head to head · open source
SigNoz vs Apache SkyWalking
SigNoz has 32,509 GitHub stars, 2,573 forks, 1,557 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache SkyWalking has 24,984 stars, 6,630 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SigNoz leads on adoption by 30% (32,509 vs 24,984 stars). SigNoz is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0. SigNoz has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Apache SkyWalking 27%. SigNoz was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (apm, distributed-tracing, metrics, 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
| SigNoz | Apache SkyWalking | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 25K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 6.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SigNoz if
- You weight community size — 33K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Apache SkyWalking if
- You want the Apache SkyWalking feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and Apache SkyWalking fits your workflow better
About SigNoz
中文 · Deutsch · Português SigNoz is an open source observability platform built on OpenTelemetry. We’re building an enterprise grade alternative to fragmented monitoring stacks, with logs, metrics, traces, alerts, and dashboards in one place. Choose how to run SigNoz SigNoz Cloud (Recommended) Fully managed SigNoz with a 30 day free trial, no credit card required, usage based pricing that starts at $49, and regional data hosting. Start free → Enterprise Enterprise Cloud, BYOC, or Enterprise Self Hosted with compliance, support, custom retention, RBAC, ingestion controls, data residency, and region selection…
read the full SigNoz overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SigNoz or Apache SkyWalking more popular?
SigNoz has 32,509 GitHub stars and Apache SkyWalking has 24,984. SigNoz has the larger community by that measure.
Are SigNoz and Apache SkyWalking free?
Both are open source. SigNoz has no licence declared in this registry, and Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SigNoz and Apache SkyWalking?
SigNoz is written in TypeScript and Apache SkyWalking in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, SigNoz or Apache SkyWalking?
Choose SigNoz if you want the larger community (32,509 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Apache SkyWalking if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.