Graphite 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.
Graphite
Scalable real-time graphing and time series storage
VS
Apache SkyWalking
APM and observability for cloud-native architectures
| Feature | Graphite | Apache SkyWalking |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 72 · Good | 97 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,119 | ★ 24,962 |
| First released | 2008 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Datadog | New Relic, Datadog |
What are Graphite and Apache SkyWalking?
Graphite
Graphite is a monitoring tool that stores numeric time series data and renders graphs of it on demand. It consists of Carbon for metric ingestion, Whisper for storage, and a Django-based web app for visualization.
- Time series storage with Whisper
- On-demand graph rendering
- Plain-text metric protocol
- Widely supported by collectors
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
Graphite vs Apache SkyWalking: key differences
Graphite is written in JavaScript, while Apache SkyWalking is built with Java. Graphite is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Apache SkyWalking. Graphite is the more established project (first released 2008), while Apache SkyWalking arrived in 2015. Apache SkyWalking has the considerably larger community, at 24,962 GitHub stars versus 6,119.
Why pick each one
Choose Graphite if…
- Simple metric protocol
- Mature and stable
Watch out for
- Dated architecture
- Scaling requires extra components
Choose Apache SkyWalking if…
- Full observability suite
- Strong Apache governance
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Storage backend required
Frequently asked questions
Is Graphite or Apache SkyWalking better?
Neither is universally better. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community, while Graphite is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Graphite and Apache SkyWalking free and open-source?
Yes. Graphite 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 Graphite and Apache SkyWalking with Docker?
Graphite: yes. Apache SkyWalking: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Graphite or Apache SkyWalking?
Graphite has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Apache SkyWalking. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.