head to head · open source
NetData vs skywalking-java
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars, 6,717 forks, 393 open issues and last shipped yesterday. skywalking-java has 928 stars, 694 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. NetData leads on adoption by 8,656% (81,255 vs 928 stars). NetData is written in Go under GPL-3.0; skywalking-java is written in Java under Apache-2.0. NetData has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, skywalking-java 75%. NetData was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| NetData | skywalking-java | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 928 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 694 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick NetData if
- You weight community size — 81K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick skywalking-java if
- You want the skywalking-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 skywalking-java fits your workflow better
About NetData
X Ray Vision for your infrastructure! Every Metric, Every Second. No BS. Visit our Home Page MENU: WHO WE ARE KEY FEATURES GETTING STARTED HOW IT WORKS FAQ DOCS COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTE LICENSE [!WARNING] People get addicted to Netdata. Once you use it on your systems, there's no going back. WHO WE ARE Netdata is an open source, real time infrastructure monitoring platform. Monitor, detect, and act across your entire infrastructure. Core Advantages: Instant Insights – With Netdata you can access per second metrics and visualizations. Zero Configuration – You can deploy immediately without complex setup. ML Powered –…
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About skywalking-java
Apache SkyWalking Java Agent ========== SkyWalking Java: The Java Agent for Apache SkyWalking, which provides the native tracing/metrics/logging abilities for Java projects. SkyWalking: an APM(application performance monitor) system, especially designed for microservices, cloud native and container based (Docker and Kubernetes) architectures. Documentation Official documentation Downloads Please head to the releases page to download a release of Apache SkyWalking. Code of conduct This project adheres to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct. By participating, you are expected to uphold this code. Please…
read the full skywalking-java overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NetData or skywalking-java more popular?
NetData has 81,255 GitHub stars and skywalking-java has 928. NetData has the larger community by that measure.
Are NetData and skywalking-java free?
Both are open source. NetData is licensed under GPL-3.0 and skywalking-java under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NetData and skywalking-java?
NetData is written in Go and skywalking-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, NetData or skywalking-java?
Choose NetData if you want the larger community (81,255 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose skywalking-java if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.