Phlare 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?
FeaturePhlareApache SkyWalking
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseApache-2.0
LanguagePHPJava
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 15,183★ 24,915
First released20142015
ReplacesStatuspage, Better UptimeNew Relic, Datadog

Why pick each one

Choose Phlare if…

  • Polished public-facing page
  • REST API
Phlare details

Choose Apache SkyWalking if…

  • Full observability suite
  • Strong Apache governance
Apache SkyWalking details

Frequently asked questions

Is Phlare or Apache SkyWalking better?

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

Are Phlare and Apache SkyWalking free and open-source?

Yes. Phlare is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Apache SkyWalking under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Phlare and Apache SkyWalking with Docker?

Phlare: yes. Apache SkyWalking: yes.

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