head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs kotlin-logging
Apache SkyWalking has 24,993 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped today. kotlin-logging has 3,116 stars, 131 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 702% (24,993 vs 3,116 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; kotlin-logging is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, kotlin-logging 4%. 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 | kotlin-logging | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 131 |
| 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 kotlin-logging if
- You want the kotlin-logging feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and kotlin-logging 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 kotlin-logging
kotlin logging Lightweight Multiplatform logging framework for Kotlin, written in . A convenient and performant logging facade. Call log methods, without checking whether the respective log level is enabled Behind the scenes the expensive message do not get evaluated if debug is not enabled: Define the logger, without explicitly specifying the class name Behind the scenes val logger will be created in the class, with the class/file name: Log exceptions in a Kotlin style Fluent logging in a Kotlin style Getting started Download Important note: kotlin logging depends on slf4j api (in the JVM artifact). In runtime…
read the full kotlin-logging overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or kotlin-logging more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,993 GitHub stars and kotlin-logging has 3,116. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and kotlin-logging free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kotlin-logging under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and kotlin-logging?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and kotlin-logging in Kotlin. 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 kotlin-logging?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,993 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose kotlin-logging if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.