Dark UI Pattern: Difficult to find and download free open source local vesion

The Problem

If I were to tell a friend or colleague about Netdata, They would type it into a search engine or visit the site netdata.cloud. They’d click on the call to action button that says “Get Netdata”. Then they’d be taken to this page asking to sign in or create an account:

My friend would ask me “I thought you said this was locally hosted?”

What’s going on?

Even clicking on the “Open Source” menus items take you to the same place.

I was originally attracted to Netdata because it is open source and it’s emphasis on being “locally hosted”. I have no doubt that this flow I described above is not by accident.

I like the fact Netdata offers a hosted option, but I would like the assurance that they remain committed to the option for locally hosted. This development does not give me confidence in that.

Why make it difficult?

The only way I was able to locate the download link from the main page was to scroll down to the bottom and click on the small “Getting Started” link in the footer. Even then I still had to dig through the docs to find what I needed

This is a terrible thing to do.

Hi @tuaris ,

The easiest way to find Netdata’s FOSS agent is through Github.

By following the flow however that you described, and signing up to Netdata Cloud, you will download the locally hosted FOSS agent. It will also be connected to Netdata Cloud from where you will be able to access your dashboard, collaborate with others, and have extra functionality, while storing your data on-prem.

Let me know if you have any further questions.