head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs OpenObserve
Apache SkyWalking has 24,984 GitHub stars, 6,630 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenObserve has 22,699 stars, 1,174 forks, 598 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 10% (24,984 vs 22,699 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; OpenObserve is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, OpenObserve 5%. OpenObserve was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (apm, metrics), 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
| Apache SkyWalking | OpenObserve | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 23K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Apache SkyWalking if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenObserve if
- You want the OpenObserve 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 OpenObserve fits your workflow better
About Apache SkyWalking
Apache SkyWalking ========== SkyWalking : an APM (Application Performance Monitoring) system, especially designed for microservices, cloud native and container based architectures. Abstract SkyWalking is an open source APM system that provides monitoring, tracing and diagnosing capabilities for distributed systems in Cloud Native architectures. Distributed Tracing End to end distributed tracing. Service topology analysis, service centric observability and APIs dashboards. Agents for your stack Java, .Net Core, PHP, NodeJS, Golang, LUA, Rust, C++, Client JavaScript and Python agents with active development and…
read the full Apache SkyWalking overview →
About OpenObserve
Open source Datadog alternative for logs, metrics, traces, and frontend monitoring. Modern observability platform: 10x easier, 140x lower storage cost, high performance, petabyte scale. Cloud · Documentation · Slack · Quickstart OpenObserve (O2) is a cloud native observability platform for logs, metrics, traces, analytics, Real User Monitoring (RUM), and AI/LLM observability. It's a cost effective alternative to Datadog, Splunk, and Elasticsearch for teams that need full observability without the complexity or cost — with Parquet columnar storage and an S3 native design that cuts storage costs by up to 140x…
read the full OpenObserve overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or OpenObserve more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,984 GitHub stars and OpenObserve has 22,699. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and OpenObserve free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenObserve under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and OpenObserve?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and OpenObserve 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, Apache SkyWalking or OpenObserve?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,984 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenObserve if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.