Apache SkyWalking vs SQL Exporter
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?
Apache SkyWalking
APM and observability for cloud-native architectures
VS
SQL Exporter
Database-agnostic Prometheus exporter driven by custom queries
| Feature | Apache SkyWalking | SQL Exporter |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Java | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, binary, kubernetes |
| GitHub stars | ★ 24,915 | ★ 575 |
| First released | 2015 | 2020 |
| Replaces | New Relic, Datadog | Datadog Custom Metrics, New Relic Query Insights |
Why pick each one
Choose Apache SkyWalking if…
- Full observability suite
- Strong Apache governance
Frequently asked questions
Is Apache SkyWalking or SQL Exporter better?
Neither is universally better. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community, while SQL Exporter is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Apache SkyWalking and SQL Exporter free and open-source?
Yes. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SQL Exporter under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Apache SkyWalking and SQL Exporter with Docker?
Apache SkyWalking: yes. SQL Exporter: yes.