head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs monolog
Apache SkyWalking has 24,984 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. monolog has 21,404 stars, 1,921 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 17% (24,984 vs 21,404 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; monolog is written in PHP under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, monolog 9%. 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 | monolog | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 21K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| 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 monolog if
- You want the monolog feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and monolog 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 monolog
Monolog Logging for PHP Note This is the documentation for Monolog 3.x , if you are using older releases see the documentation for Monolog 2.x or Monolog 1.x Monolog sends your logs to files, sockets, inboxes, databases and various web services. See the complete list of handlers below. Special handlers allow you to build advanced logging strategies. This library implements the PSR 3 interface that you can type hint against in your own libraries to keep a maximum of interoperability. You can also use it in your applications to make sure you can always use another compatible logger at a later time. As of 1.11.0…
read the full monolog overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or monolog more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,984 GitHub stars and monolog has 21,404. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and monolog free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and monolog under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and monolog?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and monolog in PHP. 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 monolog?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,984 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose monolog if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.