head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs langsmith-sdk
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars, 6,633 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. langsmith-sdk has 1,060 stars, 298 forks, 216 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 2,255% (24,958 vs 1,060 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; langsmith-sdk is written in Python under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, langsmith-sdk 28%. langsmith-sdk 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 | langsmith-sdk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 298 |
| 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 langsmith-sdk if
- You want the langsmith-sdk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and langsmith-sdk fits your workflow better
About Apache SkyWalking
Apache SkyWalking is an open source application performance monitoring (APM) system for distributed systems in cloud native architectures, built for teams that run microservices across Kubernetes and container based environments.
read the full Apache SkyWalking overview →
About langsmith-sdk
LangSmith SDK is the official pair of Python and JavaScript client libraries for the LangSmith platform, built and maintained by LangChain for teams that need to debug, evaluate, and monitor language models and intelligent agents.
read the full langsmith-sdk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or langsmith-sdk more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars and langsmith-sdk has 1,060. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and langsmith-sdk free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and langsmith-sdk under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and langsmith-sdk?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and langsmith-sdk in Python. 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 langsmith-sdk?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,958 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose langsmith-sdk if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.