The short answer
Netdata is excellent for rich, real-time dashboards on individual servers, and its free agent already covers disk latency and SMART. Choose Rivana when your priority is the storage fleet specifically — centralized per-device latency distributions and SMART degradation trends that predict drive failure across 50–500+ drives, self-hosted, without relying on Netdata Cloud for the fleet view.
Side by side
| Detail | Rivana | Netdata |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Purpose-built storage-fleet monitoring | Real-time per-node monitoring |
| Per-device I/O latency | Per-device I/O latency distributions via eBPF (not just averages) | Disk I/O latency (diskstats + eBPF), per node |
| Drive-failure prediction | SMART degradation trends that flag drives before they fail | SMART via plugin; threshold alarms |
| Deployment | Self-hosted single binary — deploys in ~10 min, no cloud | Self-hosted agent per node; fleet view via Netdata Cloud |
| Pricing | Per-device annual license (free 30-day trial) | Free agent; paid Cloud tiers for fleet/retention |
| Best for | Infra teams running 50–500 on-prem SSD/HDD drives, tired of guessing why latency degraded | Rich real-time dashboards on individual servers |
Strengths & trade-offs
Rivana
Infra teams running 50–500 on-prem SSD/HDD drives, tired of guessing why latency degraded
Rivana is a self-hosted monitoring tool built specifically for storage fleets. A lightweight eBPF collector on each host captures real per-device I/O latency — full distributions, not just averages — alongside SMART attributes, temperature, and utilization, and the aggregator flags drives whose degradation trends predict failure. It installs as a single Rust binary in about ten minutes, runs entirely on your own infrastructure with no cloud dependency, and is licensed per monitored device.
Strengths
- Built only for storage — per-device latency, SMART, and degradation in one place
- eBPF captures real I/O latency distributions, not just averages
- Flags failing or slow drives from SMART trends before they cause an outage
- Self-hosted single binary — deploys in ~10 minutes, no cloud dependency
- Fleet-wide view of 50–500+ drives out of the box
Consider
- Storage-focused — not a general-purpose metrics platform
- Commercial per-device license (free 30-day trial, then paid)
- Linux hosts (the collector uses eBPF)
- Newer than the established monitoring stacks
Netdata
Rich real-time dashboards on individual servers
Netdata is a popular real-time monitoring agent with striking per-node dashboards and thousands of metrics out of the box, including disk latency (diskstats and an eBPF plugin) and SMART via a plugin. It's excellent for live, single-node visibility; fleet-wide aggregation, longer retention, and centralized views come through Netdata Cloud, and it's a general-purpose tool rather than a storage-specific one.
Strengths
- Striking real-time dashboards with near-zero setup
- Thousands of metrics including disk latency and SMART
- Free, open-source agent
- Has an eBPF plugin for low-overhead collection
Consider
- General-purpose — storage is one of many sections
- Per-node focus; fleet view and retention via paid Netdata Cloud
- SMART is a plugin; no curated degradation/failure-prediction model
- Real-time-first; less about long-horizon drive trends
Frequently asked questions
Is Rivana a replacement for Netdata?
Netdata is excellent for rich, real-time dashboards on individual servers, and its free agent already covers disk latency and SMART. Choose Rivana when your priority is the storage fleet specifically — centralized per-device latency distributions and SMART degradation trends that predict drive failure across 50–500+ drives, self-hosted, without relying on Netdata Cloud for the fleet view.
What storage devices and metrics does Rivana monitor?
Rivana monitors NVMe SSDs, SATA SSDs, and HDDs on Linux hosts. A lightweight eBPF collector captures per-device I/O latency distributions, SMART attributes, temperature, and utilization, and the aggregator surfaces fleet-wide dashboards plus degradation trends that flag drives likely to fail.
Does Rivana run on my own infrastructure?
Yes. Rivana is self-hosted: the aggregator installs as a single Rust binary in about ten minutes with an embedded database, and licenses are validated locally with no phone-home or internet dependency. Your storage telemetry never leaves your infrastructure.
See your storage fleet clearly
Deploy Rivana on your own infrastructure in about ten minutes. Free 30-day trial for up to 50 drives.
Start a free trialCompetitor capabilities and pricing are directional and were verified in June 2026 — check each project's or vendor's own site for current details. Rivana is an independent product and isn't affiliated with the tools compared here.