Comparison

Grafana Tempo vs Jaeger

On the evidence we track, Grafana Tempo leads this comparison with a composite score of 64/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Grafana Tempo full profile →Jaeger full profile →

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★Grafana Tempo64

Jaeger56

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Grafana TempoLeader	Jaeger
vioscaleAI score	64 / 100medium · 58%	56 / 100low · 38%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	open_source
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	free
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	10	7
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	-
Fedrampsecurity.fedramp	✓	-
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	-
Iso27001security.iso27001	✓	-
Pcisecurity.pci	✓	-
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	7.4	8.6
Soc2security.soc2	✓	-
Trust centersecurity.trust_center	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	Count: 2 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fjaegertracing%2Fjaeger&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0 · Max severity: MODERATE
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	-
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	73	1,141
Github starsadoption.github_stars	5,527	23,297
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	100
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	11	28
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	AGPL-3.0	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Go	Go
Content
Faqcontent.faq	7 items	6 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

Grafana Tempo64 / 100medium · 58%

Jaeger56 / 100low · 38%

Pricing

Free tier

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✓

Model

Grafana Tempofreemium

Jaegeropen_source

Price level

Grafana Tempolow

Jaegerfree

Transparent

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✓

Integrations

Count

Grafana Tempo10

Jaeger7

Security

Disclosure policy

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger–

Fedramp

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger–

Gdpr

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger–

Iso27001

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger–

Pci

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger–

Scorecard

Grafana Tempo7.4

Jaeger8.6

Soc2

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger–

Trust center

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

Jaeger–

Vulnerabilities

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

JaegerCount: 2 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fjaegertracing%2Fjaeger&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0 · Max severity: MODERATE

Reliability

Status page

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger–

Adoption

Dependent repos

Grafana Tempo73

Jaeger1,141

Github stars

Grafana Tempo5,527

Jaeger23,297

Activity

Commits last 30d

Grafana Tempo100

Jaeger100

Release

Cadence days

Grafana Tempo11

Jaeger28

History

Grafana Tempo20 items

Jaeger20 items

License

Spdx

Grafana TempoAGPL-3.0

JaegerApache-2.0

Language

Primary

Grafana TempoGo

JaegerGo

Content

Faq

Grafana Tempo7 items

Jaeger6 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	Grafana Tempo	Jaeger
Core
Trace role	Trace backend / store	SaaS platform
Standards
OpenTelemetry support	OTLP ingest	OTel-native
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	-	-
Correlation
Correlate traces with metrics/logs	✓	-
Deployment
Hosting	Cloud + self-hosted	Cloud + self-hosted
Architecture
Storage backend	object storage	Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, Cassandra, Badger, ClickHouse, Kafka (buffer), memory

Core

Trace role

Grafana TempoTrace backend / store

JaegerSaaS platform

Standards

OpenTelemetry support

Grafana TempoOTLP ingest

JaegerOTel-native

Multi-protocol (Jaeger + Zipkin + OTLP)

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger-

Query

Trace search / filter by attributes

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✓

Service dependency graph

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✓

High-cardinality attribute exploration

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger-

Sampling

Tail-based / dynamic sampling

Grafana Tempo-

Jaeger✓

Instrumentation

Auto-instrumentation

Grafana Tempo-

Jaeger-

Correlation

Correlate traces with metrics/logs

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger-

Deployment

Hosting

Grafana TempoCloud + self-hosted

JaegerCloud + self-hosted

Architecture

Storage backend

Grafana Tempoobject storage

JaegerElasticsearch, OpenSearch, Cassandra, Badger, ClickHouse, Kafka (buffer), memory

What each one is

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

Grafana Tempo

Leader

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

Jaeger

Jaeger is an open-source tracing platform that processes and analyzes telemetry data from distributed systems, helping teams identify performance issues, diagnose root causes, and understand service dependencies. It provides search, visualization, and aggregation of traces across complex application architectures.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

Grafana Tempo

Leader

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 ↗

Jaeger

Open sourceFree tier

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	Grafana Tempo	Jaeger
WebPlatforms	✓	✓
macOSPlatforms	✗	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✗	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✗
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓
On-premiseDeployment	✓	✗

Platforms

Web

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✓

macOS

Grafana Tempo✗

Jaeger✓

Windows

Grafana Tempo✗

Jaeger✓

Linux

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✓

CLI

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✗

Self-hosted

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✓

On-premise

Grafana Tempo✓

Jaeger✗

Integrations

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

In common (2)

OpenTelemetry
Kafka

Grafana Tempo

Leader

11 total - 9 not shared

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

Independently observed

Jaeger

8 total - 6 not shared

Elasticsearch
OpenSearch
Cassandra
ClickHouse
Badger
Memory

Independently observed

Still deciding?

Grafana Tempo or Jaeger: 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.