head to head · open source
OpenObserve vs transmittable-thread-local
OpenObserve has 22,027 GitHub stars, 1,098 forks, 598 open issues and last shipped today. transmittable-thread-local has 8,308 stars, 1,723 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. OpenObserve leads on adoption by 165% (22,027 vs 8,308 stars). OpenObserve is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; transmittable-thread-local is written in Java under Apache-2.0. OpenObserve has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, transmittable-thread-local 21%. OpenObserve was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (apm), 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.
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Side by side
| OpenObserve | transmittable-thread-local | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 8.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-06-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenObserve if
- You weight community size — 22K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick transmittable-thread-local if
- You want the transmittable-thread-local feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and transmittable-thread-local fits your workflow better
About OpenObserve
OpenObserve is an open source observability platform for logs, metrics, traces, analytics, Real User Monitoring, session replay, pipelines, SLO, and LLM observability. It lives in the cloud native infrastructure ecosystem and is described as an alternative to Datadog, Splunk, and Elasticsearch. The project is built in Rust, ships as a single binary, and uses Parquet columnar storage with an S3 native design.
read the full OpenObserve overview →
About transmittable-thread-local
TransmittableThreadLocal (TTL) is a small, zero dependency Java library from Alibaba that provides an enhanced InheritableThreadLocal capable of transmitting values between threads even when those threads are pooled and reused. It lives in the Java ecosystem and targets framework and middleware developers who need reliable context propagation across asynchronous execution boundaries. The library is Apache 2.0 licensed, roughly 1000 SLOC, and supports Java 6 through 21.
read the full transmittable-thread-local overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenObserve or transmittable-thread-local more popular?
OpenObserve has 22,027 GitHub stars and transmittable-thread-local has 8,308. OpenObserve has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenObserve and transmittable-thread-local free?
Both are open source. OpenObserve is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and transmittable-thread-local under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenObserve and transmittable-thread-local?
OpenObserve is written in TypeScript and transmittable-thread-local in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenObserve or transmittable-thread-local?
Choose OpenObserve if you want the larger community (22,027 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose transmittable-thread-local if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.