# Parca vs Pyroscope

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Pyroscope

| Attribute | Parca | Pyroscope |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 40.4 (53% (medium)) | 61.6 (59% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 11 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 40 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 4,994 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Open source continuous profiling platform for analyzing CPU, memory, and IO usage down to the line number across entire infrastructure using eBPF. It is indexed under APM Tools.","source":"https://www.parca.dev","question":"What is Parca?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Parca is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.parca.dev","question":"Is Parca free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Parca supports the web, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.parca.dev","question":"What platforms does Parca support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Parca can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.parca.dev","question":"Can Parca be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Parca is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca","question":"Is Parca open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Observability service providing visibility into infrastructure usage and costs, including tracking of artificial intelligence tool consumption for billing purposes. It is indexed under APM Tools.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/pyroscope/","question":"What is Pyroscope?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Pyroscope offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $0.05. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/pyroscope/","question":"Is Pyroscope free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Pyroscope supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/pyroscope/","question":"What platforms does Pyroscope support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Pyroscope, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/pyroscope/","question":"Can Pyroscope be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR for Pyroscope. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Pyroscope not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://trust.grafana.com","question":"What security certifications does Pyroscope have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | Infrastructure-wide continuous profiling that analyzes CPU and memory consumption down to individual functions, requiring zero instrumentation and operating with minimal overhead. | Observability service providing visibility into infrastructure usage and costs, including tracking of artificial intelligence tool consumption for billing purposes. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","languages":"C, C++, Rust, Go, and more","otel_support":"none","code_profiling":true,"auto_instrumentation":true}` | `{"hosting":"both","code_profiling":true,"distributed_tracing":true}` |
| integrations.count | 1 | 1 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kubernetes"}]` | `[{"name":"Grafana"}]` |
| language.primary | TypeScript | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true,"linux":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://www.parca.dev","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T20:43:59.814Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"$0/month","features":["All Grafana Cloud services with limited usage","Community support","14 days retention for metrics, logs, traces, profiles, & k6 performance tests"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Always free, perfect for personal projects and early-stage startups","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"From $19/month + usage with volume discounts","features":["Pay as you go above Free tier","8×5 email support","13 months retention for metrics; 30 days retention for logs, traces, profiles, & k6 performance tests"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":19,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.05,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Self-serve pay-as-you-go with volume discounts","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"From $25,000/year","features":["Premium support","Custom retention","Deployment flexibility (Public Cloud, Federal Cloud, Bring Your Own Cloud)"],"commitment":"annual","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":25000,"period":"year","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Full-service for companies with security, compliance, and deployment requirements","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free tier with $0 cost. Pro from $19/month + usage. Enterprise from $25,000/year.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://grafana.com/oss/pyroscope/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T13:12:09.793Z","startingPrice":{"amount":0.05,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | unknown |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 75 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.29.1","date":"2026-09-28T13:53:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.29.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.29.0","date":"2026-09-23T17:30:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.29.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.28.0","date":"2026-05-07T08:08:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.27.1","date":"2026-03-20T15:57:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.27.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.27.0","date":"2026-03-20T13:36:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.27.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.26.0","date":"2026-02-27T12:35:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.26.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.25.0","date":"2025-11-25T09:01:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.25.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.24.2","date":"2025-09-10T16:49:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.24.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.24.1","date":"2025-09-09T16:19:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.24.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.24.0","date":"2025-06-20T07:47:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.24.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.23.1","date":"2025-02-24T14:24:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.23.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.23.0","date":"2025-02-20T16:17:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.23.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.22.0","date":"2024-08-09T12:24:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.22.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.21.0","date":"2024-02-27T16:50:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.20.0","date":"2023-10-20T11:23:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.19.0","date":"2023-09-21T14:57:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.18.0","date":"2023-06-14T16:36:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.18.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.17.0","date":"2023-03-29T08:58:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.17.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.16.2","date":"2023-03-07T04:13:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.16.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/tag/v0.16.1","date":"2023-03-02T13:21:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.16.1"}]` | - |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.fedramp | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.iso27001 | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.5 | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | - | https://grafana.com/security/hall-of-fame/issue_35/ |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fparca-dev%2Fparca&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (APM Tools)

| Capability | Parca | Pyroscope |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Instrumentation** |  |  |
| Auto-instrumentation | ✓ | - |
| Distributed tracing | - | ✓ |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Service map | - | - |
| Code / continuous profiling | ✓ | ✓ |
| Database monitoring | - | - |
| Error analytics | - | - |
| Real-user monitoring | - | - |
| SLO / error-budget tracking | - | - |
| **Intelligence** |  |  |
| Anomaly / root-cause AI | - | - |
| **Standards** |  |  |
| OpenTelemetry support | None | - |
| **Core** |  |  |
| Language agents | C, C++, Rust, Go, and more | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Cloud + self-hosted |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:14:25.693Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*