head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs btrace
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars, 6,633 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. btrace has 5,995 stars, 956 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 316% (24,958 vs 5,995 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; btrace is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, btrace 16%. btrace was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (observability), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Apache SkyWalking | btrace | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 956 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Apache SkyWalking if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick btrace if
- You want the btrace feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and btrace fits your workflow better
About Apache SkyWalking
Apache SkyWalking is an open source application performance monitoring (APM) system for distributed systems in cloud native architectures, built for teams that run microservices across Kubernetes and container based environments.
read the full Apache SkyWalking overview →
About btrace
BTrace is an open source dynamic tracing and diagnostics tool for Java applications, distributed under the Apache 2.0 license and maintained in the Java and JVM ecosystem. It works by attaching to a running Java Virtual Machine and dynamically instrumenting bytecode at runtime, injecting tracing code into classes that are already loaded. The project sits in the Infrastructure & Operations / Monitoring & Observability category and carries the topics tracing, observability, diagnostics, profiling, bytecode instrumentation, runtime instrumentation, java agent and dtrace.
read the full btrace overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or btrace more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars and btrace has 5,995. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and btrace free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and btrace under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and btrace?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and btrace in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Apache SkyWalking or btrace?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,958 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose btrace if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.