head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs GoModel
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. GoModel has 1,300 stars, 126 forks, 80 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 1,822% (24,988 vs 1,300 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; GoModel is written in Go under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, GoModel 10%. GoModel 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 | GoModel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 126 |
| 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 GoModel if
- You want the GoModel feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and GoModel 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 GoModel
GoModel The last AI gateway you will ever need GoModel is the fastest and the most resource efficient AI Gateway ( the self reproducible benchmarks ). It's an alternative to LiteLLM (which was hacked recently) and Portkey (which is no longer maintained on GitHub). (click on the animation ↑ to see the live demo) GoModel saves you money and nerves. Money because you can remember the responses on this layer (caching), track your spending and do tricks like prompt compression and intelligent routing. Nerves because we strive to achieve good quality and reliability. Our ambition is to be the last AI gateway you will…
read the full GoModel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or GoModel more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and GoModel has 1,300. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and GoModel free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and GoModel under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and GoModel?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and GoModel in Go. 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 GoModel?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose GoModel if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.