| Feature | Jaeger | SigNoz |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring | Monitoring |
| Sub-category | APM / Tracing | APM / Tracing |
| Maturity | mature | mature |
| Complexity | intermediate | intermediate |
| Performance tier | medium | medium |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| License type | permissive | permissive |
| Pricing | fully free | fully free |
| GitHub stars | 21.0K | 20.0K |
| Contributors | 300 | 300 |
| Commit frequency | weekly | weekly |
| Plugin ecosystem | none | none |
| Docs quality | good | good |
| Backing org | CNCF | SigNoz |
| Funding model | foundation | vc_backed |
| Min RAM | 1 GB | 4 GB |
| Min CPU cores | 1 | 2 |
| Scaling pattern | single_node | single_node |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| K8s native | Yes | Yes |
| Offline capable | No | No |
| Vendor lock-in | none | none |
| Languages | Go | Go, TypeScript |
| API type | REST | REST |
| Protocols | HTTP | HTTP |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| SDK languages | — | — |
| Team size fit | small, medium, enterprise | small, medium, enterprise |
| First release | 2020 | 2020 |
| Latest version | — | — |
When to use Jaeger
- ✓ Primary: distributed-tracing
- ✓ Primary: latency-analysis
- ✓ Primary: dependency-mapping
When to use SigNoz
- ✓ Primary: application-performance-monitoring
- ✓ Primary: distributed-tracing
- ✓ Primary: log-analysis
Jaeger anti-patterns
- ✕ Tracing only - no metrics or logs
- ✕ Needs storage backend
- ✕ UI less polished than commercial tools
SigNoz anti-patterns
- ✕ Requires ClickHouse (heavy)
- ✕ Younger ecosystem than competitors
- ✕ Enterprise features limited in OSS