head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs debug
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars, 6,633 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. debug has 11,456 stars, 992 forks, 96 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 118% (24,958 vs 11,456 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; debug is written in JavaScript under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, debug 9%. Apache SkyWalking was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (logging), 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 | debug | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-04-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 992 |
| 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 debug if
- You want the debug feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and debug 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 debug
debug is a tiny, MIT licensed JavaScript debugging utility modelled after Node.js core's debugging technique, and it is aimed at JavaScript developers and library authors who want to turn debug output on and off by namespace instead of editing or deleting logging statements.
read the full debug overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or debug more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars and debug has 11,456. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and debug free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and debug under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and debug?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and debug in JavaScript. 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 debug?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,958 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose debug if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.