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collectd vs Prometheus Node Exporter: catalog facts
collectd	Prometheus Node Exporter
Free Free and open source.	Free Free and open source, maintained by the Prometheus project.
Linux, Self-hosted	Linux, Command line
Small and fast, written in C Runs on embedded systems	Standard source of host metrics for Prometheus setups Collectors can be enabled or disabled individually
Collects data only; graphs need another tool Stable 5.x branch is old while 6.0 is still a release candidate	Needs a Prometheus server to store and query the data No dashboards or alerting on its own
Self-hosted	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: Apache-2.0
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 September 23, 2026

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