head to head · open source
zipkin vs qtap
zipkin has 17,474 GitHub stars, 3,092 forks, 175 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. qtap has 1,465 stars, 57 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. zipkin leads on adoption by 1,093% (17,474 vs 1,465 stars). zipkin is written in Java under Apache-2.0; qtap is written in C under Apache-2.0. zipkin has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, qtap 4%. qtap 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 | qtap | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | C |
| Last push | 2026-08-06 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 57 |
| 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 qtap if
- You want the qtap feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and qtap 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 qtap
An eBPF agent that captures traffic flowing through the Linux kernel. By attaching to TLS/SSL functions, data is intercepted before and after encryption and then passed to flexible plugins with full visibility along with all of the available context process/container/host/user/protocol/etc. Qtap makes it possible to understand what's happening with your egress traffic, without modifying apps, installing proxies, or managing certs. Qtap shows you exactly what data is being sent and received in its original, unencrypted form while operating out of band with minimal overhead, without adding latency or disrupting…
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Frequently asked questions
Is zipkin or qtap more popular?
zipkin has 17,474 GitHub stars and qtap has 1,465. zipkin has the larger community by that measure.
Are zipkin and qtap free?
Both are open source. zipkin is licensed under Apache-2.0 and qtap under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between zipkin and qtap?
zipkin is written in Java and qtap in 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 qtap?
Choose zipkin if you want the larger community (17,474 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose qtap if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.