Apache SkyWalking vs Zabbix

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 SkyWalkingZabbix
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageJavaGo Template
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM2,048 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, helmdocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 24,915★ 6,228
First released20152001
ReplacesNew Relic, DatadogDatadog, Nagios

Why pick each one

Choose Apache SkyWalking if…

  • Full observability suite
  • Strong Apache governance
Apache SkyWalking details

Choose Zabbix if…

  • Comprehensive and mature
  • Scales to large estates
  • Fully free
Zabbix details

Frequently asked questions

Is Apache SkyWalking or Zabbix better?

Neither is universally better. Apache SkyWalking has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Apache SkyWalking and Zabbix free and open-source?

Yes. Apache SkyWalking is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Zabbix under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Apache SkyWalking and Zabbix with Docker?

Apache SkyWalking: yes. Zabbix: yes.

Related comparisons