head to head · open source
zipkin vs elastdocker
zipkin has 17,464 GitHub stars, 3,098 forks, 175 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. elastdocker has 2,066 stars, 338 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. zipkin leads on adoption by 745% (17,464 vs 2,066 stars). zipkin is written in Java under Apache-2.0; elastdocker is written in Dockerfile under MIT. zipkin has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, elastdocker 16%. zipkin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (observability), 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
| zipkin | elastdocker | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Dockerfile |
| Last push | 2026-08-06 | 2026-07-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 338 |
| 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 elastdocker if
- You want the elastdocker feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Dockerfile
- You evaluated both and elastdocker fits your workflow better
About zipkin
Zipkin is a distributed tracing system maintained under the OpenZipkin organization and written in Java, released under the Apache 2.0 license. It lives in the Java and JVM ecosystem as a standalone server, while its instrumentation libraries span many languages. The project gathers the timing data needed to troubleshoot latency problems in service architectures, and it covers both the collection and the lookup of that data.
read the full zipkin overview →
About elastdocker
elastdocker is a Docker Compose composition that runs the Elastic Stack (ELK) version 9.4.2 — Elasticsearch, Kibana, Logstash, Beats, and the supporting components — preconfigured with security, self monitoring, and tooling for logging, metrics, APM, alerting, machine learning, and SIEM, aimed at developers and small teams who want the full stack running with a single command instead of wiring it together by hand.
read the full elastdocker overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is zipkin or elastdocker more popular?
zipkin has 17,464 GitHub stars and elastdocker has 2,066. zipkin has the larger community by that measure.
Are zipkin and elastdocker free?
Both are open source. zipkin is licensed under Apache-2.0 and elastdocker under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between zipkin and elastdocker?
zipkin is written in Java and elastdocker in Dockerfile. 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 elastdocker?
Choose zipkin if you want the larger community (17,464 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose elastdocker if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.