Robusta 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?
FeatureRobustaApache SkyWalking
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseMITApache-2.0
LanguagePythonJava
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentkubernetes, helmdocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 3,072★ 24,915
First released20212015
ReplacesDatadog, PagerDutyNew Relic, Datadog

Why pick each one

Choose Robusta if…

  • Makes alerts actionable
  • Strong Kubernetes focus
Robusta details

Choose Apache SkyWalking if…

  • Full observability suite
  • Strong Apache governance
Apache SkyWalking details

Frequently asked questions

Is Robusta or Apache SkyWalking better?

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

Are Robusta and Apache SkyWalking free and open-source?

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

Can I run Robusta and Apache SkyWalking with Docker?

Robusta: check the project docs for container support. Apache SkyWalking: yes.

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