head to head · open source
zipkin vs kiali
zipkin has 17,475 GitHub stars, 3,092 forks, 175 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. kiali has 3,648 stars, 575 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. zipkin leads on adoption by 379% (17,475 vs 3,648 stars). zipkin is written in Java under Apache-2.0; kiali is written in Go under Apache-2.0. zipkin has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, kiali 16%. kiali 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 | kiali | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-08-06 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 575 |
| 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 kiali if
- You want the kiali feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and kiali 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 kiali
= Kiali image: about Kiali", link=" :toc: macro :toc title: image: 2.0 license", link="LICENSE"] == Introduction link: is a management console for Istio service mesh. Kiali can be quickly installed as an Istio add on or integrated as a trusted component within a production environment. === Table of contents toc::[] === Contributing First, check the link: section on kiali.io], which provides a brief introduction on contributing, how to report issues and request features, and how to reach us. For those interested in making code contributions, please also check the link:./CONTRIBUTING.md[Contribution Guide]. ===…
read the full kiali overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is zipkin or kiali more popular?
zipkin has 17,475 GitHub stars and kiali has 3,648. zipkin has the larger community by that measure.
Are zipkin and kiali free?
Both are open source. zipkin is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kiali under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between zipkin and kiali?
zipkin is written in Java and kiali in Go. 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 kiali?
Choose zipkin if you want the larger community (17,475 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose kiali if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.