head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs minitrace-rust
Apache SkyWalking has 24,962 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. minitrace-rust has 751 stars, 46 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 3,224% (24,962 vs 751 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; minitrace-rust is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, minitrace-rust 6%. Apache SkyWalking was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | minitrace-rust | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 751 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 46 |
| 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 minitrace-rust if
- You want the minitrace-rust feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and minitrace-rust 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 minitrace-rust
minitrace rust is an extremely fast tracing library for the Rust programming language, intended for Rust developers who need distributed tracing in their services and want that trace data to reach backends such as Jaeger or Datadog.
read the full minitrace-rust overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or minitrace-rust more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,962 GitHub stars and minitrace-rust has 751. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and minitrace-rust free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and minitrace-rust under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and minitrace-rust?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and minitrace-rust in Rust. 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 minitrace-rust?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,962 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose minitrace-rust if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.