head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs PhpMetrics
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. PhpMetrics has 2,617 stars, 261 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 855% (24,988 vs 2,617 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; PhpMetrics is written in PHP under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, PhpMetrics 10%. 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.
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Side by side
| Apache SkyWalking | PhpMetrics | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-08-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 261 |
| 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 PhpMetrics if
- You want the PhpMetrics feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and PhpMetrics 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 PhpMetrics
PhpMetrics PhpMetrics provides metrics about PHP project and classes, with beautiful and readable HTML report. Documentation Twitter Contributing Quick start Follow the quick start guide to get started. Then open the generated ./myreport/index.html file in your browser. You can use a configuration file to customize the report, add options, configure rules for Continuous Integration, etc. Metrics You'll find detailed list of metrics in documentation, or running php ./vendor/bin/phpmetrics metrics Author + Jean François Lépine License See the LICENSE file. Contributing See the CONTRIBUTING file. Support the…
read the full PhpMetrics overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or PhpMetrics more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and PhpMetrics has 2,617. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and PhpMetrics free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and PhpMetrics under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and PhpMetrics?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and PhpMetrics 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 PhpMetrics?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose PhpMetrics if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.