Apache SkyWalking vs OpenZipkin

Apache SkyWalking9.4Visit OpenZipkin8.6Visit

Higher score Apache SkyWalking #1 in Distributed Tracing Tools 9.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 0 of 3 features Visit site

vs

OpenZipkin #7 in Distributed Tracing Tools 8.6/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 3 features Visit OpenZipkin

• Apache SkyWalking fits best

  Broad, self-hosted observability teams

• OpenZipkin fits best

  Teams wanting simple open-source Zipkin tracing

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Side by side

Feature	Apache SkyWalking 9.4/10 Visit ↗	OpenZipkin 8.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	8.6
Ranking	#1 in Distributed Tracing Tools	#7 in Distributed Tracing Tools
Best for	Broad, self-hosted observability teams	Teams wanting simple open-source Zipkin tracing
Pricing model	Free	Free
Starting price	Free plan	Free plan
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web, Windows, Linux	Web
Support	Community, Docs	Community, Docs
Integrations	7 integrations	10 integrations
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Apache SkyWalking 0/3 · OpenZipkin 2/3
OpenTelemetry support	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Service map	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Tail-based sampling	Not checked yet	—
Specs
Trace retention	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Deployment model	Self_hosted	Self_hosted
Pricing basis	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Combines tracing, topology maps, metrics, logs, profiling, and browser monitoring. Connects OpenTelemetry, Zipkin, Prometheus, Telegraf, and Zabbix telemetry. Supports Docker, Kubernetes, service meshes, eBPF, and multiple storage systems.	Search traces by service, operation, tags, duration, or trace ID Dependency diagrams and web trace views clarify service behavior Supports HTTP, Kafka, gRPC, RabbitMQ, and configurable storage backends
Cons	Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the OAP backend and web interfaces. Its broad scope may exceed the needs of teams seeking tracing only. A hosted SaaS workflow is not the product's deployment model.	Self-hosted deployment requires managing the Java executable, Docker, or source setup OpenTelemetry OTLP/HTTP ingestion is provided through an experimental extension No documented tail-sampling capability for trace volume control
Our verdict	Apache SkyWalking is an open-source application performance monitoring and observability platform for distributed, microservices, cloud-native, and container-based applications. It is aimed at teams that want to run their own observability… Read the review →	OpenZipkin is an open-source distributed tracing system for service architectures. It collects, stores, searches, and visualizes trace data through a web UI and query API. Teams can look up traces by service, operation, tags, duration, or… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Apache SkyWalking — where it wins

  • Combines tracing, topology maps, metrics, logs, profiling, and browser monitoring.
  • Connects OpenTelemetry, Zipkin, Prometheus, Telegraf, and Zabbix telemetry.
  • Supports Docker, Kubernetes, service meshes, eBPF, and multiple storage systems.

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the OAP backend and web interfaces.
  • Its broad scope may exceed the needs of teams seeking tracing only.
  • A hosted SaaS workflow is not the product's deployment model.

• OpenZipkin — where it wins

  • Search traces by service, operation, tags, duration, or trace ID
  • Dependency diagrams and web trace views clarify service behavior
  • Supports HTTP, Kafka, gRPC, RabbitMQ, and configurable storage backends

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires managing the Java executable, Docker, or source setup
  • OpenTelemetry OTLP/HTTP ingestion is provided through an experimental extension
  • No documented tail-sampling capability for trace volume control

• Apache SkyWalking9.4/10 · Free plan

  A broad self-hosted stack that connects traces, topology, metrics, logs, profiles, and alerts.

  Visit siteFull verdict →
• OpenZipkin8.6/10 · Free plan

  A focused, self-hosted Zipkin system for collecting and exploring service traces.

  Visit OpenZipkinFull verdict →