head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs hertzbeat
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hertzbeat has 7,452 stars, 1,368 forks, 313 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 235% (24,988 vs 7,452 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; hertzbeat is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, hertzbeat 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 | hertzbeat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| 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 hertzbeat if
- You want the hertzbeat 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 hertzbeat 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 hertzbeat
Readme : English 中文 日本語 Home: hertzbeat.apache.org Email: Mail to dev subscribe@hertzbeat.apache.org to subscribe mailing lists 🎡 Introduction Apache HertzBeat™ is an AI powered next generation open source real time observability system. Unified metrics and logs collection, centralized alerting distribution, intelligent management and analysis. No Agent required, high performance cluster, provides powerful custom monitoring and status page building capabilities. Features Integrates collection + analysis + alerting + notification into one platform, with new AI powered interactions and features under HertzBeat…
read the full hertzbeat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or hertzbeat more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and hertzbeat has 7,452. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and hertzbeat free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and hertzbeat under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and hertzbeat?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and hertzbeat 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 hertzbeat?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose hertzbeat if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.