head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs opentelemetry-php
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. opentelemetry-php has 920 stars, 233 forks, 97 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 2,616% (24,988 vs 920 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; opentelemetry-php is written in PHP under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, opentelemetry-php 25%. opentelemetry-php was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (logging, metrics, open-telemetry), 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 | opentelemetry-php | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 920 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 233 |
| 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 opentelemetry-php if
- You want the opentelemetry-php feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and opentelemetry-php 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 opentelemetry-php
OpenTelemetry for PHP This is the monorepo for the main components of OpenTelemetry for PHP. Documentation Please read the official documentation: API Documentation is available here: AI Assistance If you're planning on using AI to contribute to the OpenTelemetry PHP repositories, please follow the OpenTelemetry GenAI Policies. Packages and versions Releases for both this repository and contrib are based on read only git subtree splits from our monorepo. You should refer to packagist.org for all packages, their versions and details. You can also look at the read only repositories, which live in the opentelemetry…
read the full opentelemetry-php 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 opentelemetry-php more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and opentelemetry-php has 920. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and opentelemetry-php free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and opentelemetry-php under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and opentelemetry-php?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and opentelemetry-php 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 opentelemetry-php?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose opentelemetry-php if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.