Apache SkyWalking vs Thruk

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 SkyWalkingThruk
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-1.0
LanguageJavaPerl
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, helmbare-metal, docker, source
GitHub stars★ 24,915★ 439
First released20152009
ReplacesNew Relic, DatadogSolarWinds

Why pick each one

Choose Apache SkyWalking if…

  • Full observability suite
  • Strong Apache governance
Apache SkyWalking details

Choose Thruk if…

  • Unifies many monitoring cores
  • Mature and stable
Thruk details

Frequently asked questions

Is Apache SkyWalking or Thruk better?

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

Are Apache SkyWalking and Thruk free and open-source?

Yes. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Thruk under GPL-1.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Apache SkyWalking and Thruk with Docker?

Apache SkyWalking: yes. Thruk: yes.

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