head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs quill
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars, 6,633 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. quill has 3,032 stars, 274 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 723% (24,958 vs 3,032 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; quill is written in C++ under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, quill 9%. 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 (logging), 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 | quill | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 274 |
| 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 quill if
- You want the quill feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and quill 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 quill
Quill is an ultra low latency asynchronous logging and metrics library for C++17 and later, aimed at performance critical applications whose latency sensitive threads cannot afford to format strings or perform I/O inline.
read the full quill overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or quill more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars and quill has 3,032. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and quill free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and quill under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and quill?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and quill in C++. 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 quill?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,958 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose quill if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.