head to head · open source
zipkin vs tapir
zipkin has 17,475 GitHub stars, 3,092 forks, 175 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. tapir has 1,476 stars, 473 forks, 173 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. zipkin leads on adoption by 1,084% (17,475 vs 1,476 stars). zipkin is written in Java under Apache-2.0; tapir is written in Scala under Apache-2.0. zipkin has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, tapir 32%. tapir 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 | tapir | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Scala |
| Last push | 2026-08-06 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 473 |
| 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 tapir if
- You want the tapir feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Scala
- You evaluated both and tapir 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 tapir
Welcome! Intro Tapir is a library to describe HTTP APIs, expose them as a server, consume as a client, and automatically document using open standards. Tapir is fast and developer friendly. The endpoint definition APIs are crafted with readability and discoverability in mind. Our Netty based server is one of the best performing Scala HTTP servers available. Tapir integrates with all major Scala stacks, so you can use your favorite approach to Functional Programming, while leveraging all the benefits that Tapir brings! Seamless integration with the Scala and HTTP ecosystems is one of Tapir's major strengths: all…
read the full tapir overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is zipkin or tapir more popular?
zipkin has 17,475 GitHub stars and tapir has 1,476. zipkin has the larger community by that measure.
Are zipkin and tapir free?
Both are open source. zipkin is licensed under Apache-2.0 and tapir under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between zipkin and tapir?
zipkin is written in Java and tapir in Scala. 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 tapir?
Choose zipkin if you want the larger community (17,475 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose tapir if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.