What is Apache SkyWalking?
Monitors distributed systems with request traces, service maps, metrics, logs and alerts.
Who is Apache SkyWalking best for?
Apache SkyWalking is best for platform teams that need tracing and APM across microservices without a vendor bill.
Tracing microservices
End-to-end traces and service topology maps show where a slow request spends its time.
Kubernetes clusters
The Rover agent uses eBPF to monitor Kubernetes deployments and profile CPU and network use.
Mixed telemetry
It takes in OpenTelemetry, Zipkin, Prometheus, Zabbix and Fluentd data next to its own agents.
Large estates
The project says one SkyWalking cluster can collect and analyse more than 100 billion telemetry records.
How much does Apache SkyWalking cost?
Apache SkyWalking is free under the Apache 2.0 licence with no paid edition; your only cost is the servers and storage you run it on.
- Traces, metrics, logs and alerts
- Language agents plus the eBPF Rover agent
- Takes in OpenTelemetry, Zipkin and Prometheus data
The project has no paid edition and no hosted service; costs are the servers and storage you run it on. Full pricing on github.com. We checked these prices on .
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Is Apache SkyWalking open source?
Yes. Apache SkyWalking's code is public under the Apache 2.0 licence, so you can run it on your own server.
On GitHub
25,005stars
+35 (+0.1%) in the last 30 days
- Last commit
- 12 Nov
- Repository age
- 11 years
- Latest release
- 6 Nov
- Licence
- Apache 2.0
- Self-hosted
- Yes
- Repository
- apache/skywalking
What are the best Apache SkyWalking alternatives?
Apache SkyWalking is an open source alternative to Middleware and Dash0. Grafana Loki, Grafana, Netdata and Prometheus do the same job and are open source too.
MiddlewareFreeFull-stack observability with an AI SRE agent.
Dash0FreemiumLogs, metrics and traces unified, OpenTelemetry-native.
Grafana LokiOpen SourceLog aggregation system that indexes labels rather than full text, so large log volumes stay cheap.
GrafanaOpen SourceCharts metrics, logs and traces from Prometheus, SQL databases and 150+ other data sources.
NetdataOpen SourcePer-second monitoring agent for servers, containers and apps, with dashboards and alerts.
PrometheusOpen SourceCollects time series metrics from servers and apps, with the PromQL query language and alert rules.
Questions about Apache SkyWalking
What is Apache SkyWalking?
Monitors distributed systems with request traces, service maps, metrics, logs and alerts.
Who is Apache SkyWalking for?
Apache SkyWalking is best for platform teams that need tracing and APM across microservices without a vendor bill.
Is Apache SkyWalking free?
Yes. Apache SkyWalking has a free Self-hosted plan: traces, metrics, logs and alerts.
Is Apache SkyWalking open source?
Yes. Apache SkyWalking's code is public under the Apache 2.0 licence, so you can run it on your own server.
What are the best Apache SkyWalking alternatives?
The closest alternatives on Recaply are Middleware, Dash0, Grafana Loki, Grafana, Netdata and Prometheus.
Where can I try Apache SkyWalking?
On its official website, skywalking.apache.org.
Which storage does Apache SkyWalking need?
SkyWalking stores data in BanyanDB, its own observability database and the default, or in Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, MySQL or PostgreSQL. The docs suggest Elasticsearch or OpenSearch for large deployments and MySQL or PostgreSQL for medium ones.
ClickStack
TiDB
SigNoz
GreptimeDB
OpenObserve
Zabbix