Better Stack (Log Management)
Cloud-based log management solution for aggregating, searching, and analyzing application logs at scale
OpenObserve
Petabyte‑scale observability platform, 10x easier, 140x cheaper
OpenObserve delivers fast, low‑cost logs, metrics, traces and RUM via a single binary or HA mode, with OpenTelemetry, SQL/PromQL queries and built‑in dashboards.
Overview
Overview
OpenObserve is a cloud‑native observability stack that ingests logs, metrics, traces and Real‑User Monitoring data at petabyte scale. It replaces traditional solutions with a single binary for small deployments or an HA cluster for larger workloads, supporting local disks and major object stores (S3, MinIO, GCS, Azure).
Capabilities
The platform offers full OpenTelemetry compatibility, allowing seamless ingestion of logs, metrics, and traces via OTLP. Users can query data using familiar SQL syntax for logs and traces, and PromQL for metrics, while a dynamic schema adapts to evolving data structures. An embedded multilingual GUI provides dashboards, alerts, reports, and pipeline processing (enrich, redact, normalize) without additional tools.
Deployment
Getting started takes under two minutes with Docker or Docker‑Compose, and upgrades are hassle‑free. For production, OpenObserve can run in high‑availability mode, integrates with SSO and RBAC in the enterprise edition, and includes built‑in authentication. The solution promises up to 140× lower storage costs compared with Elasticsearch, making it attractive for cost‑conscious teams handling massive data volumes.
Highlights
Logs, metrics, traces & RUM with OpenTelemetry compatibility
SQL and PromQL query engine with dynamic schema
Single binary or HA deployment supporting local, S3, MinIO, GCS, Azure storage
Integrated GUI with multilingual dashboards, alerts and pipelines
Pros
- Significant storage cost reduction vs Elasticsearch
- Simple single‑binary installation; HA optional for scale
- Rich query language support (SQL, PromQL, OTLP)
- Built‑in authentication, RBAC and multilingual UI
Considerations
- Enterprise‑only features like SSO and advanced RBAC require a paid plan
- Community support may be limited compared to commercial vendors
- Performance tuning for extreme workloads may need custom configuration
- Limited native integrations beyond Docker and cloud storage
Managed products teams compare with
When teams consider OpenObserve, these hosted platforms usually appear on the same shortlist.
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Fit guide
Great for
- Teams needing a low‑cost, scalable observability stack
- Organizations migrating from Elasticsearch or Splunk
- Developers wanting OpenTelemetry‑native ingestion
- Ops teams preferring single‑binary deployment
Not ideal when
- Environments requiring out‑of‑the‑box SSO or advanced RBAC without a paid plan
- Very small projects where a lightweight logger suffices
- Users dependent on proprietary vendor plugins
- Deployments that need built‑in federated search across clusters
How teams use it
Kubernetes log aggregation
Reduce storage cost up to 140× while retaining fast query performance
Microservice tracing
Correlate traces with metrics via SQL/PromQL for rapid root‑cause analysis
Real‑user monitoring
Capture performance, errors, and session replay in a unified platform
Compliance reporting
Generate multi‑tenant dashboards and alerts with dynamic schema evolution
Tech snapshot
Rust36%
TypeScript35%
Vue19%
JavaScript7%
Python2%
SCSS1%
Frequently asked questions
How does OpenObserve compare to Elasticsearch on storage cost?
OpenObserve claims up to ~140× lower storage cost by using columnar storage and efficient compression.
Can OpenObserve run in high‑availability mode?
Yes, it offers an HA deployment option that can be scaled across multiple nodes.
What ingestion protocols are supported?
OpenObserve supports OpenTelemetry OTLP for logs, metrics, and traces, as well as native APIs compatible with Elasticsearch.
Is there a managed cloud version?
A cloud‑hosted offering is available alongside the self‑hosted open‑source edition.
What license does the open‑source edition use?
The open‑source edition is released under the AGPL license.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
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LicenseAGPL-3.0
Repo age2 years old
Last commit3 hours ago
Primary languageTypeScript
Last synced 3 hours ago