head to head · open source
jaeger vs openmessaging-java
jaeger has 23,368 GitHub stars, 3,222 forks, 547 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. openmessaging-java has 722 stars, 219 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. jaeger leads on adoption by 3,137% (23,368 vs 722 stars). jaeger is written in Go under Apache-2.0; openmessaging-java is written in Java under Apache-2.0. jaeger has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, openmessaging-java 30%. jaeger was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | openmessaging-java | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 722 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-01-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 219 |
| 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 openmessaging-java if
- You want the openmessaging-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 openmessaging-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 openmessaging-java
A vendor neutral open standard for distributed messaging and streaming OpenMessaging, which includes the establishment of industry guidelines and messaging, streaming specifications to provide a common framework for finance, e commerce, IoT and big data area. The design principles are the cloud oriented, simplicity, flexibility, and language independent in distributed heterogeneous environments. Conformance to these specifications will make it possible to develop a heterogeneous messaging applications across all major platforms and operating systems. Doc API Doc.
read the full openmessaging-java overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jaeger or openmessaging-java more popular?
jaeger has 23,368 GitHub stars and openmessaging-java has 722. jaeger has the larger community by that measure.
Are jaeger and openmessaging-java free?
Both are open source. jaeger is licensed under Apache-2.0 and openmessaging-java under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jaeger and openmessaging-java?
jaeger is written in Go and openmessaging-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 openmessaging-java?
Choose jaeger if you want the larger community (23,368 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose openmessaging-java if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.