Open source service-mesh projects
Every project in the registry tagged service-mesh, ranked by real GitHub adoption.
Distributed tracing, metrics, logs, and GenAI monitoring in one
Next Generation Agentic Proxy for AI Agents and MCP servers
Kiali project, observability for the Istio service mesh
Frequently asked questions
How many open source service-mesh projects are there?
This registry tracks 3 projects tagged service-mesh, with 33,491 GitHub stars between them. The most-adopted is Apache SkyWalking at 24,954 stars.
Are these service-mesh projects free to use?
Yes — 3 of the 3 carry an explicit open-source licence across 1 distinct licence, so there is no licence fee. Where a project also sells a hosted or enterprise version, the self-hosted path remains free.
Which service-mesh project should I choose?
The list above is ranked by GitHub stars, but stars measure attention rather than fit. Check three things on each card: the licence (permissive versus copyleft), the language it is written in, and the last-push date — a high-star project that has not been pushed in a year is a liability.
Are these service-mesh projects still maintained?
3 of the 3 were pushed in the last 90 days, and every card shows its exact last-push date so you can see the rest. Sort your shortlist by that date before committing to a migration.