OpenTelemetry Backend Comparison

For an overview of available OpenTelemetry backends, see Top OpenTelemetry backends for storage and visualization.

Backend Comparison

Implementing OpenTelemetry is just the first step. Choosing the right backend determines your observability success.

Backend Decision Matrix

Detailed Backend Analysis

Uptrace

Best for: Production systems requiring enterprise features and performance

✅ Pros:

• ClickHouse backend delivers 10x faster queries than Elasticsearch
• All-in-one solution: traces, metrics, and logs with automatic correlation
• 40+ ready-to-use integration guides versus generic setup instructions
• Enterprise features: SSO, RBAC, and custom retention policies
• Production-proven with 3+ years of optimization and customer feedback
• Transparent, usage-based pricing model
• 5-minute setup with single DSN configuration

❌ Cons:

• Commercial licensing required for advanced enterprise features

Migration Effort: Low (5-minute DSN setup plus comprehensive migration guides)

Typical Use Cases:

• Production systems requiring reliable performance at scale
• Teams that need all observability signals in one platform
• Organizations prioritizing developer productivity and time-to-value
• Companies requiring enterprise support and SLAs

SkyWalking

Best for: Microservices architectures and service mesh environments

✅ Pros:

• Apache Foundation project with strong community backing
• Comprehensive APM capabilities with service topology mapping
• Native service mesh support (Istio, Envoy, Linkerd)
• Advanced profiling capabilities with minimal overhead (<3% CPU)
• Multi-language support with auto-instrumentation
• AI-powered anomaly detection and analysis

❌ Cons:

• Complex setup and configuration for advanced features
• Overloaded UI that can confuse beginners
• OpenTelemetry support requires collector configuration
• Limited log management compared to dedicated solutions
• Requires significant resources for large-scale deployments

Migration Effort: High (complex infrastructure setup and steep learning curve)

Typical Use Cases:

• Organizations running Kubernetes and service mesh architectures
• Teams needing continuous profiling in production
• Microservices environments requiring detailed dependency mapping
• DevOps teams with strong infrastructure expertise

OpenObserve

Best for: Teams wanting modern observability with simple deployment

✅ Pros:

• Rust-based architecture for high performance and low memory usage
• All-in-one solution with logs, metrics, and traces
• Simple deployment with single binary or Docker container
• Modern UI with intuitive dashboards and alerting
• ClickHouse storage for efficient data compression and queries
• Kubernetes-native with Helm charts available

❌ Cons:

• Newer project with limited production validation (launched in 2023)
• Smaller community and ecosystem compared to established alternatives
• Limited enterprise features and commercial support options
• Documentation gaps for complex enterprise use cases
• Fewer integration examples and third-party plugins

Migration Effort: Low to Medium (simple setup but newer technology)

Typical Use Cases:

• Startups and teams wanting simple, all-in-one observability
• Organizations prioritizing resource efficiency and low overhead
• Teams comfortable adopting newer technologies
• Environments requiring quick setup without complex infrastructure

Jaeger

Best for: Teams already familiar with Elasticsearch and simple tracing needs

✅ Pros:

• Most widely adopted OpenTelemetry backend
• Strong community support and extensive documentation
• CNCF graduated project with proven stability
• Supports multiple storage backends (Elasticsearch, Cassandra, Kafka)
• Battle-tested in production environments

❌ Cons:

• Complex Elasticsearch setup and ongoing maintenance overhead
• Basic UI with limited query capabilities and filtering options
• Traces only—no built-in metrics or logs correlation
• Performance bottlenecks at scale due to Elasticsearch limitations
• Requires significant DevOps expertise for production deployment

Migration Effort: High (complex infrastructure setup required)

Typical Use Cases:

• Large organizations with dedicated DevOps teams
• Environments already using the Elasticsearch ecosystem
• Teams prioritizing community support over convenience

SigNoz

Best for: Small teams wanting modern UI without complexity

✅ Pros:

• Modern, intuitive user interface with excellent UX design
• OpenTelemetry-native architecture from the ground up
• ClickHouse backend for better query performance
• Growing community and active development
• Docker Compose setup for quick local development

❌ Cons:

• Newer project with less production validation (launched in 2021)
• Limited enterprise features and support options
• Smaller ecosystem compared to established alternatives
• Documentation gaps for complex use cases and troubleshooting
• Fewer integration examples for popular frameworks

Migration Effort: Medium (good documentation but limited enterprise features)

Typical Use Cases:

• Startups and small teams (<50 developers)
• Organizations comfortable with newer technologies
• Teams that prioritize UI/UX over enterprise features

Technical Deep Dive

Performance Comparison

Scalability Assessment

Recommendations

Choose SkyWalking if:

• You're running Kubernetes with service mesh (Istio, Linkerd, Consul Connect)
• You need advanced profiling capabilities in production
• You have strong DevOps expertise for complex infrastructure
• Apache Foundation backing and community support are important
• You prioritize comprehensive APM features over ease of setup

Choose OpenObserve if:

• You want a simple, all-in-one observability solution
• Resource efficiency and low memory usage are critical
• You're comfortable with newer technologies and smaller communities
• You need quick deployment without complex infrastructure setup
• Your team values modern UI/UX and fast query performance

Choose Jaeger if:

• You already have Elasticsearch expertise and infrastructure in-house
• You only need basic distributed tracing without metrics or logs
• You're comfortable with complex infrastructure management and maintenance
• Budget constraints require completely open-source solutions
• Your team has significant DevOps resources available

Choose SigNoz if:

• You want a modern UI but have a small team (<10 developers)
• You're willing to accept some risk for better user experience
• You don't need immediate enterprise support or SLAs
• You can contribute back to an evolving open-source project
• Your data volumes are moderate (<10M spans/day)

Choose Uptrace if:

• You need production-ready performance and reliability at any scale
• You want all observability signals (traces, metrics, logs) in one unified platform
• You value ready-to-use integrations and comprehensive documentation over DIY setup
• Enterprise features like SSO, RBAC, and SLAs are important for your organization
• You prefer predictable, transparent pricing over hidden infrastructure costs
• Developer productivity and time-to-value are priorities

Conclusion

The OpenTelemetry backend landscape offers solutions for every need and budget. Uptrace offers a compelling balance of features, performance, and ease of use, while SkyWalking excels in microservices environments and OpenObserve provides modern simplicity.

Key decision factors:

• Performance requirements: Choose ClickHouse-based solutions (Uptrace, SigNoz, OpenObserve) for better query speed
• Team size: Smaller teams benefit from all-in-one solutions with ready integrations
• Infrastructure expertise: Complex solutions like SkyWalking require strong DevOps capabilities
• Enterprise needs: Advanced features like SSO and SLAs narrow choices to commercial solutions
• Total cost of ownership: Consider setup time, maintenance, and hidden infrastructure costs