Comparison

Grafana Tempo vs Zipkin

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 →Zipkin full profile →

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★Grafana Tempo64

Zipkin46

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Grafana TempoLeader	Zipkin
vioscaleAI score	64 / 100medium · 58%	46 / 100low · 37%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	open_source
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	free
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	-
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	10	9
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	-
Fedrampsecurity.fedramp	✓	-
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	-
Iso27001security.iso27001	✓	-
Pcisecurity.pci	✓	-
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	7.4	4.2
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: 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	73	1,426
Github starsadoption.github_stars	5,527	17,464
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	0
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	11	15
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	AGPL-3.0	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Go	Java
Content
Faqcontent.faq	7 items	6 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

Grafana Tempo64 / 100medium · 58%

Zipkin46 / 100low · 37%

Pricing

Free tier

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✓

Model

Grafana Tempofreemium

Zipkinopen_source

Price level

Grafana Tempolow

Zipkinfree

Transparent

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin–

Integrations

Count

Grafana Tempo10

Zipkin9

Security

Disclosure policy

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin–

Fedramp

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin–

Gdpr

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin–

Iso27001

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin–

Pci

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin–

Scorecard

Grafana Tempo7.4

Zipkin4.2

Soc2

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin–

Trust center

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

Zipkin–

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

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

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

Grafana Tempo73

Zipkin1,426

Github stars

Grafana Tempo5,527

Zipkin17,464

Activity

Commits last 30d

Grafana Tempo100

Zipkin0

Release

Cadence days

Grafana Tempo11

Zipkin15

History

Grafana Tempo20 items

Zipkin20 items

License

Spdx

Grafana TempoAGPL-3.0

ZipkinApache-2.0

Language

Primary

Grafana TempoGo

ZipkinJava

Content

Faq

Grafana Tempo7 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	Grafana Tempo	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
Correlation
Correlate traces with metrics/logs	✓	-
Deployment
Hosting	Cloud + self-hosted	Self-hosted only
Architecture
Storage backend	object storage	In-memory, Apache Cassandra, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch

Core

Trace role

Grafana TempoTrace backend / store

ZipkinTrace backend / store

Standards

OpenTelemetry support

Grafana TempoOTLP ingest

Zipkin-

Multi-protocol (Jaeger + Zipkin + OTLP)

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✓

Query

Trace search / filter by attributes

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✓

Service dependency graph

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✓

High-cardinality attribute exploration

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin-

Sampling

Tail-based / dynamic sampling

Grafana Tempo-

Zipkin-

Instrumentation

Auto-instrumentation

Grafana Tempo-

ZipkinAgent-based

Correlation

Correlate traces with metrics/logs

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin-

Deployment

Hosting

Grafana TempoCloud + self-hosted

ZipkinSelf-hosted only

Architecture

Storage backend

Grafana Tempoobject storage

ZipkinIn-memory, Apache Cassandra, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch

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

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.

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 ↗

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	Grafana Tempo	Zipkin
WebPlatforms	✓	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✗
CLIPlatforms	✓	✗
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✗
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓
On-premiseDeployment	✓	✗

Platforms

Web

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✓

Linux

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✗

CLI

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✗

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✗

Self-hosted

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✓

On-premise

Grafana Tempo✓

Zipkin✗

Integrations

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

In common (1)

Kafka

Grafana Tempo

Leader

11 total - 10 not shared

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

Independently observed

Zipkin

11 total - 10 not shared

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

Independently observed

Still deciding?

Grafana Tempo 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.