head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs tslog
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. tslog has 1,753 stars, 74 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 1,325% (24,988 vs 1,753 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; tslog is written in TypeScript under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, tslog 4%. tslog 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 | tslog | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 74 |
| 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 tslog if
- You want the tslog feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and tslog 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 tslog
Beautiful logging experience for TypeScript Powerful, fast and expressive logging for TypeScript and JavaScript [!NOTE] This is tslog v5. It is a deliberate, breaking redesign — ESM only, grouped settings, a new fields first JSON shape, and middleware instead of overwrite. . If you are on the 4.x line, 4.11.0 is a safe place to stay — most of the v5 performance wins were back ported there with zero breaking changes. Upgrade when you want the new capabilities. See Upgrading from v4? . Highlights 🏗 Universal — one logger for Node.js, browser, Deno, Bun, workers and React Native 🧱 Structured, fields first JSON —…
read the full tslog overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or tslog more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and tslog has 1,753. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and tslog free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and tslog under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and tslog?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and tslog in TypeScript. 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 tslog?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose tslog if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.