head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs client_python
Apache SkyWalking has 24,991 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. client_python has 4,384 stars, 903 forks, 150 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 470% (24,991 vs 4,384 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; client_python is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, client_python 21%. Apache SkyWalking was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (metrics, prometheus), 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 | client_python | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 903 |
| 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 client_python if
- You want the client_python feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and client_python fits your workflow better
About Apache SkyWalking
Apache SkyWalking ========== SkyWalking : an APM (Application Performance Monitoring) system, especially designed for microservices, cloud native and container based architectures. Abstract SkyWalking is an open source APM system that provides monitoring, tracing and diagnosing capabilities for distributed systems in Cloud Native architectures. Distributed Tracing End to end distributed tracing. Service topology analysis, service centric observability and APIs dashboards. Agents for your stack Java, .Net Core, PHP, NodeJS, Golang, LUA, Rust, C++, Client JavaScript and Python agents with active development and…
read the full Apache SkyWalking overview →
About client_python
Prometheus Python Client The official Python client for Prometheus. Installation This package can be found on PyPI. Documentation Documentation is available on Links Releases: The releases page shows the history of the project and acts as a changelog. PyPI
read the full client_python overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or client_python more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,991 GitHub stars and client_python has 4,384. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and client_python free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and client_python under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and client_python?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and client_python in Python. 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 client_python?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,991 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose client_python if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.