Apache SkyWalking vs Telegraf

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?
FeatureApache SkyWalkingTelegraf
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageJavaGo
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM2,048 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, helmdocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 24,915★ 17,736
First released20152015
ReplacesNew Relic, DatadogDatadog Agent

Why pick each one

Choose Apache SkyWalking if…

  • Full observability suite
  • Strong Apache governance
Apache SkyWalking details

Choose Telegraf if…

  • Huge plugin catalog
  • Trivial to deploy
Telegraf details

Frequently asked questions

Is Apache SkyWalking or Telegraf better?

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

Are Apache SkyWalking and Telegraf free and open-source?

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

Can I run Apache SkyWalking and Telegraf with Docker?

Apache SkyWalking: yes. Telegraf: yes.

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