SHSelfHostIndex

SNMP Exporter 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?
SN SNMP Exporter Prometheus exporter for SNMP-enabled network devices VS AP Apache SkyWalking APM and observability for cloud-native architectures
FeatureSNMP ExporterApache SkyWalking
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoJava
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM64 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 2,156★ 24,915
First released20162015
ReplacesSolarWindsNew Relic, Datadog

Why pick each one

Choose SNMP Exporter if…

  • Brings network gear into Prometheus
  • Flexible config
SNMP Exporter details

Choose Apache SkyWalking if…

  • Full observability suite
  • Strong Apache governance
Apache SkyWalking details

Frequently asked questions

Is SNMP Exporter or Apache SkyWalking better?

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

Are SNMP Exporter and Apache SkyWalking free and open-source?

Yes. SNMP Exporter 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 SNMP Exporter and Apache SkyWalking with Docker?

SNMP Exporter: yes. Apache SkyWalking: yes.

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