What is Apache SkyWalking?
Apache SkyWalking provides distributed tracing, metrics, logs, profiling, and alarms in a single platform for cloud-native services and GenAI models, including cost and token tracking.
Apache SkyWalking pricing
We don't have Apache SkyWalking's full plan breakdown yet (its pricing page resisted automated reading). Here's what we could confirm. Always check live pricing for exact numbers.
Free and open source
What Apache SkyWalking does
The capabilities that matter for apm tools, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.
- Auto-instrumentation
- ✓
- Distributed tracing
- ✓
- Service map
- ✓
- Code / continuous profiling
- ✓
- Database monitoring
- -
- Error analytics
- ✓
- Real-user monitoring
- -
- SLO / error-budget tracking
- -
- Anomaly / root-cause AI
- -
- OpenTelemetry support
- -
- Language agents
- 10+ language agents
- Hosting
- Cloud + self-hosted
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- macOS
- Web
- Linux
- Windows
- Cloud / SaaS
- On-premise
- Self-hosted
Integrations (1)
Independently observed- Grafana
Apache SkyWalking alternatives
Other apm tools we track, ranked by the same independent score.
The Vioscale score: one lens on the evidence
Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for Apache SkyWalking, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | 75 | 0.07 | 5.2 | ✓ |
| Github Activity | 34 | 0.10 | 3.6 | ✓ |
| Github Stars | 83 | 0.03 | 2.4 | ✓ |
| Release Cadence | 21 | 0.06 | 1.2 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 9 | 0.09 | 0.8 | ✓ |
| Security Posture | 0 | 0.13 | 0.0 | - |
| Package Downloads | 0 | 0.15 | 0.0 | - |
| Stackoverflow Activity | 0 | 0.07 | 0.0 | - |
Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.
All data & sourcesshow ↓
Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.
Activity
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Commits last 30d | 11 | mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 65% |
Adoption
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Github stars | 24,903 | highsource · 2026-08-01 · 90% |
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | {"hosting":"both","languages":"10+ language agents","service_map":true,"code_profiling":true,"error_analytics":true,"distributed_tracing":true,"auto_instrumentation":true} | mediumsource · 2026-08-05 · 60% |
Integrations
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60% |
Language
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Java | highsource · 2026-08-01 · 90% |
License
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Spdx | Apache-2.0 | highsource · 2026-08-01 · 95% |
Pricing
Release
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Cadence days | 142 | mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 70% |