Telegraf
An agent that collects, processes, and sends metrics, logs, and other data to storage or monitoring tools.
- Stars
- 17.9k
- Forks
- 5.8k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- Go
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Telegraf is a background agent that gathers data from many sources, such as system stats, log files, message queues, and industrial devices, then processes it and writes it to destinations like databases. You configure it with a TOML file that lists which plugins to use. The README describes it as shipping as a standalone binary with no external dependencies.
- Collect CPU, memory, disk, and network stats from a server
- Read log files and forward them to a database
- Pull metrics from Prometheus endpoints or SNMP devices
- Consume messages from Kafka or MQTT and store them as time-series data
Great for
- Engineers setting up server or system monitoring
- Teams sending metrics into InfluxDB or another time-series store
- People collecting data from industrial devices over OPC UA or Modbus
- Anyone who wants one agent to handle many data sources through plugins
Not ideal for
- People who only need a simple hosted dashboard with no setup, since Telegraf is a collector that needs a destination
- Non-technical users, because configuration is done by editing TOML files
- Teams needing a specific plugin not in the 300+ set, which would require writing code
How to get it
- 1
See the README
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf - 2
Run it
- Follow the install guide at docs/INSTALL_GUIDE.md to get a binary, Docker image, or package
- Read docs/QUICK_START.md for a basic walkthrough
- Write a TOML config choosing the input and output plugins you need
- Pass the config file to Telegraf and check that data is being written to your output
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Browse the plugins directory, where each plugin has its own README with configuration details
- Use the Community Slack or Forums for questions and help
- Read docs/CONFIGURATION.md to understand how inputs, processors, and outputs fit together
- Check the FAQ and troubleshooting notes in individual plugin READMEs
Downloads
Strengths
- Large plugin library covering system monitoring, messaging, and devices
- Compiles to a standalone static binary per the README
- Uses TOML configuration, which the README describes as unambiguous
Trade-offs
- Setup requires editing configuration files and understanding plugin options
- The README does not describe resource usage or performance limits
- Latest release listed here has no binaries attached, so you may need the install guide for builds
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| telegraf (this) | 17.9k | App | intermediate | 4 days ago | Engineers setting up server or system monitoring |
| yq | 16.2k | CLI | beginner | 8 days ago | Developers who regularly edit YAML config files in scripts or CI pipelines |
| goaccess | 21.1k | App | intermediate | 9 days ago | System administrators who want quick traffic stats over SSH |
| gjson | 15.6k | Library | beginner | 1 months ago | Go developers who need a few fields from a JSON response without writing struct definitions |
| go | 13.9k | Library | beginner | 2.4 years ago | Go developers who parse or produce large amounts of JSON and want to test a faster option |
| zerolog | 12.5k | Library | beginner | 23 days ago | Go developers who want machine-readable JSON logs |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.