Apache SkyWalking vs Jaeger
Apache SkyWalking
skywalking.apache.orgJaeger
jaegertracing.ioSide by side
| Figure | Apache SkyWalking | Jaeger |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Application Performance Monitoring | 8.4 (#7) | 8.1 (#16) |
| Spec score · Distributed Tracing Tools | 8.4 (#7) | 8.0 (#11) |
| Spec score · Runtime Monitoring Software | 8.3 (#19) | 8.1 (#24) |
| Deployment | The get-started page provides Docker-based installation instructions for Linux, macOS, WSL, and Windows PowerShell. | Jaeger v2 is available as executable binaries and container images, and the all-in-one setup runs collector and query components in one process with transient in-memory storage. |
| Purpose | Apache SkyWalking is an observability platform for cloud-native systems and AI workloads. | Jaeger is an open-source distributed tracing platform for monitoring and troubleshooting workflows in complex distributed systems. |
| Security | Horizon UI documents Content-Security-Policy, strict session cookies, no-store API responses, and optional login auditing. | Jaeger documents TLS and mutual TLS support for several component connections, plus bearer-token authentication between browser and UI. |
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.
Jaeger
Jaeger is a free, open-source distributed tracing platform for monitoring complex systems and investigating performance problems. It helps teams locate bottlenecks, examine root causes, and map dependencies between services. Jaeger receives OpenTelemetry Protocol data and accepts Zipkin spans over HTTP in Thrift, JSON v1/v2, and Protobuf formats. Its UI includes System Architecture and Deep Dependency Graph views, while Service Performance Monitoring turns traces into aggregate metrics and time-series charts. Sampling supports head-based configurations, including centralized static or adaptive settings, and tail-based sampling. Cassandra, Elasticsearch, and OpenSearch are supported distributed storage backends; ClickHouse is experimental behind a feature gate. Jaeger v2 ships as binaries and container images, with an all-in-one mode using transient in-memory storage. It is self-hosted, so infrastructure determines capacity and scale. Jaeger v1 reached end of life on December 31, 2025.