head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs grimoirelab
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. grimoirelab has 639 stars, 234 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 3,810% (24,988 vs 639 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; grimoirelab is written in Shell under GPL-3.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, grimoirelab 37%. grimoirelab 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 | grimoirelab | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 639 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 234 |
| 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 grimoirelab if
- You want the grimoirelab feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and grimoirelab 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 grimoirelab
GrimoireLab GrimoireLab is a CHAOSS toolset for software development analytics. It includes a coordinated set of tools to retrieve data from systems used to support software development (repositories), store it in databases, enrich it by computing relevant metrics, and make it easy to run analytics and visualizations on it. You can learn more about GrimoireLab in the GrimoireLab tutorial, or visit the GrimoireLab website. Metrics available in GrimoireLab are, in part, developed in the CHAOSS project. For more information regarding CHAOSS metrics, see the latest release at: Getting started To ease the newcomer…
read the full grimoirelab overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or grimoirelab more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and grimoirelab has 639. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and grimoirelab free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and grimoirelab under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and grimoirelab?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and grimoirelab in Shell. 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 grimoirelab?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose grimoirelab if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.