SigNoz vs Grafana

Side-by-side — pricing, strengths, tradeoffs, and fit.

SigNoz

Open-source, OpenTelemetry-native observability — a Datadog alternative.

Grafana

Multi-platform analytics and visualization web application.

At a glance

Open SourceFree TierEnterprise
● Established·From $0 self-hosted
Open SourceFree Tier
● Established·From Freemium

Overview

One-liner

Open-source, OpenTelemetry-native observability — a Datadog alternative.

One-liner

Multi-platform analytics and visualization web application.

Maturity

Established

Maturity

Established

Open source

✓ Yes

Open source

✓ Yes

Pricing

Free tier

✓ Available

Self-hosted free; cloud has a free trial

Free tier

✓ Available

Starts at

$0 self-hosted

Starts at

Freemium

Model

Usage-based

Model

Flat rate

Enterprise

✓ Available

Enterprise

✕ None

Best for

✓ Best for

Open-source Datadog alternativeOTel-native observability you self-host
Cost-conscious observabilityAvoid per-host SaaS pricing

✓ Best for

Teams needing comprehensive monitoring and visualization capabilities across multiple data sources.
Organizations that require customizable dashboards to track various metrics in real-time.

Not ideal for

✕ Not for

—

✕ Not for

Projects with very limited budget as the enterprise features are paid.
Users who prefer a cloud-hosted solution without self-management overhead.

Strengths

↑ Strengths

OpenTelemetry-native
Open source / self-hostable
Unified metrics/traces/logs

↑ Strengths

Customizable dashboards and visualizations
Real-time data monitoring
Alerting and notifications
Extensive plugin ecosystem

Weaknesses

↓ Weaknesses

Self-hosting at scale is work
Younger than incumbents

↓ Weaknesses

Steep learning curve for new users
Limited native support for certain data sources
Performance issues with large datasets
Complex setup for advanced use cases
Full SigNoz profile →Full Grafana profile →