head to head · open source
gofr vs viztracer
gofr has 20,817 GitHub stars, 1,790 forks, 132 open issues and last shipped yesterday. viztracer has 7,774 stars, 480 forks, 33 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. gofr leads on adoption by 168% (20,817 vs 7,774 stars). gofr is written in Go under Apache-2.0; viztracer is written in Python under Apache-2.0. gofr has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, viztracer 6%. gofr 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| gofr | viztracer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 7.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-09-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 480 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gofr if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick viztracer if
- You want the viztracer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and viztracer fits your workflow better
About gofr
Go Fr GoFr: An Opinionated Microservice Development Framework Listed in the CNCF Landscape 🎯 Goal GoFr is designed to simplify microservice development , with a key focus on Kubernetes deployment and out of the box observability . While capable of building generic applications, microservices remain at its core. 💡 Key Features 1. Simple API Syntax 2. REST Standards by Default 3. Configuration Management 4. Observability (Logs, Traces, Metrics) 5. Inbuilt Auth Middleware & Custom Middleware Support 6. gRPC Support 7. HTTP Service with Circuit Breaker Support 8. Pub/Sub 9. Health Check for All Datasources 10…
About viztracer
VizTracer VizTracer is a low overhead logging/debugging/profiling tool that can trace and visualize your python code execution. The front end UI is powered by Perfetto. Use "AWSD" to zoom/navigate . More help can be found in "Support Controls". Highlights Detailed function entry/exit information on timeline with source code Super easy to use, no source code change for most features, no package dependency Low overhead, probably the fastest tracer in the market Supports threading, multiprocessing, subprocess, async and PyTorch Powerful front end, able to render GB level trace smoothly Works on Linux/MacOS/Windows…
read the full viztracer 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 gofr or viztracer more popular?
gofr has 20,817 GitHub stars and viztracer has 7,774. gofr has the larger community by that measure.
Are gofr and viztracer free?
Both are open source. gofr is licensed under Apache-2.0 and viztracer under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gofr and viztracer?
gofr is written in Go and viztracer in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gofr or viztracer?
Choose gofr if you want the larger community (20,817 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose viztracer if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.