor
cpuid.comNetdata
netdata.cloudSide by side
| Figure | HWMonitor | Netdata |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $4.50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 4 |
| Spec score · Hardware Monitoring Software | 8.1 (#22) | 9.0 (#5) |
| Spec score · Hardware monitoring tools | 7.9 (#31) | 8.8 (#8) |
| Headquarters | Dunkerque, France | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Purpose | HWMonitor reads PC system health sensors, including voltages, temperatures, power, current, fan speed, utilization, and clock speeds. | Netdata describes its product as an observability platform for real-time monitoring and troubleshooting across infrastructure. |
| Support | CPUID directs users to a bug report form for inconsistent readings and to contact support for registration issues. | The site lists documentation and community support, with premium support available. |
| Trial | The PRO registration page says the trial period is 30 days, with the delay potentially varying, and that trial includes all registered features. | The pricing FAQ states that signing up for Netdata Cloud provides a 14-day Business trial for any number of nodes with no limits. |
Plans
HWMonitor
- HWMonitor FreeFree
- HWMonitorFree
- HWMonitor PRO Standard$19.95, paid once
- HWMonitor PRO Extended$34.95, paid once
Netdata
- CommunityFree
- Business$4.50 a month
- Homelab$90 a year
- Enterprise On-PremisePriced on request
In their own words
HWMonitor
HWMonitor reads PC system-health sensors, including temperatures, voltages, power, current, fan speed, utilization, and clock speeds. It covers CPUs and GPUs, supported LPCIO chips, memory modules with thermal sensors, S.M.A.R.T. storage devices, and batteries. The listed Windows release is version 1.68 for x86/x64, available as an installer or ZIP download, and CPUID lists a separate Windows ARM64 download. Version 1.68 adds PCI Express error counters for AMD and Intel GPUs, NPU and platform metrics, HDD IOPS and average latency, and saved device and sensor tree state. CSV logging is listed as a feature. The free HWMonitor plan monitors PC hardware sensors on Windows x86/x64. HWMonitor PRO adds remote monitoring over TCP/IP, saved monitoring data, and bitmap logging graphs. Its Android app reports device temperatures and battery details, plus CPU clock and utilization and, on supported devices, GPU clock. Android remote connections require local Wi-Fi, and the app can monitor up to 10 Windows PCs or Android devices.
Netdata
Netdata is an observability platform for real-time infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting. Its agent gathers metrics and logs and provides per-second monitoring, machine-learning anomaly detection, dashboards, and alerts. Netdata lists more than 800 collectors and notification channels, including Slack, PagerDuty, Microsoft Teams, email, and webhooks. The agent can ingest Prometheus, OpenMetrics, StatsD, and OpenTelemetry data and export to Prometheus Remote Write, InfluxDB, Graphite, OpenTSDB, and TimescaleDB. Organizations can use the managed cloud platform or deploy on premises, including in air-gapped environments. Netdata says metrics remain on the user's infrastructure while only metadata reaches the cloud. Native Android and iOS apps provide alerts and notifications. The Community plan is free, with up to five active connected nodes and one active custom dashboard per room. Signing up for Netdata Cloud includes a 14-day Business trial for any number of nodes with no limits. Business costs $4.50 per month billed annually, with a stated total of $540.00/year.