Comparison

AWS X-Ray vs Zipkin

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 →Zipkin full profile →

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

★AWS X-Ray72

Zipkin46

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	AWS X-RayLeader	Zipkin
vioscaleAI score	72 / 100medium · 63%	46 / 100low · 37%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	open_source
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	free
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	$0.01	-
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	-
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	-	9
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	-	4.2
Soc2security.soc2	✓	-
Trust centersecurity.trust_center	https://aws.amazon.com/security/ https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=io.zipkin.java%3Azipkin-autoconfigure-ui&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	1,426
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	17,464
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	0
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	15
Historyrelease.history	-	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	-	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	Java
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide	-
Content
Faqcontent.faq	6 items	6 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

AWS X-Ray72 / 100medium · 63%

Zipkin46 / 100low · 37%

Pricing

Free tier

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin✓

Model

AWS X-Rayfreemium

Zipkinopen_source

Price level

AWS X-Raylow

Zipkinfree

Starting price

AWS X-Ray$0.01

Zipkin–

Transparent

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin–

Integrations

Count

AWS X-Ray–

Zipkin9

Security

Certifications

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

Zipkin–

Disclosure policy

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin–

Fedramp

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin–

Gdpr

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin–

Hipaa

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin–

Iso27001

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin–

Pci

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin–

Scorecard

AWS X-Ray–

Zipkin4.2

Soc2

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin–

Trust center

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

Zipkin–

Vulnerabilities

AWS X-Ray–

ZipkinCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=io.zipkin.java%3Azipkin-autoconfigure-ui&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

AWS X-Ray–

Zipkin1,426

Github stars

AWS X-Ray–

Zipkin17,464

Activity

Commits last 30d

AWS X-Ray–

Zipkin0

Release

Cadence days

AWS X-Ray–

Zipkin15

History

AWS X-Ray–

Zipkin20 items

License

Spdx

AWS X-Ray–

ZipkinApache-2.0

Language

Primary

AWS X-Ray–

ZipkinJava

Market

Availability

AWS X-RayAvailable worldwide

Zipkin–

Content

Faq

AWS X-Ray6 items

Zipkin6 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	Zipkin
Core
Trace role	Trace backend / store	Trace backend / store
Standards
OpenTelemetry support	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	Agent-based
Correlation
Correlate traces with metrics/logs	✓	-
Deployment
Hosting	Cloud only	Self-hosted only
Architecture
Storage backend	-	In-memory, Apache Cassandra, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch

Core

Trace role

AWS X-RayTrace backend / store

ZipkinTrace backend / store

Standards

OpenTelemetry support

AWS X-RayOTLP ingest

Zipkin-

Multi-protocol (Jaeger + Zipkin + OTLP)

AWS X-Ray-

Zipkin✓

Query

Trace search / filter by attributes

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin✓

Service dependency graph

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin✓

High-cardinality attribute exploration

AWS X-Ray-

Zipkin-

Sampling

Tail-based / dynamic sampling

AWS X-Ray-

Zipkin-

Instrumentation

Auto-instrumentation

AWS X-RayAgent-based

ZipkinAgent-based

Correlation

Correlate traces with metrics/logs

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin-

Deployment

Hosting

AWS X-RayCloud only

ZipkinSelf-hosted only

Architecture

Storage backend

AWS X-Ray-

ZipkinIn-memory, Apache Cassandra, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch

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

Zipkin

Zipkin captures detailed request tracking data from distributed systems, stores it using various backends, and provides a UI for searching traces by service, operation, and duration, along with visualization of service dependency diagrams.

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 ↗

Zipkin

Open source

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

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	Zipkin
WebPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✗
Self-hostedDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

AWS X-Ray✓

Zipkin✗

Self-hosted

AWS X-Ray✗

Zipkin✓

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.

Zipkin

11 total

HTTP
Kafka
Apache ActiveMQ
gRPC
RabbitMQ
Apache Pulsar
Elasticsearch
Apache Cassandra
OpenSearch
Brave
Apache Kafka

Independently observed

Still deciding?

AWS X-Ray or Zipkin: 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.