PostHog vs Apache SkyWalking

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeaturePostHogApache SkyWalking
CategoryWeb AnalyticsMonitoring & Status
LicenseMITApache-2.0
LanguagePythonJava
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM4,096 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetesdocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 37,548★ 24,915
First released20202015
ReplacesGoogle Analytics, Mixpanel, AmplitudeNew Relic, Datadog

Why pick each one

Choose PostHog if…

  • Comprehensive product suite
  • Session replay included
  • Open-core model
PostHog details

Choose Apache SkyWalking if…

  • Full observability suite
  • Strong Apache governance
Apache SkyWalking details

Frequently asked questions

Is PostHog or Apache SkyWalking better?

Neither is universally better. PostHog has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are PostHog and Apache SkyWalking free and open-source?

Yes. PostHog is licensed under MIT and Apache SkyWalking under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run PostHog and Apache SkyWalking with Docker?

PostHog: yes. Apache SkyWalking: yes.

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