head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs flogger
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flogger has 1,481 stars, 133 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 1,587% (24,988 vs 1,481 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; flogger is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, flogger 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 | flogger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 133 |
| 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 flogger if
- You want the flogger 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 flogger 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 flogger
Flogger: A Fluent Logging API for Java What is it? Flogger is a fluent logging API for Java. It supports a wide variety of features, and has [many benefits] over existing logging APIs. Come for more self documenting log statements: Stay for additional features that help you manage your logging better: Benefits While some users prefer "fluency" as a style, this is not what the argument for Flogger rests on. Flogger offers these key, concrete advantages over other logging APIs: Logging at disabled levels is [effectively free]. Finally, you can add as many fine grained log statements to your code as you want…
read the full flogger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or flogger more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and flogger has 1,481. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and flogger free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and flogger under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and flogger?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and flogger 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 flogger?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose flogger if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.