head to head · open source
zipkin vs CocoaLumberjack
zipkin has 17,476 GitHub stars, 3,092 forks, 175 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. CocoaLumberjack has 13,320 stars, 2,271 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. zipkin leads on adoption by 31% (17,476 vs 13,320 stars). zipkin is written in Java under Apache-2.0; CocoaLumberjack is written in Objective-C under BSD-3-Clause. zipkin has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, CocoaLumberjack 17%. CocoaLumberjack 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
| zipkin | CocoaLumberjack | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 13K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Java | Objective-C |
| Last push | 2026-08-06 | 2026-10-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick zipkin if
- You weight community size — 17K 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 CocoaLumberjack if
- You want the CocoaLumberjack feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Objective-C
- You evaluated both and CocoaLumberjack fits your workflow better
About zipkin
zipkin Zipkin is a distributed tracing system. It helps gather timing data needed to troubleshoot latency problems in service architectures. Features include both the collection and lookup of this data. If you have a trace ID in a log file, you can jump directly to it. Otherwise, you can query based on attributes such as service, operation name, tags and duration. Some interesting data will be summarized for you, such as the percentage of time spent in a service, and whether operations failed. The Zipkin UI also presents a dependency diagram showing how many traced requests went through each application. This…
read the full zipkin overview →
About CocoaLumberjack
CocoaLumberjack =============== CocoaLumberjack is a fast & simple, yet powerful & flexible logging framework for macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS and visionOS. How to get started First, install CocoaLumberjack via Swift Package Manager, CocoaPods, Carthage or manually. Then use DDOSLogger for iOS 10 and later, or DDTTYLogger and DDASLLogger for earlier versions to begin logging messages. Swift Package Manager As of CocoaLumberjack 3.6.0, you can use the Swift Package Manager as integration method. If you want to use the Swift Package Manager as integration method, either use Xcode to add the package dependency or add…
read the full CocoaLumberjack overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is zipkin or CocoaLumberjack more popular?
zipkin has 17,476 GitHub stars and CocoaLumberjack has 13,320. zipkin has the larger community by that measure.
Are zipkin and CocoaLumberjack free?
Both are open source. zipkin is licensed under Apache-2.0 and CocoaLumberjack under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between zipkin and CocoaLumberjack?
zipkin is written in Java and CocoaLumberjack in Objective-C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, zipkin or CocoaLumberjack?
Choose zipkin if you want the larger community (17,476 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose CocoaLumberjack if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.