head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs evo
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars, 6,633 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. evo has 4,318 stars, 797 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 478% (24,958 vs 4,318 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; evo is written in Python under GPL-3.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, evo 18%. 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 (metrics), 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 | evo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 797 |
| 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 evo if
- You want the evo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and evo 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 evo
evo is a Python package, released under the GPL 3.0 licence, that provides executables and a small library for handling, evaluating and comparing the trajectory output of odometry and SLAM algorithms, and it is aimed at robotics researchers and engineers who need to benchmark trajectories rather than maintain one evaluation script per dataset.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or evo more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars and evo has 4,318. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and evo free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and evo under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and evo?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and evo 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 evo?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,958 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose evo if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.