Comparison

AWS X-Ray vs Grafana Tempo

On the evidence we track, AWS X-Ray leads this comparison with a composite score of 72/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

AWS X-Ray full profile →Grafana Tempo full profile →

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.

★AWS X-Ray72

Grafana Tempo64

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	AWS X-RayLeader	Grafana Tempo
vioscaleAI score	72 / 100medium · 63%	64 / 100medium · 58%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	freemium
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	low
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	$0.01	-
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	-	10
Security
Certificationssecurity.certifications	PCI-DSS, HIPAA/HITECH, FedRAMP, GDPR	-
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	✓
Fedrampsecurity.fedramp	✓	✓
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	✓
Hipaasecurity.hipaa	✓	-
Iso27001security.iso27001	✓	✓
Pcisecurity.pci	✓	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	7.4
Soc2security.soc2	✓	✓
Trust centersecurity.trust_center	https://aws.amazon.com/security/ https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/	https://grafana.com/security/hall-of-fame/issue_35/
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 3 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fgrafana%2Ftempo&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 3 · Max severity: HIGH
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	73
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	5,527
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	100
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	11
Historyrelease.history	-	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	-	AGPL-3.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	Go
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide	-
Content
Faqcontent.faq	6 items	7 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

AWS X-Ray72 / 100medium · 63%

Grafana Tempo64 / 100medium · 58%

Pricing

Free tier

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Model

AWS X-Rayfreemium

Grafana Tempofreemium

Price level

AWS X-Raylow

Grafana Tempolow

Starting price

AWS X-Ray$0.01

Grafana Tempo–

Transparent

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Integrations

Count

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana Tempo10

Security

Certifications

AWS X-RayPCI-DSS, HIPAA/HITECH, FedRAMP, GDPR

Grafana Tempo–

Disclosure policy

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Fedramp

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Gdpr

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Hipaa

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo–

Iso27001

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Pci

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Scorecard

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana Tempo7.4

Soc2

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Trust center

AWS X-Rayhttps://aws.amazon.com/security/ https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/

Grafana Tempohttps://grafana.com/security/hall-of-fame/issue_35/

Vulnerabilities

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana TempoCount: 3 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fgrafana%2Ftempo&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 3 · Max severity: HIGH

Reliability

Status page

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana Tempo73

Github stars

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana Tempo5,527

Activity

Commits last 30d

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana Tempo100

Release

Cadence days

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana Tempo11

History

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana Tempo20 items

License

Spdx

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana TempoAGPL-3.0

Language

Primary

AWS X-Ray–

Grafana TempoGo

Market

Availability

AWS X-RayAvailable worldwide

Grafana Tempo–

Content

Faq

AWS X-Ray6 items

Grafana Tempo7 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for distributed tracing tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Distributed Tracing Tools
Capability	AWS X-Ray	Grafana Tempo
Core
Trace role	Trace backend / store	Trace backend / store
Standards
OpenTelemetry support	OTLP ingest	OTLP ingest
Multi-protocol (Jaeger + Zipkin + OTLP)	-	✓
Query
Trace search / filter by attributes	✓	✓
Service dependency graph	✓	✓
High-cardinality attribute exploration	-	✓
Sampling
Tail-based / dynamic sampling	-	-
Instrumentation
Auto-instrumentation	Agent-based	-
Correlation
Correlate traces with metrics/logs	✓	✓
Deployment
Hosting	Cloud only	Cloud + self-hosted
Architecture
Storage backend	-	object storage

Core

Trace role

AWS X-RayTrace backend / store

Grafana TempoTrace backend / store

Standards

OpenTelemetry support

AWS X-RayOTLP ingest

Grafana TempoOTLP ingest

Multi-protocol (Jaeger + Zipkin + OTLP)

AWS X-Ray-

Grafana Tempo✓

Query

Trace search / filter by attributes

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Service dependency graph

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

High-cardinality attribute exploration

AWS X-Ray-

Grafana Tempo✓

Sampling

Tail-based / dynamic sampling

AWS X-Ray-

Grafana Tempo-

Instrumentation

Auto-instrumentation

AWS X-RayAgent-based

Grafana Tempo-

Correlation

Correlate traces with metrics/logs

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Deployment

Hosting

AWS X-RayCloud only

Grafana TempoCloud + self-hosted

Architecture

Storage backend

AWS X-Ray-

Grafana Tempoobject storage

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

AWS X-Ray

Leader

A cloud-based monitoring and observability service that centralizes performance data from AWS services and on-premises applications, providing dashboards, automated insights, and distributed tracing capabilities through OpenTelemetry integration.

Independently observed

Grafana Tempo

An open-source distributed tracing platform that stores trace data using affordable object storage rather than specialized databases, making it simpler and cheaper to operate while integrating with Grafana and other observability tools.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

AWS X-Ray

Leader

from $0.01/samples scannedUsage-basedFree tier

Free tier available. Usage-based pricing: $0.50/GB for OpenTelemetry metrics, $0.08/GB for Container Insights, $0.01 per million query samples.

Free tierFree
- 3 Custom Dashboards
- Automatic Dashboards
- Free metrics from AWS services
OpenTelemetry metrics ingestion$0.50 per GB
- 15 months storage included
- No API call charges
- No per-metric-series charges
PromQL query API$0.01 per 1000000 samples scanned
- Console/dashboard queries free
Container Insights with OpenTelemetry$0.08 per GB
- EKS cluster metrics at 30-second granularity
- Kubernetes pod/node labels
- PromQL querying

as of 2026-10-13verify ↗

Grafana Tempo

from $19/moHybridFree tier

Open source (free). Grafana Cloud integration from $19/month or $25k/year enterprise.

Open SourceFree
Grafana Cloud Pro$19/mo
- Platform fee includes limited trace retention and usage
- 30 days retention for traces
- 8x5 email support
Grafana Cloud EnterpriseContact sales
- Custom retention
- Premium support
- Deployment flexibility (Public Cloud, Federal Cloud, Bring Your Own Cloud)

as of 2026-08-01verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	AWS X-Ray	Grafana Tempo
WebPlatforms	✓	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✗	✓
CLIPlatforms	✗	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✗	✓
On-premiseDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Linux

AWS X-Ray✗

Grafana Tempo✓

CLI

AWS X-Ray✗

Grafana Tempo✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

AWS X-Ray✓

Grafana Tempo✓

Self-hosted

AWS X-Ray✗

Grafana Tempo✓

On-premise

AWS X-Ray✗

Grafana Tempo✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

AWS X-Ray

Leader

Not documented yet.

Grafana Tempo

11 total

Grafana
Prometheus
Loki
Jaeger
Zipkin
OpenTelemetry
OpenCensus
Kafka
Amazon S3
Google Cloud Storage
Microsoft Azure

Independently observed

Still deciding?

AWS X-Ray or Grafana Tempo: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.