vioscaleAI
Comparison

Apache SkyWalking vs Skylight

No clear leader: Skylight (53.9) and Apache SkyWalking (52.9) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Apache SkyWalking full profile →Skylight full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Apache SkyWalking53
Skylight54
Score
vioscaleAI score
Apache SkyWalking53 / 100medium · 55%
Skylight54 / 100low · 49%
Pricing
Free tier
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✓
Model
Apache SkyWalkingopen_source
Skylightfree
Price level
Apache SkyWalkingfree
Skylightfree
Transparent
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✗
Integrations
Count
Apache SkyWalking18
Skylight7
Security
Gdpr
Apache SkyWalking–
Skylight✓
Scorecard
Apache SkyWalking7
Skylight–
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
Apache SkyWalking–
Skylight✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Apache SkyWalking106
Skylight–
Github stars
Apache SkyWalking24,968
Skylight–
Activity
Commits last 30d
Apache SkyWalking21
Skylight–
Release
Cadence days
Apache SkyWalking93
Skylight–
History
Apache SkyWalking20 items
Skylight–
License
Spdx
Apache SkyWalkingApache-2.0
Skylight–
Language
Primary
Apache SkyWalkingJava
Skylight–
Market
Availability
Apache SkyWalking–
SkylightAvailable worldwide · Popular in US
Content
Faq
Apache SkyWalking6 items
Skylight7 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for apm tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Instrumentation
Auto-instrumentation
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✓
Distributed tracing
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight-
Insight
Service map
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight-
Code / continuous profiling
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✓
Database monitoring
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✓
Error analytics
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✓
Real-user monitoring
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✗
SLO / error-budget tracking
Apache SkyWalking-
Skylight-
Intelligence
Anomaly / root-cause AI
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✓
Standards
OpenTelemetry support
Apache SkyWalkingOTLP ingest
Skylight-
Core
Language agents
Apache SkyWalking10+ language agents supported
SkylightRuby, Rails, Sinatra, Grape
Deployment
Hosting
Apache SkyWalkingCloud + self-hosted
SkylightCloud only

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Apache SkyWalking

An open-source system for monitoring and analyzing distributed applications with comprehensive tracing, service topology visualization, and multi-signal observability for microservices and AI workloads.

Independently observed

Skylight

A service that tracks how Ruby applications perform in production, showing developers where their code spends time and what changes affect response speeds, with tools to spot slow endpoints and prevent performance regressions.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Apache SkyWalking

Open source
as of verify ↗

Skylight

from $20/moHybridFree tier30-day trial

Free tier with 100,000 monthly traces; paid tiers starting at $20/month

  • FreeFree
  • Pay-as-you-goStarting at $20/month
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✓
Linux
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✗
CLI
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✓
Self-hosted
Apache SkyWalking✓
Skylight✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Apache SkyWalking

33 total
  • Apache APISIX
  • Grafana
  • OpenTelemetry Collector
  • Amazon Bedrock
  • OpenAI
  • WeChat Mini Program
  • Alipay Mini Program
  • Kafka
  • MySQL
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis
  • Envoy
  • DeepSeek
  • Claude Sonnet
  • Zipkin
  • OpenTelemetry
  • Prometheus
  • Zabbix
  • Fluentd
  • Flink
  • Kong
  • Apache RocketMQ
  • Apache ActiveMQ
  • Pulsar
  • +9 more
Independently observed

Skylight

9 total
  • Sidekiq
  • DelayedJob
  • ActiveJob
  • Sinatra
  • Grape
  • GraphQL
  • MCP
  • GitHub
  • Rails
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Apache SkyWalking or Skylight: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.