head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs pup
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pup has 1,040 stars, 138 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 2,303% (24,988 vs 1,040 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; pup is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, pup 13%. pup 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 | pup | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 1.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 138 |
| 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 pup if
- You want the pup feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and pup 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 pup
:dog2: Give Your Agent a Puppy: Introducing Pup CLI Every AI agent needs a loyal companion. Meet Pup — the CLI that gives your agents full access to Datadog's observability platform (because even autonomous agents need good tooling, not just tricks). What is Pup? A comprehensive, AI agent ready CLI covering a wide range of Datadog product domains. We've unleashed the full power of Datadog's APIs so your agents can fetch metrics, sniff out errors, and track down issues without barking up the wrong API tree. AI agents are the fastest growing interface for infrastructure management. Companies like Vercel and AWS…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or pup more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and pup has 1,040. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and pup free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pup under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and pup?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and pup in Rust. 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 pup?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pup if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.