Uptrace: Open Source APM [Forever Free]
Complete observability in one platform — Monitor traces, metrics, and logs with the performance of ClickHouse and the simplicity of a unified interface.
Uptrace is a high-performance, open-source Application Performance Monitoring (APM) platform built for modern distributed systems. Whether you're debugging microservices, optimizing database queries, or ensuring SLA compliance, Uptrace provides the unified observability you need without vendor lock-in.
Why Developers Choose Uptrace
🚀 All-in-One Observability
Single interface for traces, metrics, and logs — no more context switching between multiple tools. Built on OpenTelemetry standards for maximum compatibility.
⚡ Blazing Fast Performance
- Processes 10,000+ spans per second on a single core
- Advanced compression: 1KB spans compressed to ~40 bytes
- Real-time queries powered by ClickHouse
💰 Cost-Effective at Scale
- AGPL open-source license (same as Grafana)
- 95% storage savings vs. traditional solutions
- No per-seat pricing or data ingestion limits
🔧 Developer-First Experience
- SQL-like query language for traces
- PromQL-compatible metrics queries
- Modern Vue.js UI with intuitive workflows
- Pre-built dashboards for common use cases
Quick Start
Cloud (Fastest)
Uptrace Cloud is the simplest way to use Uptrace. There is no installation, maintenance or scaling required. Sign up for a free account and get 1TB of storage and 50,000 timeseries.
Self-Hosted
# docker-compose.yml
services:
uptrace:
image: uptrace/uptrace:latest
ports:
- '4317:4317' # OTLP gRPC
- '443:443' # OTLP HTTP
Architecture Overview
Uptrace leverages battle-tested technologies for maximum reliability and performance:
Key Features
🔍 Advanced Trace Analysis
- Span Grouping: Automatically group similar operations
- Error Tracking: Root cause analysis with stack traces
- Performance Profiling: Identify bottlenecks across services
- Dependency Mapping: Visualize service relationships
📊 Comprehensive Metrics
- Custom Dashboards: Build tailored views for your stack
- SLA Monitoring: Track uptime, latency, and error rates
- Resource Utilization: CPU, memory, disk, and network metrics
- Business Metrics: Monitor KPIs alongside technical metrics
📝 Intelligent Log Management
- Structured Logging: JSON and key-value pair support
- Log Correlation: Link logs to traces automatically
- Full-Text Search: Find relevant logs instantly
- Log-to-Metrics: Convert logs to time-series data
🚨 Smart Alerting
- Multi-Channel Notifications: Email, Slack, Teams, PagerDuty
- Alert Templates: Pre-configured rules for common scenarios
- Flexible Conditions: PromQL and SQL-based alert rules
- Alert Correlation: Reduce noise with intelligent grouping
Comparison Matrix
| Capability | Uptrace | Signoz | Jaeger | Grafana Stack |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traces | ✅ Native | ✅ Native | ✅ Native | ✅ Tempo |
| Metrics | ✅ Native | ✅ Native | ❌ | ✅ Prometheus |
| Logs | ✅ Native | ✅ Native | ❌ | ✅ Loki |
| Storage | ClickHouse | ClickHouse | Pluggable | Multiple |
| Query Language | SQL + PromQL | Custom | Basic | PromQL |
| Cloud Storage | ✅ S3 | ✅ S3 | ❌ | ❌ |
| Built-in Alerts | ✅ | AlertManager | ❌ | ✅ |
| License | AGPL | Apache + EE | Apache | AGPL |
| Demo | Try it → | — | — | Try it → |
Technology Deep Dive
Why ClickHouse?
ClickHouse excels at analytical workloads with:
- Real-time Analysis: Sub-second queries on billions of spans
- Exceptional Compression: 10:1 compression ratios typical
- Cost Efficiency: Open-source with no licensing fees
- Horizontal Scaling: Add nodes as data grows
Why PostgreSQL?
PostgreSQL handles metadata with:
- ACID Compliance: Ensures data integrity for critical operations
- Rich Data Types: JSON, arrays, and custom types supported
- Minimal Footprint: Requires only megabytes of storage
- Proven Reliability: Battle-tested in production environments
Use Cases
🏢 Enterprise Microservices
Monitor complex distributed systems with hundreds of services. Track request flows, identify performance bottlenecks, and ensure SLA compliance.
🚀 Startup Growth
Start free and scale affordably. Built-in cost controls and efficient storage help you grow without exploding observability costs.
🔧 DevOps Teams
Unified platform reduces tool sprawl. Single interface for all observability data streamlines troubleshooting workflows.
📱 API-First Companies
Monitor API performance, track usage patterns, and ensure optimal user experience across all endpoints.
Enterprise Features
Security & Compliance
- Single Sign-On: Keycloak, Google, Cloudflare, and more
- Role-Based Access: Fine-grained permissions
- Audit Logging: Track all system changes
- Data Encryption: At rest and in transit
Multi-Tenancy
- Project Isolation: Separate environments and teams
- User Management: YAML-based configuration
- Resource Quotas: Control usage per project
- Custom Branding: White-label deployments
High Availability
- Clustering Support: Multi-node deployments
- Backup & Recovery: Automated data protection
- Health Monitoring: Built-in system metrics
- Zero-Downtime Updates: Rolling deployments
What's Next?
Ready to get started? Choose your path:
Built with ❤️ by the Uptrace team. Star us on GitHub to support the project.