Perses 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?
FeaturePersesApache SkyWalking
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoJava
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 2,338★ 24,915
First released20222015
ReplacesGrafanaNew Relic, Datadog

Why pick each one

Choose Perses if…

  • Version-controlled dashboards
  • Truly open governance
Perses details

Choose Apache SkyWalking if…

  • Full observability suite
  • Strong Apache governance
Apache SkyWalking details

Frequently asked questions

Is Perses or Apache SkyWalking better?

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

Are Perses and Apache SkyWalking free and open-source?

Yes. Perses 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 Perses and Apache SkyWalking with Docker?

Perses: yes. Apache SkyWalking: yes.

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