head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs metrics
Apache SkyWalking has 24,984 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. metrics has 17,365 stars, 2,300 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 44% (24,984 vs 17,365 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; metrics is written in JavaScript under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, metrics 13%. 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 | metrics | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 17K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-05-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| 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 metrics if
- You want the metrics feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and metrics 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 metrics
📊 Metrics Generate metrics that can be embedded everywhere, including your GitHub profile readme! Supports users, organizations, and even repositories! For user accounts For organization accounts 🧩 Customizable with 47 plugins and 335 options! 📅 Isometric commit calendar 🈷️ Languages activity Full year calendar Half year calendar Indepth analysis (clone and analyze repositories) Recently used (analyze recent activity events) Default algorithm Default algorithm (with details) ✨ Stargazers 👨💻 Lines of code changed Classic charts Graph charts Worldmap Repositories and diff history Compact display in base…
read the full metrics overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or metrics more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,984 GitHub stars and metrics has 17,365. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and metrics free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and metrics under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and metrics?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and metrics in JavaScript. 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 metrics?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,984 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose metrics if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.