Gatus 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.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureGatusApache SkyWalking
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoJava
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM64 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 11,748★ 24,915
First released20192015
ReplacesUptimeRobot, PingdomNew Relic, Datadog

Why pick each one

Choose Gatus if…

  • Config as code
  • Extremely lightweight
  • Easy to version control
Gatus details

Choose Apache SkyWalking if…

  • Full observability suite
  • Strong Apache governance
Apache SkyWalking details

Frequently asked questions

Is Gatus or Apache SkyWalking better?

Neither is universally better. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community, while Gatus is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Gatus and Apache SkyWalking free and open-source?

Yes. Gatus 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 Gatus and Apache SkyWalking with Docker?

Gatus: yes. Apache SkyWalking: yes.

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