head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs NLog
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. NLog has 6,546 stars, 1,378 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 282% (24,988 vs 6,546 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; NLog is written in C# under BSD-3-Clause. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, NLog 21%. NLog 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 | NLog | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Java | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| 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 NLog if
- You want the NLog feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and NLog 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 NLog
NLog is a free logging platform for .NET with rich log routing and management capabilities. It makes it easy to produce and manage high quality logs for your application regardless of its size or complexity. Handles both structured logging and traditional logging from any .NET language, augment with contextual information, format according to your preference and send them to one or more targets such as file or console. Major and minor releases will be posted on project news. Getting started .NET Framework ASP.NET Core .NET Core Console For the possible options in the config, check the Options list and API…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or NLog more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and NLog has 6,546. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and NLog free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and NLog under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and NLog?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and NLog in C#. 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 NLog?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose NLog if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.