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Observability platforms with a free plan in 2026

Full-stack platforms that take metrics, logs and traces in one place, usually with dashboards, alerting and APM on top. This list has 16 observability platforms. Of these, 7 are open source, 16 have a free plan and 8 can be self-hosted. Checked by hand on 30 September 2026.

  1. 1

    Better Stack Telemetry

    Better Stack's log, metric and trace store built on ClickHouse, queried with SQL or a live-tail view. Shares an account with Better Stack uptime and on-call.

    Free plan Free: 3 GB logs retained 3 days LogsMetricsTracesOpenTelemetry
  2. 2

    ClickStack

    ClickHouse's open source observability stack built on HyperDX: logs, traces, metrics and session replays stored in ClickHouse and searched from one UI.

    Free plan Open source (MIT) Self-hosted LogsTracesMetricsOpenTelemetry
  3. 3

    Coroot

    Open source observability that uses eBPF to build service maps and collect metrics, logs, traces and profiles without code changes, with root-cause hints.

    Free plan Open source (Apache-2.0) Self-hosted APMMetricsTracesKubernetes
  4. 4

    Datadog

    SaaS monitoring platform covering infrastructure, APM, logs, RUM, synthetics, security and incident management, collected mostly through one agent.

    Free plan Free: 5 hosts, 1-day metric retention MetricsAPMLogsInfrastructure
  5. 5

    Elastic Observability

    Logs, metrics, APM traces and synthetics built on Elasticsearch and Kibana, run yourself or on Elastic Cloud.

    Free plan Open source (AGPL-3.0-only OR SSPL-1.0 OR Elastic-2.0) Self-hosted LogsMetricsAPMTraces
  6. 6

    Grafana Cloud

    Grafana Labs' hosted stack: Grafana with managed Prometheus-compatible metrics, Loki logs, Tempo traces, profiles, synthetic checks and IRM.

    Free plan Free: 10k metric series, 50 GB logs, 14-day retention MetricsLogsTracesDashboards
  7. 7

    groundcover

    Kubernetes observability that uses an eBPF sensor and runs in your own cloud account, covering logs, traces, metrics and APM without code changes.

    Free plan Self-hosted KubernetesAPMLogsTraces
  8. 8

    Honeycomb

    Observability built for high-cardinality event data: query traces and events by any field to work out why production behaves the way it does.

    Free plan Free: 20M events/mo TracesOpenTelemetryAPM
  9. 9

    Last9

    Telemetry data platform for high-cardinality metrics, logs and traces, compatible with Prometheus and OpenTelemetry.

    Free plan MetricsLogsTracesOpenTelemetry
  10. 10

    Middleware

    Full-stack observability SaaS covering infrastructure, APM, logs, RUM and synthetic checks, priced by data volume.

    Free plan Free: 100 GB data, 14-day retention APMLogsInfrastructureReal user monitoring
  11. 11

    New Relic

    SaaS observability platform for APM, infrastructure, logs, browser and mobile monitoring and errors, priced by data ingest and user type.

    Free plan Free: 100 GB ingest/mo, 1 full platform user APMInfrastructureLogsReal user monitoring
  12. 12

    OpenObserve

    Single-binary store for logs, metrics and traces on object storage, with SQL search, dashboards and alerts. Self-host the open source build or use the pay-as-you-go cloud.

    Free plan Open source (AGPL-3.0-only) Self-hosted LogsMetricsTracesOpenTelemetry
  13. 13

    Sematext

    Hosted infrastructure monitoring, log management, synthetic checks and real user monitoring, with a plan chosen per app.

    Free plan LogsInfrastructureSynthetic checksReal user monitoring
  14. 14

    SigNoz

    Open source, OpenTelemetry-native APM with traces, metrics and logs stored in ClickHouse, self-hosted or as SigNoz Cloud.

    Free plan Open source (MIT) Self-hosted APMTracesLogsMetrics
  15. 15

    Superlog

    Open source OpenTelemetry observability for traces, logs and metrics, with AI agents that investigate incidents; self-hostable or hosted.

    Free plan Open source (Apache-2.0) Self-hosted OpenTelemetryTracesLogsMetrics
  16. 16

    Uptrace

    OpenTelemetry APM that stores traces, metrics and logs in ClickHouse, available self-hosted or as a cloud service priced per GB.

    Free plan Free: 50 GB/mo Open source (AGPL-3.0) Self-hosted APMTracesMetricsLogs

Side by side

Tool Pricing Free plan Open source Self-hosted OpenTelemetry (OTLP) ingestMetricsLogsDistributed tracesAPMReal user monitoringSynthetic checksContinuous profilingBuilt-in alertingSLO tracking
Better Stack Telemetry Free plan 3 GB logs retained 3 days No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYes-Yes-
ClickStack Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYes--Yes-
Coroot Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYes--YesYesYes
Datadog Free plan 5 hosts, 1-day metric retention No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Elastic Observability Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Grafana Cloud Free plan 10k metric series, 50 GB logs, 14-day retention No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
groundcover Free plan Yes No Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes-
Honeycomb Free plan 20M events/mo No No YesYesYesYesYesYes--YesYes
Last9 Free plan Yes No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Middleware Free plan 100 GB data, 14-day retention No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes-
New Relic Free plan 100 GB ingest/mo, 1 full platform user No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
OpenObserve Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesYes-YesYes
Sematext Free plan Yes No No YesYesYesYesYesYesYes-YesYes
SigNoz Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYes--Yes-
Superlog Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYes------
Uptrace Free plan 50 GB/mo Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYes--Yes-

Yes: confirmed in the tool's documentation. No: documented as not offered. -: not confirmed. Plans and prices change; check each tool's own site before you decide.

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