head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs openmessaging-java
Apache SkyWalking has 24,991 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. openmessaging-java has 722 stars, 219 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 3,361% (24,991 vs 722 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; openmessaging-java is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, openmessaging-java 30%. 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 (metrics), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Apache SkyWalking | openmessaging-java | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 722 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-01-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 219 |
| 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 openmessaging-java if
- You want the openmessaging-java feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and openmessaging-java 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 openmessaging-java
A vendor neutral open standard for distributed messaging and streaming OpenMessaging, which includes the establishment of industry guidelines and messaging, streaming specifications to provide a common framework for finance, e commerce, IoT and big data area. The design principles are the cloud oriented, simplicity, flexibility, and language independent in distributed heterogeneous environments. Conformance to these specifications will make it possible to develop a heterogeneous messaging applications across all major platforms and operating systems. Doc API Doc.
read the full openmessaging-java overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Monitoring & Observability projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Monitoring & Observability field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or openmessaging-java more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,991 GitHub stars and openmessaging-java has 722. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and openmessaging-java free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and openmessaging-java under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and openmessaging-java?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and openmessaging-java in Java. 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 openmessaging-java?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,991 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose openmessaging-java if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.