head to head · open source
jaeger vs openwolf
jaeger has 23,368 GitHub stars, 3,222 forks, 547 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. openwolf has 2,401 stars, 212 forks, 56 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. jaeger leads on adoption by 873% (23,368 vs 2,401 stars). jaeger is written in Go under Apache-2.0; openwolf is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. jaeger has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, openwolf 9%. 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 | openwolf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 212 |
| 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 openwolf if
- You want the openwolf feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and openwolf 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 openwolf
OpenWolf Keep project memory across your coding agents. OpenWolf keeps task context, project maps and known fixes in one local folder. Help Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode continue saved work and find relevant code. Reduce repeated context and review recorded token usage by agent and model. Memory and indexing run locally without extra model calls. Hooks: Claude Code, Codex CLI · Plugin: OpenCode · Compatible hooks: Grok Build · Context only: Cursor, Gemini CLI, Antigravity What it does A coding session produces useful context: the task objective, files changed, failed tests and the next action. That information…
read the full openwolf overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is jaeger or openwolf more popular?
jaeger has 23,368 GitHub stars and openwolf has 2,401. jaeger has the larger community by that measure.
Are jaeger and openwolf free?
Both are open source. jaeger is licensed under Apache-2.0 and openwolf under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jaeger and openwolf?
jaeger is written in Go and openwolf in TypeScript. 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 openwolf?
Choose jaeger if you want the larger community (23,368 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose openwolf if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.