head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs logging-operator
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. logging-operator has 1,716 stars, 369 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 1,356% (24,988 vs 1,716 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; logging-operator is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, logging-operator 22%. logging-operator 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 | logging-operator | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 369 |
| 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 logging-operator if
- You want the logging-operator feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and logging-operator 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 logging-operator
Logging operator The Logging operator is now a CNCF Sandbox project. The Logging operator solves your logging related problems in Kubernetes environments by automating the deployment and configuration of a Kubernetes logging pipeline. 1. The operator deploys and configures a log collector (currently a Fluent Bit DaemonSet) on every node to collect container and application logs from the node file system. 1. Fluent Bit queries the Kubernetes API and enriches the logs with metadata about the pods, and transfers both the logs and the metadata to a log forwarder instance. 1. The log forwarder instance receives…
read the full logging-operator overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or logging-operator more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and logging-operator has 1,716. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and logging-operator free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and logging-operator under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and logging-operator?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and logging-operator 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 logging-operator?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose logging-operator if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.