head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs stern
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars, 6,633 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. stern has 4,866 stars, 178 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 413% (24,958 vs 4,866 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; stern is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, stern 4%. 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 | stern | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 178 |
| 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 stern if
- You want the stern feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and stern 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 stern
Stern is a command line tool that tails logs from multiple Kubernetes pods and multiple containers at the same time, colour coding each result, and it is built for developers and operators who debug workloads on Kubernetes instead of reading pods one at a time.
read the full stern overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or stern more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,958 GitHub stars and stern has 4,866. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and stern free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and stern under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and stern?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and stern 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 stern?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,958 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose stern if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.