vioscaleAI
Comparison

Grafana Tempo vs OpenTelemetry

No clear leader: OpenTelemetry (68.6) and Grafana Tempo (63.6) 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 →OpenTelemetry full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Grafana Tempo64
OpenTelemetry69
Score
vioscaleAI score
Grafana Tempo64 / 100medium · 58%
OpenTelemetry69 / 100low · 46%
Pricing
Free tier
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Model
Grafana Tempofreemium
OpenTelemetrycommercial
Price level
Grafana Tempolow
OpenTelemetryfree
Transparent
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Integrations
Count
Grafana Tempo10
OpenTelemetry2
Security
Disclosure policy
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Fedramp
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry–
Gdpr
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Iso27001
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry–
Pci
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry–
Scorecard
Grafana Tempo7.4
OpenTelemetry7.9
Soc2
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry–
Trust center
Vulnerabilities
Reliability
Status page
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Grafana Tempo73
OpenTelemetry–
Github stars
Grafana Tempo5,527
OpenTelemetry7,657
Package downloads weekly
Grafana Tempo–
OpenTelemetry136,546,252
Activity
Commits last 30d
Grafana Tempo100
OpenTelemetry100
Release
Cadence days
Grafana Tempo11
OpenTelemetry13
History
Grafana Tempo20 items
OpenTelemetry20 items
License
Spdx
Grafana TempoAGPL-3.0
OpenTelemetryApache-2.0
Language
Primary
Grafana TempoGo
OpenTelemetryGo
Market
Availability
Grafana Tempo–
OpenTelemetryAvailable worldwide
Content
Faq
Grafana Tempo7 items
OpenTelemetry7 items

Capabilities

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

Core
Trace role
Grafana TempoTrace backend / store
OpenTelemetrySaaS platform
Standards
OpenTelemetry support
Grafana TempoOTLP ingest
OpenTelemetryOTel-native
Multi-protocol (Jaeger + Zipkin + OTLP)
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Query
Trace search / filter by attributes
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Service dependency graph
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
High-cardinality attribute exploration
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry-
Sampling
Tail-based / dynamic sampling
Grafana Tempo-
OpenTelemetry-
Instrumentation
Auto-instrumentation
Grafana Tempo-
OpenTelemetryAgent-based
Correlation
Correlate traces with metrics/logs
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Deployment
Hosting
Grafana TempoCloud + self-hosted
OpenTelemetryCloud + self-hosted
Architecture
Storage backend
Grafana Tempoobject storage
OpenTelemetry-

What each one is

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

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

OpenTelemetry

OpenTelemetry is an open-source framework that equips developers with SDKs, libraries, agents, and collector services to capture distributed traces, metrics, and logs from applications. It enables vendor-neutral observability by allowing teams to instrument code once and export telemetry data to any backend system without vendor lock-in.

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 ↗

OpenTelemetry

Open source
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✓
OpenTelemetry✗
Windows
Grafana Tempo✗
OpenTelemetry✓
Linux
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✗
CLI
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Self-hosted
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✗
On-premise
Grafana Tempo✓
OpenTelemetry✓
Hybrid
Grafana Tempo✗
OpenTelemetry✓

Integrations

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

In common (3)
  • Prometheus
  • Jaeger
  • Zipkin

Grafana Tempo

11 total - 8 not shared
  • Grafana
  • Loki
  • OpenTelemetry
  • OpenCensus
  • Kafka
  • Amazon S3
  • Google Cloud Storage
  • Microsoft Azure
Independently observed

OpenTelemetry

3 total - 0 not shared
  • Jaeger
  • Prometheus
  • Zipkin
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Grafana Tempo or OpenTelemetry: 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.