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Apache SkyWalking vs Zipkin: catalog facts
Apache SkyWalking	Zipkin
Free Free and open source. Hosting, hardware and any external services are separate.	Free Free and open source. Hosting, hardware and any external services are separate.
Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Provides application-performance views Supports instrumented cloud-native systems	Provides trace collection and lookup Shows how requests move through services
Requires deploying collectors and configuring supported instrumentation.	Requires instrumented applications and storage configuration.
Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License: Apache-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.