head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs retina
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars, 6,633 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. retina has 3,173 stars, 304 forks, 190 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 687% (24,958 vs 3,173 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; retina is written in Go under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, retina 10%. retina was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ebpf, 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 | retina | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 3.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 304 |
| 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 retina if
- You want the retina feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and retina 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 retina
Retina is a cloud agnostic, open source, eBPF based network observability platform for Kubernetes, built for cluster network administrators, cluster security administrators, and DevOps engineers who need a centralized hub for monitoring application health, network health, and security.
read the full retina overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or retina more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars and retina has 3,173. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and retina free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and retina under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and retina?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and retina in Go. 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 retina?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,958 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose retina if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.