head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs openGemini
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars, 6,633 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. openGemini has 1,175 stars, 175 forks, 117 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 2,024% (24,958 vs 1,175 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; openGemini is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, openGemini 15%. 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 (observability), 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 | openGemini | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 175 |
| 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 openGemini if
- You want the openGemini feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and openGemini 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 openGemini
openGemini is a cloud native distributed time series database written in Go and licensed under Apache 2.0, hosted as a CNCF sandbox project and built to store and analyse massive volumes of telemetry data for IoT, observability and DevOps workloads.
read the full openGemini overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or openGemini more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars and openGemini has 1,175. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and openGemini free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and openGemini under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and openGemini?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and openGemini in Go. 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 openGemini?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,958 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose openGemini if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.