head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs transmittable-thread-local
Apache SkyWalking has 24,991 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. transmittable-thread-local has 8,306 stars, 1,720 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 201% (24,991 vs 8,306 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; transmittable-thread-local is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, transmittable-thread-local 21%. Apache SkyWalking was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (apm, dapper, distributed-tracing), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Apache SkyWalking | transmittable-thread-local | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 8.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-06-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 transmittable-thread-local if
- You want the transmittable-thread-local 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 transmittable-thread-local 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 transmittable-thread-local
[!IMPORTANT] 🚧 这个分支是 TransmittableThreadLocal(TTL) v3 ，在开发中还没有发布。 v3 的版本说明、工作项列表及其进展，参见 issue 432。 👉 目前使用中的稳定发布版本 v2.x 在 分支 2.x 上。 📖 English Documentation 📖 中文文档 🔧 功能 🎨 需求场景 👥 User Guide 1. 简单使用 2. 保证线程池中传递值 2.1 修饰 Runnable 和 Callable 整个过程的完整时序图 2.2 修饰线程池 2.3 使用 Java Agent 来修饰 JDK 线程池实现类 Java Agent 的启动参数配置 🔌 Java API Docs 🍪 Maven依赖 🔨 关于编译构建 ❓ FAQ ✨ 使用 TTL 的好处与必要性 🗿 更多文档 📚 相关资料 JDK Core Classes 💗 Who Used 👷 Contributors 🔧 功能 👉 TransmittableThreadLocal ( TTL )：在使用线程池等会池化复用线程的执行组件情况下，提供 ThreadLocal 值的传递功能，解决异步执行时上下文传递的问题。一个 Java 标准库本应为框架/中间件设施开发提供的标配能力，本库功能聚焦 & 0依赖，支持 Java 6 21 。 JDK 的…
read the full transmittable-thread-local overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Monitoring & Observability projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Monitoring & Observability field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or transmittable-thread-local more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,991 GitHub stars and transmittable-thread-local has 8,306. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and transmittable-thread-local free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and transmittable-thread-local under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and transmittable-thread-local?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and transmittable-thread-local 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, Apache SkyWalking or transmittable-thread-local?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,991 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose transmittable-thread-local if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.