cAdvisor vs Apache SkyWalking
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
cAdvisor
Container resource usage and performance analysis
VS
Apache SkyWalking
APM and observability for cloud-native architectures
| Feature | cAdvisor | Apache SkyWalking |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 96 · Excellent | 97 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,440 | ★ 24,962 |
| First released | 2014 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Datadog | New Relic, Datadog |
What are cAdvisor and Apache SkyWalking?
cAdvisor
cAdvisor provides container users with an understanding of the resource usage and performance characteristics of their running containers. It exposes per-container CPU, memory, network, and filesystem metrics.
- Per-container resource metrics
- Live web UI
- Prometheus metrics export
- Auto-discovers containers
Apache SkyWalking
Apache SkyWalking is an APM and observability platform for distributed systems, especially microservices and cloud-native architectures. It provides tracing, metrics, logging, and service topology analysis.
- Distributed tracing and metrics
- Service topology maps
- eBPF and OTel integration
- Alerting engine
cAdvisor vs Apache SkyWalking: key differences
CAdvisor is written in Go, while Apache SkyWalking is built with Java. CAdvisor is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Apache SkyWalking.
Why pick each one
Choose cAdvisor if…
- Zero configuration
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Limited historical retention
- Best paired with Prometheus
Choose Apache SkyWalking if…
- Full observability suite
- Strong Apache governance
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Storage backend required
Frequently asked questions
Is cAdvisor or Apache SkyWalking better?
Neither is universally better. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community, while cAdvisor is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are cAdvisor and Apache SkyWalking free and open-source?
Yes. cAdvisor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Apache SkyWalking under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run cAdvisor and Apache SkyWalking with Docker?
cAdvisor: yes. Apache SkyWalking: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, cAdvisor or Apache SkyWalking?
cAdvisor has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Apache SkyWalking. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.