head to head · open source
jaeger vs kiali
jaeger has 23,368 GitHub stars, 3,222 forks, 547 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. kiali has 3,648 stars, 575 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. jaeger leads on adoption by 541% (23,368 vs 3,648 stars). jaeger is written in Go under Apache-2.0; kiali is written in Go under Apache-2.0. jaeger has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, kiali 16%. jaeger was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (observability), 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 | kiali | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 575 |
| 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 kiali if
- You want the kiali feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and kiali 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 kiali
= Kiali image: about Kiali", link=" :toc: macro :toc title: image: 2.0 license", link="LICENSE"] == Introduction link: is a management console for Istio service mesh. Kiali can be quickly installed as an Istio add on or integrated as a trusted component within a production environment. === Table of contents toc::[] === Contributing First, check the link: section on kiali.io], which provides a brief introduction on contributing, how to report issues and request features, and how to reach us. For those interested in making code contributions, please also check the link:./CONTRIBUTING.md[Contribution Guide]. ===…
read the full kiali overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jaeger or kiali more popular?
jaeger has 23,368 GitHub stars and kiali has 3,648. jaeger has the larger community by that measure.
Are jaeger and kiali free?
Both are open source. jaeger is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kiali under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jaeger and kiali?
jaeger is written in Go and kiali in Go. 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 kiali?
Choose jaeger if you want the larger community (23,368 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose kiali if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.