openobserve/openobserve

Open source observability platform for logs, metrics, traces, RUM (web, android, ios), Session replay, pipelines, SLO and LLM observability. A sophisticated, simple and highly performant alternative to Datadog, Splunk, and Elasticsearch with 140x lower storage costs and single binary deployment.

What it solves

OpenObserve solves the problem of observability being too expensive and too complex. Traditional tools like Datadog, Splunk, and Elasticsearch can cost a lot and require heavy infrastructure. OpenObserve brings logs, metrics, traces, frontend monitoring, and AI observability into one platform that stores data at up to 140x lower cost and runs on a single binary, so teams can get full visibility without the usual price tag or setup headaches.

How it works

OpenObserve is built in Rust and uses two key ideas to cut costs and stay fast. First, it stores data in Parquet columnar format, which compresses very well and makes analytical queries quick. Second, it uses an S3-native design, meaning it stores data in cheap object storage like AWS S3 instead of expensive local disks, with smart caching for speed. The platform provides a unified web interface where you can search logs with SQL, query metrics with SQL or PromQL, trace requests across services with OpenTelemetry, and build dashboards and alerts. It supports multi-tenancy, partitioning, and indexing so most queries only search a tiny part of the data. For high availability, you can run it as a cluster with stateless nodes backed by S3, giving you fast recovery and 11 nines of durability.

Who it’s for

OpenObserve is for engineering teams, DevOps, SREs, and developers who need observability for their applications and infrastructure but want to avoid the high cost and vendor lock-in of commercial SaaS tools like Datadog or Splunk. It’s also for companies that need to comply with regulations like SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, or HIPAA, since it offers these certifications and features like encryption and audit trails. Teams that are already using OpenTelemetry will find it easy to adopt because it natively supports OTLP.

Highlights

  • 140x lower storage cost compared to Elasticsearch, thanks to Parquet columnar storage and S3-native architecture.
  • Single binary deployment that runs in under two minutes, with no complex cluster setup needed.
  • Unified platform covering logs, metrics, traces, Real User Monitoring (RUM), dashboards, alerts, incidents, and pipelines.
  • OpenTelemetry native: no vendor lock-in, and you can use SQL for logs/traces and SQL or PromQL for metrics.
  • Built in Rust, giving memory safety and high performance while using roughly a quarter of the hardware Elasticsearch needs.
  • Includes an O2 AI Assistant that helps write SQL, VRL, and PromQL from natural language, plus AI/LLM observability for GenAI applications.
  • Production-ready with thousands of deployments, including environments ingesting over 2 PB per day.
  • Open source edition is fully functional and free, with a commercial Enterprise edition adding SSO, advanced RBAC, federated search, and more.

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