head to head · open source
jaeger vs dd-trace-java
jaeger has 23,368 GitHub stars, 3,222 forks, 547 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dd-trace-java has 738 stars, 364 forks, 478 open issues and last shipped yesterday. jaeger leads on adoption by 3,066% (23,368 vs 738 stars). jaeger is written in Go under Apache-2.0; dd-trace-java is written in Java under Apache-2.0. jaeger has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, dd-trace-java 49%. dd-trace-java was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (distributed-tracing, 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.
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Side by side
| jaeger | dd-trace-java | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 738 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 364 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick jaeger if
- You weight community size — 23K 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 dd-trace-java if
- You want the dd-trace-java 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 dd-trace-java fits your workflow better
About jaeger
[![Slack chat][slack img]]( get in touch) [![Unit Tests][ci img]][ci] [![Coverage Status][cov img]][cov] [![Project+Community stats][community badge]][community stats] [![FOSSA Status][fossa img]][fossa] [![OpenSSF Scorecard][openssf img]][openssf] [![OpenSSF Best Practices][openssf bp img]][openssf bp] [![CLOMonitor][clomonitor img]][clomonitor] [![Artifact Hub][artifacthub img]][artifacthub] Jaeger a Distributed Tracing System 💥💥💥 Jaeger v2 is out! Read the blog post and try it out. Quick Start Get Jaeger running in seconds with Docker: For production deployments and more options, see the Getting Started…
read the full jaeger overview →
About dd-trace-java
Datadog Java APM This repository contains dd trace java , Datadog's APM client Java library. dd trace java contains APIs to automatically or manually trace and profile Java applications. These features power Distributed Tracing with Automatic Instrumentation, Continuous Profiling, Error Tracking, Continuous Integration Visibility, Deployment Tracking, Code Hotspots and more. Getting Started To use and configure, check out the [setup documentation][setup docs]. For advanced usage, check out the [configuration reference][configuration reference] and [custom instrumentation API][api docs]. Confused about the…
read the full dd-trace-java overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jaeger or dd-trace-java more popular?
jaeger has 23,368 GitHub stars and dd-trace-java has 738. jaeger has the larger community by that measure.
Are jaeger and dd-trace-java free?
Both are open source. jaeger is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dd-trace-java under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jaeger and dd-trace-java?
jaeger is written in Go and dd-trace-java 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, jaeger or dd-trace-java?
Choose jaeger if you want the larger community (23,368 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dd-trace-java if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.