Grafana Beyla 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.
| Feature | Grafana Beyla | Apache SkyWalking |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 97 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,135 | ★ 24,962 |
| First released | 2023 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Datadog APM, New Relic | New Relic, Datadog |
What are Grafana Beyla and Apache SkyWalking?
Grafana Beyla
Beyla is an eBPF-based tool that automatically instruments applications to produce metrics and traces without any code changes. It exports data in Prometheus and OpenTelemetry formats for existing observability stacks.
- eBPF auto-instrumentation
- No code changes needed
- Prometheus metrics export
- OpenTelemetry traces
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
Grafana Beyla vs Apache SkyWalking: key differences
Grafana Beyla is written in Go, while Apache SkyWalking is built with Java. Grafana Beyla is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Apache SkyWalking. Apache SkyWalking is the more established project (first released 2015), while Grafana Beyla arrived in 2023. Apache SkyWalking has the considerably larger community, at 24,962 GitHub stars versus 2,135.
Why pick each one
Choose Grafana Beyla if…
- Instrument without code
- Low overhead
Watch out for
- Requires modern kernel
- Limited language depth
Choose Apache SkyWalking if…
- Full observability suite
- Strong Apache governance
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Storage backend required
Frequently asked questions
Is Grafana Beyla or Apache SkyWalking better?
Neither is universally better. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community, while Grafana Beyla is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Grafana Beyla and Apache SkyWalking free and open-source?
Yes. Grafana Beyla 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 Grafana Beyla and Apache SkyWalking with Docker?
Grafana Beyla: yes. Apache SkyWalking: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Grafana Beyla or Apache SkyWalking?
Grafana Beyla has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Apache SkyWalking. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.