vioscale
Comparison

Grafana Tempo vs Jaeger

No clear leader: Grafana Tempo (62.9) and Jaeger (59.2) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Grafana Tempo full profile →Jaeger full profile →
Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Grafana Tempo63
Jaeger59
Score
Vioscale score
Grafana Tempo63 / 100medium · 60%
Jaeger59 / 100low · 38%
Pricing
Free tier
Grafana Tempo✓
Jaeger✓
Model
Grafana Tempofreemium
Jaegeropen_source
Price level
Grafana Tempofree
Jaegerfree
Transparent
Grafana Tempo✓
Jaeger✓
Integrations
Count
Grafana Tempo7
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
Jaeger7.8
Soc2
Grafana Tempo✓
Jaeger–
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
Grafana Tempo✓
Jaeger–
Adoption
Dependent repos
Grafana Tempo73
Jaeger1,141
Github stars
Grafana Tempo5,455
Jaeger23,144
Activity
Commits last 30d
Grafana Tempo87
Jaeger96
Release
Cadence days
Grafana Tempo5
Jaeger28
History
Grafana Tempo20 items
Jaeger20 items
License
Spdx
Grafana TempoAGPL-3.0
JaegerApache-2.0
Language
Primary
Grafana TempoGo
JaegerGo

Capabilities

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

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

Grafana Tempo is an open-source distributed tracing backend designed for high-scale trace collection using only object storage, integrating with Grafana, Prometheus, and Loki. It supports industry-standard tracing protocols and eliminates the need for expensive database infrastructure.

Independently observed

Jaeger

A backend that collects execution traces from microservice-based applications and provides analysis tools to understand system behavior and diagnose issues. Teams use it to track how requests move through their services and identify where delays or errors occur.

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

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 verify ↗

Jaeger

Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
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.

Grafana Tempo

7 total
  • Grafana
  • Prometheus
  • Loki
  • Jaeger
  • Zipkin
  • OpenTelemetry
  • OpenCensus
Independently observed

Jaeger

7 total
  • Elasticsearch
  • OpenSearch
  • Cassandra
  • ClickHouse
  • Badger
  • Kafka
  • Memory
Independently observed

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