head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs Cachet
Apache SkyWalking has 24,984 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cachet has 15,263 stars, 1,631 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 64% (24,984 vs 15,263 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Cachet is written in PHP under a custom or non-standard licence. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, Cachet 11%. Apache SkyWalking was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Cachet | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Java | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| 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 Cachet if
- You want the Cachet feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Cachet 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 Cachet
Cachet, the open source self hosted status page system. Cachet 3.x Announcement For more information on the Cachet rebuild and our plans for 3.x, you can read the announcement here. Requirements PHP 8.3 or later Composer A supported database: MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite Installation, Upgrades and Documentation You can find documentation at Here are some useful quick links: Installing Cachet Demo To test out the v3 demo, you can log in to the Cachet dashboard with the following credentials: Email: test@test.com Password: test123 Note The demo automatically resets every 30 minutes. Sponsors Security…
read the full Cachet overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or Cachet more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,984 GitHub stars and Cachet has 15,263. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and Cachet free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Cachet has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and Cachet?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and Cachet in PHP. 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 Cachet?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,984 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Cachet if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.