head to head · open source
jaeger vs elastdocker
jaeger has 23,378 GitHub stars, 3,224 forks, 547 open issues and last shipped today. elastdocker has 2,068 stars, 338 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. jaeger leads on adoption by 1,030% (23,378 vs 2,068 stars). jaeger is written in Go under Apache-2.0; elastdocker is written in Dockerfile under MIT. jaeger has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, elastdocker 16%. jaeger was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (observability), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| jaeger | elastdocker | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Dockerfile |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 338 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick jaeger if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick elastdocker if
- You want the elastdocker feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Dockerfile
- You evaluated both and elastdocker fits your workflow better
About jaeger
[![Slack chat][slack img]]( get in touch) [![Unit Tests][ci img]][ci] [![Coverage Status][cov img]][cov] [![Project+Community stats][community badge]][community stats] [![FOSSA Status][fossa img]][fossa] [![OpenSSF Scorecard][openssf img]][openssf] [![OpenSSF Best Practices][openssf bp img]][openssf bp] [![CLOMonitor][clomonitor img]][clomonitor] [![Artifact Hub][artifacthub img]][artifacthub] Jaeger a Distributed Tracing System 💥💥💥 Jaeger v2 is out! Read the blog post and try it out. Quick Start Get Jaeger running in seconds with Docker: For production deployments and more options, see the Getting Started…
read the full jaeger overview →
About elastdocker
Elast ic Stack on Docker Preconfigured Security, Tools, and Self Monitoring Configured to be ready to be used for Log, Metrics, APM, Alerting, Machine Learning, and Security (SIEM) usecases. Introduction Elastic Stack ( ELK ) Docker Composition, preconfigured with Security , Monitoring , and Tools ; Up with a Single Command. Suitable for Demoing, MVPs and small production deployments. Stack Version: 9.4.2 🎉 Based on Official Elastic Docker Images You can change Elastic Stack version by setting ELK VERSION in .env file and rebuild your images. Any version = 9.0.0 is compatible with this template. ⚠️ Upgrading…
read the full elastdocker overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Monitoring & Observability projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Monitoring & Observability field.
Frequently asked questions
Is jaeger or elastdocker more popular?
jaeger has 23,378 GitHub stars and elastdocker has 2,068. jaeger has the larger community by that measure.
Are jaeger and elastdocker free?
Both are open source. jaeger is licensed under Apache-2.0 and elastdocker under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jaeger and elastdocker?
jaeger is written in Go and elastdocker in Dockerfile. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, jaeger or elastdocker?
Choose jaeger if you want the larger community (23,378 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose elastdocker if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.