Apache SkyWalking vs Hypertrace
Apache SkyWalking
skywalking.apache.orgHypertrace
hypertrace.orgSide by side
| Figure | Apache SkyWalking | Hypertrace |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Distributed Tracing Tools | 8.4 (#7) | 8.6 (#4) |
| Spec score · Runtime Monitoring Software | 8.3 (#19) | 8.6 (#11) |
| Deployment | The get-started page provides Docker-based installation instructions for Linux, macOS, WSL, and Windows PowerShell. | Hypertrace can be deployed on Kubernetes with Helm charts or run locally with Docker Compose. |
| Purpose | Apache SkyWalking is an observability platform for cloud-native systems and AI workloads. | Hypertrace is a real-time observability platform that turns distributed trace data into insights about production requests and network trends. |
| Support | The project directs users to GitHub discussions for questions and issues and provides a developer mailing list and Slack community contact instructions. | The project points users to its Slack workspace and GitHub Discussions for questions and community help. |
Plans
In their own words
Apache SkyWalking
Apache SkyWalking is a free, self-hosted observability platform for cloud-native systems and AI workloads. It brings traces, metrics, logs, and profiling together to help users explore services, Kubernetes, and infrastructure through topology, telemetry, profiles, and alerts. For AI workloads, users can inspect model and MCP call latency and token rates, and review agent conversations, tool calls, and recorded file changes. The project lists agents for Java, Python, NodeJS, Go, Rust, PHP, Ruby, Nginx LUA, Kong, and client-side JavaScript. Its integrations and ecosystem include OpenTelemetry OTLP, Istio, Envoy, Kubernetes, Grafana, and MCP. BanyanDB is described as a database for ingesting, analyzing, and storing observability data. Docker installation instructions cover Linux, macOS, WSL, and Windows PowerShell. Horizon UI supports SkyWalking natively since v11 and partially for v10. Its security documentation covers Content-Security-Policy, strict session cookies, no-store API responses, and optional login auditing. Apache source releases are official artifacts, with PGP or SHA512 verification recommended; the GraalVM distribution is marked experimental.
Hypertrace
Hypertrace has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.