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Head-to-head · Application Performance Monitoring

Elastic APM vs Apache SkyWalking

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 6 checks side by side
Higher score Elastic APM #1 in Application Performance Monitoring 9.4/10 Free plan · 14-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Elastic APM
Apache SkyWalking #8 in Application Performance Monitoring 8.7/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit SkyWalking

Elastic APM leads on 0 checks, Apache SkyWalking on 0, and 6 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 6 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreElastic APM · 9.4/10
  • Free planboth
  • Free trialonly Elastic APM

Elastic APM scores higher on our rubric for application performance monitoring: 9.4 against 8.7 out of 10; our editors rank them #1 and #8.

On deployment model, Elastic APM gives you Hybrid where Apache SkyWalking offers Self_hosted.

Elastic APM is the better fit for open, hybrid APM with broad observability. Apache SkyWalking is the better fit for self-hosted teams needing deep observability.

  • Elastic APM fits best

    Open, hybrid APM with broad observability

  • Apache SkyWalking fits best

    Self-hosted teams needing deep observability

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Side by side

Feature Elastic APM 9.4/10 Visit ↗ Apache SkyWalking 8.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.4 8.7
Ranking #1 in Application Performance Monitoring #8 in Application Performance Monitoring
Best for Open, hybrid APM with broad observability Self-hosted teams needing deep observability
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free
Starting price $99/mo Free plan
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial 14 days —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Self-hosted
Platforms Web, Linux, Windows, macOS Web, Windows, Linux
Support Phone, Docs · 24/7 Community, Docs
Integrations 4 integrations 7 integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Elastic APM 5/5 · Apache SkyWalking 5/5
Distributed tracing ✓ ✓
Transaction tracing ✓ ✓
Dependency mapping ✓ ✓
Real user monitoring ✓ ✓
Log correlation ✓ ✓
Specs
Deployment model Hybrid Self_hosted
Our review
Pros
  • Distributed tracing, transaction views, and service dependency maps
  • Free self-managed Elastic Stack deployment
  • OpenTelemetry ingestion plus logs, metrics, traces, and RUM
  • Combines tracing, topology maps, metrics, logs, profiling, and alerts
  • Supports Kubernetes, service meshes, browser monitoring, and eBPF profiling
  • Ingests telemetry through OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Zipkin, and more
Cons
  • Usage-based pricing can vary with ingestion volume
  • Self-managed deployment requires Elastic Stack administration
  • Full-stack observability costs $0.09 per GB ingested monthly
  • Self-hosting requires teams to manage deployment and operations
  • Its wide feature set may exceed the needs of smaller applications
  • It is not presented as a conventional hosted SaaS product
Our verdict

Elastic APM monitors application performance across services, databases, external HTTP calls, errors, traces, logs, and metrics. It is designed for teams managing distributed applications across web, API, iOS, Android, and self-hosted…

Read the review →

Apache SkyWalking is an open-source application performance monitoring and observability platform for distributed, microservices, cloud-native, and container-based applications. It is designed for teams that want to run observability…

Read the review →
  1. Elastic APMApplication Performance Monitoring 9.4Free plan · 14-day trial
  2. Apache SkyWalkingApplication Performance Monitoring 8.7Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Elastic APM — where it wins

    • Distributed tracing, transaction views, and service dependency maps
    • Free self-managed Elastic Stack deployment
    • OpenTelemetry ingestion plus logs, metrics, traces, and RUM

    Where it doesn't

    • Usage-based pricing can vary with ingestion volume
    • Self-managed deployment requires Elastic Stack administration
    • Full-stack observability costs $0.09 per GB ingested monthly

  • Apache SkyWalking — where it wins

    • Combines tracing, topology maps, metrics, logs, profiling, and alerts
    • Supports Kubernetes, service meshes, browser monitoring, and eBPF profiling
    • Ingests telemetry through OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Zipkin, and more

    Where it doesn't

    • Self-hosting requires teams to manage deployment and operations
    • Its wide feature set may exceed the needs of smaller applications
    • It is not presented as a conventional hosted SaaS product

More comparisons

All application performance monitoring comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update