head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs Vector
Apache SkyWalking has 24,954 GitHub stars, 6,634 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Vector has 22,581 stars, 2,285 forks, 2,512 open issues and last shipped today. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 11% (24,954 vs 22,581 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Vector is written in Rust under MPL-2.0. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, Vector 10%. Vector was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | Vector | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 23K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.6K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| 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 Vector if
- You want the Vector feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Vector fits your workflow better
About Apache SkyWalking
Apache SkyWalking is an open source application performance monitoring (APM) system for distributed systems in cloud native architectures, built for teams that run microservices across Kubernetes and container based environments.
read the full Apache SkyWalking overview →
About Vector
Vector is an open source observability data pipeline written in Rust and licensed under MPL 2.0. It operates as an end to end system for collecting, transforming, and routing logs and metrics within the cloud native monitoring ecosystem. The project is maintained by Datadog's Community Open Source Engineering team, and its topics include agent, cloud native, data transformation, datadog, etl, events, forwarder, logs, metrics, and monitoring.
read the full Vector overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or Vector more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,954 GitHub stars and Vector has 22,581. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and Vector free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Vector under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and Vector?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and Vector in Rust. 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 Vector?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,954 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Vector if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.