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collectd vs Metricbeat: catalog facts
collectd	Metricbeat
Free Free and open source.	Free Free to download; Elastic Cloud hosting is a paid option.
Linux, Self-hosted	Windows, Linux, Command line
Small and fast, written in C Runs on embedded systems	Ready-made modules for common services like Apache, Redis and NGINX Packages for apt, yum, Docker and Kubernetes
Collects data only; graphs need another tool Stable 5.x branch is old while 6.0 is still a release candidate	Most useful alongside Elasticsearch and Kibana Default build is under the source-available Elastic License
Self-hosted	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: Apache-2.0 (OSS build); Elastic License (default build)
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.