head to head · open source
Apache SkyWalking vs voltagent
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars, 6,632 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. voltagent has 10,917 stars, 1,186 forks, 86 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. Apache SkyWalking leads on adoption by 129% (24,988 vs 10,917 stars). Apache SkyWalking is written in Java under Apache-2.0; voltagent is written in TypeScript under MIT. Apache SkyWalking has attracted 27% as many forks as stars, voltagent 11%. Apache SkyWalking 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
| Apache SkyWalking | voltagent | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-15 |
| 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 voltagent if
- You want the voltagent feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and voltagent 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 voltagent
AI Agent Engineering Platform English 繁體中文 简体中文 日本語 한국어 Home Page Documentation Examples VoltAgent is an end to end AI Agent Engineering Platform that consists of two main parts: Open Source TypeScript Framework – Memory, RAG, Guardrails, Tools, MCP, Voice, Workflow, and more. VoltOps Console Cloud Self Hosted – Observability, Automation, Deployment, Evals, Guardrails, Prompts, and more. Build agents with full code control and ship them with production ready visibility and operations. Core TypeScript Framework With the open source framework, you can build intelligent agents with memory, tools, and multi step…
read the full voltagent overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or voltagent more popular?
Apache SkyWalking has 24,988 GitHub stars and voltagent has 10,917. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community by that measure.
Are Apache SkyWalking and voltagent free?
Both are open source. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and voltagent under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Apache SkyWalking and voltagent?
Apache SkyWalking is written in Java and voltagent 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 voltagent?
Choose Apache SkyWalking if you want the larger community (24,988 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose voltagent if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.