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Better Stack vs OpenObserve

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Better Stack and OpenObserve built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 26 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

Choose Better Stack if…

Teams who would otherwise buy uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking separately, and would rather have one bill and one dashboard.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Choose OpenObserve if…

Teams that want one bill they can predict — ingest, query, and retention included — with session replay and RUM in the same product rather than as separate purchases.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Consider something else if…

  • Better Stack: Web event retention is 3 days on the free plan, which is short enough to miss a Monday-morning investigation of a Friday-night incident.
  • OpenObserve: Ingest is $0.50 per GB against Grafana Cloud's $0.050, so the simplicity costs an order of magnitude at volume.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Better Stack alternatives · OpenObserve alternatives

19 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Better Stack documentationVisit OpenObserve documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionBetter StackOpenObserve
Pricing
Free tier
Yes
No — Cloud offers a 14-day trial only; the self-hosted Enterprise build is free up to 50 GB/day
Kind of free offerFree tierFree trial
Entry paid planFrom $29/month, or $34/month depending on the plan selected; Better Stack advertises both figures as starting prices on the same page.No minimum: Cloud Professional is pay-as-you-go from $0.50 per GB ingested plus $0.01 per GB queried, billed monthly with no upfront commitment.
Pricing modelOne plan covering uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking together, with exceptions counted per month and web events metered by volume and retention rather than by count.Two meters and nothing else: $0.50 per GB ingested and $0.01 per GB queried, with retention included rather than sold as a tier. OpenObserve frames it as no hidden tiers and no surprise bills.
Infrastructure
RegionsEU by default; logs ingestion is priced per region for US, Germany and Singapore, and custom data locations are offered to enterprise accounts.Four OpenObserve Cloud regions: US West 2 (California, Azure), US East 2 (Ohio, AWS), EU Central 1 (Frankfurt, AWS) and Asia Pacific South 1 (Mumbai, AWS).
Observability
Retention window90 days for errors and session replays. Logs, traces and web events are retained 3 days on the free personal plan, where retention is what the 3 GB allowance buys rather than a fixed window.Included rather than priced: 15 months for metrics and 30 days for logs, traces, RUM and everything else, at no extra cost on pay-as-you-go.
Session replaySupportedSupported
Self-hostable
Not supported — SaaS only; same page lists Better Stack data ownership as "SaaS-hosted (optional S3 bucket)".
Supported
Ingest price per GB$0.10 per GB for logs and traces in the Germany region ($0.15 US, $0.35 Singapore) beyond 3 GB/month included; retention billed separately at $0.05 per GB-month in Germany.$0.50 per GB ingested, quoted with a 30% annual-commitment discount already applied.
Query priceStandard querying included; optional Query boost at $0.001 per GB scanned.$0.01 per GB queried, billed separately from ingest.
Compliance
SOC 2SOC 2 Type 2 compliant; the report is shared under NDA on request.SOC 2 Type II certified; the report is requested through security@openobserve.ai or the trust portal.
ISO 27001
Not claimed for Better Stack itself; data is stored in DIN ISO/IEC 27001-certified data centres.
ISO 27001 certification announced November 2025, with the certificate held in the trust portal; the security page itself makes no ISO representation.
HIPAA
Not offered; the security page says Better Stack is currently not HIPAA compliant.
Enterprise-tier Cipher Keys are documented as giving encryption and compliance support for HIPAA. A feature-level statement in the Enterprise Features docs, not a certification, audit report or BAA.
GDPR / data residencyGDPR compliant with a Data Processing Agreement; all data stored in EU regions by default.Customer selects the storage region and OpenObserve does not relocate stored data without instruction; a DPA covering EU and UK GDPR is published.
PCI DSSNot certified itself: card data is never stored and payments run through Stripe, a PCI Service Provider Level 1.Enterprise-tier Cipher Keys are documented as giving encryption and compliance support for PCI. A feature-level statement in the Enterprise Features docs, not a PCI DSS attestation or AOC.
Encryption at rest
AES-256 at rest and HTTPS/TLS in transit.
Not guaranteed by OpenObserve: storage-layer encryption and key management depend on the hosting provider and deployment architecture.
Customer-managed keys
Not offered. Better Stack's own comparison says it has no equivalent to Honeycomb's Secure Tenancy (customer-managed-key encryption).
Cipher Keys (Enterprise Edition and Cloud): you supply the key and may hold it in your own Akeyless external key management system. Keys decrypt encrypted log fields at query time; not storage-layer key management.
Role-based access controlListed as an Enterprise feature alongside team-level isolation, SCIM and SSO enforcement.Yes on Cloud (preconfigured) and Enterprise (via OpenFGA); not available in the open-source edition, where all users have unrestricted access.
Private networking / VPC
Custom VPC deployment on Enterprise; logs ingestion over AWS Direct Connect at $0.04 per GB.
Named for BYOC, where the customer manages VPC peering, Transit Gateway or PrivateLink; for Cloud the SLA names only the customer's own internet egress. Read from the shared-responsibility tables: Cloud in section 4.2, BYOC in 4.3.
Dedicated infrastructureCustom cluster deployment offered on the enterprise tier for logs and traces.Single-Tenant Hosted and OpenObserve-managed BYOC deployments are offered alongside multi-tenant Cloud, all under the 99.8% SLA.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Free tier

Better Stack
Yes
OpenObserve
No — Cloud offers a 14-day trial only; the self-hosted Enterprise build is free up to 50 GB/day
Sources (2) →

Kind of free offer

Better Stack
Free tier
OpenObserve
Free trial
Sources (2) →

Entry paid plan

Better Stack
From $29/month, or $34/month depending on the plan selected; Better Stack advertises both figures as starting prices on the same page.
OpenObserve
No minimum: Cloud Professional is pay-as-you-go from $0.50 per GB ingested plus $0.01 per GB queried, billed monthly with no upfront commitment.
Sources (2) →

Pricing model

Better Stack
One plan covering uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking together, with exceptions counted per month and web events metered by volume and retention rather than by count.
OpenObserve
Two meters and nothing else: $0.50 per GB ingested and $0.01 per GB queried, with retention included rather than sold as a tier. OpenObserve frames it as no hidden tiers and no surprise bills.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Better Stack ↗

    “Web events [...] Free for personal projects $0 per month [...] 100,000 exceptions per month [...] 3 GB web events retained for 3 days [...] Free access to Telemetry.”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — OpenObserve ↗

    “Pay-as-you-go from $0.50/GB ingested and $0.01/GB queried, with retention included. No hidden tiers, no surprise bills”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

Regions

Better Stack
EU by default; logs ingestion is priced per region for US, Germany and Singapore, and custom data locations are offered to enterprise accounts.
OpenObserve
Four OpenObserve Cloud regions: US West 2 (California, Azure), US East 2 (Ohio, AWS), EU Central 1 (Frankfurt, AWS) and Asia Pacific South 1 (Mumbai, AWS).
Sources (2) →

Retention window

Better Stack
90 days for errors and session replays. Logs, traces and web events are retained 3 days on the free personal plan, where retention is what the 3 GB allowance buys rather than a fixed window.
OpenObserve
Included rather than priced: 15 months for metrics and 30 days for logs, traces, RUM and everything else, at no extra cost on pay-as-you-go.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing — Better Stack ↗

    “Error tracking [...] Retention 90 days [...] Session replay [...] Retention 90 days [...] Free for personal projects [...] 3 GB logs retained for 3 days 3 GB traces retained for 3 days [...] 3 GB web events retained for 3 days”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — OpenObserve ↗

    “Included Retention Metrics 15 Months Non metrics (Logs, Traces and etc.) 30-Days [...] The Pay-as-you-Go plan includes the following default retention at no extra cost”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

Self-hostable

Better Stack
Not supported — SaaS only; same page lists Better Stack data ownership as "SaaS-hosted (optional S3 bucket)".
OpenObserve
Supported
Sources (2) →

Ingest price per GB

Better Stack
$0.10 per GB for logs and traces in the Germany region ($0.15 US, $0.35 Singapore) beyond 3 GB/month included; retention billed separately at $0.05 per GB-month in Germany.
OpenObserve
$0.50 per GB ingested, quoted with a 30% annual-commitment discount already applied.
Sources (2) →

Query price

Better Stack
Standard querying included; optional Query boost at $0.001 per GB scanned.
OpenObserve
$0.01 per GB queried, billed separately from ingest.
Sources (2) →

SOC 2

Better Stack
SOC 2 Type 2 compliant; the report is shared under NDA on request.
OpenObserve
SOC 2 Type II certified; the report is requested through security@openobserve.ai or the trust portal.
Sources (2) →

ISO 27001

Better Stack
Not claimed for Better Stack itself; data is stored in DIN ISO/IEC 27001-certified data centres.
OpenObserve
ISO 27001 certification announced November 2025, with the certificate held in the trust portal; the security page itself makes no ISO representation.
Sources (2) →

HIPAA

Better Stack
Not offered; the security page says Better Stack is currently not HIPAA compliant.
OpenObserve
Enterprise-tier Cipher Keys are documented as giving encryption and compliance support for HIPAA. A feature-level statement in the Enterprise Features docs, not a certification, audit report or BAA.
Sources (2) →

GDPR / data residency

Better Stack
GDPR compliant with a Data Processing Agreement; all data stored in EU regions by default.
OpenObserve
Customer selects the storage region and OpenObserve does not relocate stored data without instruction; a DPA covering EU and UK GDPR is published.
Sources (2) →

PCI DSS

Better Stack
Not certified itself: card data is never stored and payments run through Stripe, a PCI Service Provider Level 1.
OpenObserve
Enterprise-tier Cipher Keys are documented as giving encryption and compliance support for PCI. A feature-level statement in the Enterprise Features docs, not a PCI DSS attestation or AOC.
Sources (2) →

Encryption at rest

Better Stack
AES-256 at rest and HTTPS/TLS in transit.
OpenObserve
Not guaranteed by OpenObserve: storage-layer encryption and key management depend on the hosting provider and deployment architecture.
Sources (2) →

Customer-managed keys

Better Stack
Not offered. Better Stack's own comparison says it has no equivalent to Honeycomb's Secure Tenancy (customer-managed-key encryption).
OpenObserve
Cipher Keys (Enterprise Edition and Cloud): you supply the key and may hold it in your own Akeyless external key management system. Keys decrypt encrypted log fields at query time; not storage-layer key management.
Sources (2) →
  • Better Stack vs Honeycomb: A Complete Comparison for 2026 | Better Stack Community ↗

    “There is no equivalent to Honeycomb's Secure Tenancy or Private Cloud deployment options. [...] Secure Tenancy (patented technology that keeps data encrypted with customer-managed keys, decrypted only in the customer's browser) [...] If you're in healthcare, financial services, or government and need HIPAA compliance, Private Cloud deployment, or customer-managed encryption keys, Honeycomb has a clear advantage.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

  • Cipher Keys | OpenObserve Docs ↗

    “This feature is available in Enterprise Edition and Cloud. Not available in Open Source. [...] Allow using Akeyless as an external key management system to store keys.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Role-based access control

Better Stack
Listed as an Enterprise feature alongside team-level isolation, SCIM and SSO enforcement.
OpenObserve
Yes on Cloud (preconfigured) and Enterprise (via OpenFGA); not available in the open-source edition, where all users have unrestricted access.
Sources (2) →

Private networking / VPC

Better Stack
Custom VPC deployment on Enterprise; logs ingestion over AWS Direct Connect at $0.04 per GB.
OpenObserve
Named for BYOC, where the customer manages VPC peering, Transit Gateway or PrivateLink; for Cloud the SLA names only the customer's own internet egress. Read from the shared-responsibility tables: Cloud in section 4.2, BYOC in 4.3.
Sources (2) →
  • Pricing | Better Stack ↗

    “Ingestion via AWS Direct Connect $0.04 per GB Custom cluster deployment”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • OpenObserve Service Level Agreement ↗

    “Maintaining the Customer's own internet connectivity and egress required to reach the Service endpoints. [...] Managing VPC peering, Transit Gateways, or PrivateLink connections required for OpenObserve to access and manage the deployment in the Customer's cloud account.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

Dedicated infrastructure

Better Stack
Custom cluster deployment offered on the enterprise tier for logs and traces.
OpenObserve
Single-Tenant Hosted and OpenObserve-managed BYOC deployments are offered alongside multi-tenant Cloud, all under the 99.8% SLA.
Sources (2) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

Documented by only one.

These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

What the free plan includesBetter Stack: 3 GB of logs a month retained 3 days, 100,000 exceptions, and uptime monitoring with on-call and status pages at $0 per member.
Credit card to startOpenObserve: No
When the free offer endsOpenObserve: 14 days.
Uptime SLAOpenObserve: SLAs appear in the enterprise feature list alongside architecture reviews and volume discounts. No percentage is published on the pricing page.
Events includedBetter Stack: 100,000 exceptions and 5,000 session replays a month on the free personal plan, plus 30 GB metrics and 3 GB each of logs, traces and web events. Six meters, priced separately: exceptions at $0.000050 each, replays at $0.00150, metrics at $0.50 per GB per month.
Support on entry paid planOpenObserve: Premium support is listed among the enterprise features. The pay-as-you-go cloud plan's support level is not stated; the page directs anyone wanting enterprise support to sales.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Better Stack or OpenObserve?

Better Stack: From $29/month, or $34/month depending on the plan selected; Better Stack advertises both figures as starting prices on the same page.

OpenObserve: No minimum: Cloud Professional is pay-as-you-go from $0.50 per GB ingested plus $0.01 per GB queried, billed monthly with no upfront commitment.

Free tier: Better Stack or OpenObserve?

Better Stack: Yes

OpenObserve: No — Cloud offers a 14-day trial only; the self-hosted Enterprise build is free up to 50 GB/day

Should I choose Better Stack or OpenObserve?

Pick Better Stack if Teams who would otherwise buy uptime monitoring, log management and error tracking separately, and would rather have one bill and one dashboard.

Pick OpenObserve if Teams that want one bill they can predict — ingest, query, and retention included — with session replay and RUM in the same product rather than as separate purchases.

Provider pages

Better StackUptime monitoring, log management and error tracking on one plan, with exceptions and web events metered separately.OpenObserveOpen-source observability covering logs, metrics, traces, RUM and session replay, priced per GB with retention included.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.