head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs NLog
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars, 6,633 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. NLog has 6,545 stars, 1,377 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 281% (24,958 vs 6,545 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 | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-19 |
| 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 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 NLog
NLog is a free logging platform for .NET, distributed under the BSD 3 Clause license and maintained in the NLog/NLog repository on GitHub. It provides rich log routing and management capabilities, so an application can produce and manage high quality logs regardless of its size or complexity. It lives in the .NET ecosystem, is written in C , and targets cross platform use across .NET Framework, .NET Core, ASP.NET Core, MAUI, and Mono. The project has been developed for fourteen years and is published as the NLog package on NuGet, with the current 6.0 line adding AOT support.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or NLog more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars and NLog has 6,545. 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 (24,958 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.