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Performance Co-Pilot

Free plan APILinuxMacSelf-hostedWindows

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Performance Co-Pilot's own site

What Performance Co-Pilot is

Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) is an open-source toolkit for monitoring and analyzing system performance. It gathers metrics from systems and combines data from multiple hosts and operating systems. Its agents collect information about CPU, disks, memory, networks, filesystems, databases, web servers, mail systems, and cluster infrastructure. PCP supports real-time and historical analysis, including comparisons between hosts and time periods to find trends or unusual patterns. Its client-server design can serve several clients monitoring one host, or let one client monitor several hosts for centralized monitoring. APIs, libraries, and a plugin framework allow applications and other sources to supply or use performance data. The project provides a Grafana plugin, Ansible roles, Java instrumentation, and a PDF graph converter. October 2026 release notes describe OpenTelemetry export and a REST API that can return OpenTelemetry JSON or OpenMetrics text. Recent releases also support optional encrypted connections, user authentication, and access restrictions based on hosts, users, or groups. PCP is free, self-hosted, and available for Linux and macOS through distribution packages and a macOS DMG. Windows and Solaris require building from source because downloads are not offered for those platforms.

Who it suits

PCP suits teams that need centralized monitoring across distributed processing, clusters, web server farms, or large systems. Some of its features can also help investigate difficult performance problems on smaller systems.

What it does well

  • Combines performance metrics from multiple hosts and operating systems.
  • Supports both live and historical performance analysis.
  • Agents cover systems, databases, web servers, and cluster infrastructure.
  • Offers APIs, libraries, and a plugin framework for performance data.
  • Includes a Grafana plugin, Ansible roles, and Java instrumentation.
  • Optional encrypted connections and user-based access restrictions are supported.

What to know first

  • Windows and Solaris require building from source.
  • Monitoring requires an agent; agentless monitoring is unavailable.
  • Deployment is self-hosted.
  • The toolkit has no free trial.

Plans

PlanBilled and limitsPrice
Performance Co-PilotOpen-source toolkit; no paid plans or pricing stated on the pages reviewedFree

As pcp.io lists them, read 9 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Getting started

  1. Visit https://pcp.io/ to access the project.
  2. Choose a Linux distribution package or the macOS DMG installer.
  3. For Windows or Solaris, build PCP from source.
  4. Deploy PCP in a self-hosted environment and configure its agents for the systems and metrics you need.
  5. Use its client-server architecture to monitor one or multiple hosts.

Verdict

Choose PCP if you need a free, self-hosted toolkit for collecting and analyzing performance data across multiple hosts. Its centralized monitoring and historical comparisons suit distributed environments, while teams seeking Windows or Solaris downloads should account for the required source build.

Questions

How much does Performance Co-Pilot cost?

The listed Performance Co-Pilot plan costs nothing. The project is open source and has no paid plans or pricing stated.

Which platforms are supported?

The listed platforms are API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, and Windows. Linux distributions include RHEL, Debian, Fedora, SUSE, and Ubuntu; a macOS DMG is available. Windows and Solaris downloads are not offered, so those builds require compiling from source.

Is Performance Co-Pilot open source?

Yes. PCP libraries use GNU LGPL version 2.1, and its other components use GNU GPL version 2 or later.

Can PCP monitor multiple hosts?

Yes. Its client-server design supports multiple clients monitoring one host and one client monitoring multiple hosts.

What integrations does the project provide?

The project provides a Grafana plugin, Ansible roles, Java instrumentation, and a PDF graph converter. October 2026 release notes also describe OpenTelemetry export and a REST API.

Where can users get community support?

The project directs users to GitHub issue trackers, mailing lists, Slack, and the #pcp channel on Libera Chat.

Facts from Performance Co-Pilot's own pages

Analysis
It supports real-time and historical performance analysis, including comparing hosts and time intervals to identify trends and abnormal patterns. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Architecture
Its client-server architecture lets multiple clients monitor one host and one client monitor multiple hosts for centralized distributed monitoring. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Collection
It collects performance metrics from systems and collates metrics from multiple hosts and operating systems. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Export
The October 2026 release notes describe OpenTelemetry export and a REST API that can return OpenTelemetry JSON or OpenMetrics text. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Extensibility
PCP provides APIs, libraries, and a plugin framework for collecting and using performance data from applications and other sources. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Integrations
The project provides a Grafana plugin, Ansible roles, Java instrumentation, and a PDF graph converter. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Intended users
The FAQ says PCP is particularly suited to centralized monitoring of distributed processing, clusters, web server farms, and large systems, while some features also help with difficult performance problems on smaller systems. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Licensing
PCP libraries use GNU LGPL version 2.1 and the other components use GNU GPL version 2 or later. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Linux support
The download page says PCP is included in popular distributions including RHEL, Debian, Fedora, SUSE, and Ubuntu. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
macOS support
The download page offers a macOS DMG installer. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Metrics
Its agents collect data across areas including CPU, disk, memory, networking, filesystems, databases, web servers, mail systems, and cluster infrastructure. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Platform limits
The download page says Windows and Solaris have no downloads and require building from source. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Purpose
PCP is a system performance analysis toolkit and framework for system-level performance monitoring and management. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Security
Recent releases support optional encrypted secure connections with user authentication and access restrictions based on hosts, users, or groups. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026
Support
The project directs users to GitHub issue trackers, mailing lists, Slack, and the #pcp Libera Chat IRC channel for community help. · pcp.io, 9 Oct 2026

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