[opensourcedex]

SigNoz is a free, open source monitoring & observability project written in TypeScript and released under a custom open-source licence. It has 32,116 GitHub stars, 2,493 forks and 1,557 open issues, and was last pushed 3 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #7 of 97 tracked projects in Monitoring & Observability, and is listed as an open source replacement for 1 paid product, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 30 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

SigNoz — Open-source observability platform for cloud-native apps

What is SigNoz?

What it is

SigNoz is an open-source, OpenTelemetry-native observability platform for cloud-native applications. It unifies logs, metrics, traces, alerts, and dashboards into a single tool, replacing fragmented monitoring stacks with a correlated signal pipeline. It lives in the observability ecosystem alongside tools like Prometheus, Jaeger, and Grafana, and is positioned as an open alternative to Datadog.

SigNoz solves the problem of disjointed telemetry data by providing end-to-end visibility across services, infrastructure, and AI/LLM workloads. Teams can debug production issues faster without switching between tools or managing multiple vendors. Its single-columnar database backend (ClickHouse-based) handles high-cardinality data efficiently, avoiding the scalability limitations of traditional time-series or log-only systems.

Key capabilities

  • APM monitoring for service latency, error rate, throughput, Apdex, top endpoints, and database/external call analysis
  • Log management with visual query builder, correlation to traces and metrics, and search/aggregate functionality
  • Metrics and dashboarding using Query Builder, PromQL, or ClickHouse SQL
  • Infrastructure monitoring for Kubernetes (pods, nodes, workloads) and host-level CPU, memory, disk, network
  • LLM and AI observability with trace coverage for prompts, tool calls, tokens, latency, and cost
  • Distributed tracing with flamegraphs, waterfalls, span events, filters, and trace analytics
  • Trace funnels to analyze request-flow drop-offs and systemic workflow failures

Who uses it and how

  • Cloud-native development teams instrument services with OpenTelemetry SDKs to gain unified APM and tracing insights
  • SRE and platform teams monitor Kubernetes clusters and infrastructure health using built-in dashboards and alerts
  • AI/ML engineering teams trace LLM and RAG pipeline execution to debug latency, cost, and reliability issues
  • Enterprises deploy SigNoz Enterprise for compliance (SOC 2, HIPAA), RBAC, ingestion controls, and custom retention

Getting started

Deploy SigNoz Cloud via web signup with a 30-day free trial, or self-host using Docker, Kubernetes, or Linux per the self-host installation guide. SigNoz MCP server enables agent integration.

When to use it — and when not to

SigNoz replaces Datadog for teams needing OpenTelemetry-native, per-request observability without per-host or per-user pricing. Self-hosting requires managing ClickHouse, Kafka (for ingestion buffering), and optional SMTP for alerts. It lacks native support for non-OpenTelemetry instrumentation (e.g., legacy SNMP or proprietary exporters), and high-cardinality workloads may require ClickHouse tuning. Use SigNoz Cloud for managed AI features like Noz; self-host does not include agent-native capabilities.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

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SigNoz is an open-source observability platform built on OpenTelemetry. We’re building an enterprise-grade alternative to fragmented monitoring stacks, with logs, metrics, traces, alerts, and dashboards in one place.

Choose how to run SigNoz

SigNoz Cloud (Recommended)

Fully managed SigNoz with a 30-day free trial, no credit card required, usage-based pricing that starts at $49, and regional data hosting.

Start free →

Enterprise

Enterprise Cloud, BYOC, or Enterprise Self-Hosted with compliance, support, custom retention, RBAC, ingestion controls, data residency, and region selection.

Explore Enterprise →

Community

Free open-source SigNoz that runs in your own infrastructure. Deploy with Docker, Kubernetes, or Linux and keep full control of your data plane.

Install SigNoz →

What can you monitor?

SigNoz helps teams debug production issues faster by connecting logs, metrics, traces, alerts, dashboards, exceptions, and agent-native workflows in one place.

APM Overview

Monitor service latency, error rate, throughput, Apdex, top endpoints, database calls, and external calls.

Learn more: APM documentation

Log Management

Ingest, search, aggregate, and correlate logs with traces and metrics using a visual query builder.

Learn more: Log management documentation

Metrics and Dashboards

Build dashboards for application, infrastructure, and custom metrics using Query Builder, PromQL, or ClickHouse SQL.

Learn more: Metrics documentation

Infrastructure Monitoring

Monitor Kubernetes clusters, pods, nodes, workloads, and host-level CPU, memory, disk, network, logs, and traces.

Learn more: Infrastructure monitoring documentation

LLM and AI Observability

Trace LLM apps, RAG pipelines, prompts, tool calls, tokens, latency, and costs alongside application and infrastructure telemetry.

Learn more: LLM observability documentation

Agent-Native Observability and MCP

Use the SigNoz MCP server to bring telemetry into coding agents, or use Noz inside SigNoz to investigate incidents, tune alerts, and build dashboards with production context. Noz is available only on SigNoz Cloud.

Learn more: SigNoz MCP server docs · Agent skills docs

Distributed Tracing

Follow requests across services with flamegraphs, waterfalls, span events, filters, and trace analytics.

Learn more: Distributed tracing documentation

Trace Funnels

Create funnels from traces to understand request-flow drop-offs, failed transitions, and systemic workflow issues.

Learn more: Trace funnels documentation

Also monitor: exceptions, alerts, external APIs, and integrations for OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Kubernetes, cloud providers, language SDKs, application frameworks, databases, and LLM tools.

Why teams use SigNoz

  1. OpenTelemetry-native
    Instrument once with open standards and keep ownership of your telemetry.
  2. Correlated signals
    Move from service charts to traces, logs, infra metrics, and exceptions without switching tools.
  3. Single columnar database
    Built for high-cardinality, high-volume observability workloads.
  4. Predictable pricing
    No per-host pricing, no user-seat pricing, and no special pricing for custom metrics.
  5. Enterprise ready
    SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance, RBAC, ingestion controls, custom retention, support, BYOC, and self-hosting.

Getting started

Start on Cloud

Create a managed SigNoz workspace and get your first dashboard without running observability infrastructure.

Start free on SigNoz Cloud

Self-host SigNoz

Run SigNoz in your own infrastructure with Foundry, Docker, Kubernetes, or Linux.

Foundry · Docker · Kubernetes · Linux

Send data

Instrument applications and infrastructure with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, language SDKs, and integrations.

Instrumentation · Integrations

Comparisons to familiar tools

SigNoz is often adopted by teams moving from a stack of single-purpose tools or commercial platforms with unpredictable pricing.

Prometheus
Good if you just need metrics. SigNoz keeps metrics, logs, traces, dashboards, and alerts together so teams can debug with correlated context.

Jaeger
Jaeger only does distributed tracing. SigNoz adds metrics, logs, trace analytics, dashboards, alerts, exceptions, and trace-to-log workflows.

Elastic
SigNoz uses columnar database for efficient observability analytics and high-cardinality log workloads, with 50% lower resource requirement compared to Elastic during ingestion. Check the detailed study.

Loki
In the linked benchmark, SigNoz indexed all keys in the test setup, while Loki hit max stream errors when more labels were added. Check the [detailed study](https://signoz.io/blog/logs-performance-benchmark/

readme truncated — read the full docs on github

Frequently asked questions

Is SigNoz free to use?

SigNoz is open source. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does SigNoz do?

Open-source observability platform for cloud-native apps

What is SigNoz written in?

SigNoz is primarily written in TypeScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/signoz/signoz, and it has 32,116 GitHub stars.

What is a good open source alternative to Datadog?

SigNoz is one of the open source options listed as an alternative to Datadog. Compare licences, stars and activity side by side on the SigNoz profile.