Skip to content
inetGeek

GlitchTip vs OpenObserve

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of GlitchTip 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 GlitchTip if…

Anyone who wants Sentry-shaped error tracking without Sentry's bill — the SDKs are compatible, so switching is a DSN change, and self-hosting is free and genuinely supported.

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…

  • GlitchTip: It tracks errors and nothing else. No tracing, no replays, no uptime monitoring, so a team wanting one pane of glass will be assembling it from parts.
  • 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: GlitchTip alternatives · OpenObserve alternatives

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

Visit GlitchTip 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.

CriterionGlitchTipOpenObserve
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
When the free offer endsNever — free forever, up to 1,000 events a month.14 days.
Entry paid plan$15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 millionNo 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 modelFlat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to the hosted plans.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
Regions
Two fully separate hosted instances: US (DigitalOcean NYC1, New York, app.glitchtip.com) and EU (DigitalOcean FRA1, Frankfurt, eu.glitchtip.com); no replication between them.
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 by default when self-hosted, set by GLITCHTIP_RETENTION_DAYS and configurable per data type — events, transactions, logs, uptime checks and files all inherit it, releases keep 365 days. Events move from Postgres to cold storage after 30 days but stay queryable. GlitchTip publishes no retention figure for its hosted plans.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.
Self-hostableSupportedSupported
Support
Support on entry paid planSupport access on Small ($15/month), the entry paid plan; priority email and live chat from Medium; development support and prioritization on Large.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.
Compliance
SOC 2
No SOC 2 report claimed; the hosted architecture is described as adhering to principles found in HIPAA, SOC II and ISO 27001 frameworks.
SOC 2 Type II certified; the report is requested through security@openobserve.ai or the trust portal.
ISO 27001
No certification claimed; the hosted architecture is described as adhering to principles found in the ISO 27001 framework.
ISO 27001 certification announced November 2025, with the certificate held in the trust portal; the security page itself makes no ISO representation.
HIPAABAA available on the Large plan ($250/month) for the US instance only; the EU instance is not covered.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 residencyFully independent EU instance in Frankfurt keeps events, accounts and email inside the EU; a DPA with EU SCCs and the UK addendum is published.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; billing is handled by Stripe (PCI-DSS Service Provider Level 1), which never receives event data.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
DigitalOcean Volumes Block Storage encryption at rest; TLS 1.2+ in transit.
Not guaranteed by OpenObserve: storage-layer encryption and key management depend on the hosting provider and deployment architecture.
Role-based access controlOrganization members hold one of four roles (member, admin, manager, owner) set via the members API, plus optional per-team roles. Linked as "API Documentation" from glitchtip.com/documentation.Yes on Cloud (preconfigured) and Enterprise (via OpenFGA); not available in the open-source edition, where all users have unrestricted access.
Private networking / VPCHosted database cluster sits in a private VPC unreachable from the public internet; no customer-facing private connectivity is described.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 infrastructure
All hosted plans run on the same security-controlled infrastructure; the difference between Free, Small, Medium and Large is contractual.
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

GlitchTip
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

GlitchTip
Free tier
OpenObserve
Free trial
Sources (2) →

When the free offer ends

GlitchTip
Never — free forever, up to 1,000 events a month.
OpenObserve
14 days.
Sources (2) →

Entry paid plan

GlitchTip
$15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million
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

GlitchTip
Flat monthly tiers bought by event ceiling, with a free self-hosted build as the alternative to the hosted plans.
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) →
  • GlitchTip Pricing ↗

    “Self-hosted version Run on your own server Free for personal projects [...] up to 100k events/mo [...] support access $15 / month [...] up to 500k events/mo [...] up to 3 million events/mo”

    Read 2026-09-14 · 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

GlitchTip

Two fully separate hosted instances: US (DigitalOcean NYC1, New York, app.glitchtip.com) and EU (DigitalOcean FRA1, Frankfurt, eu.glitchtip.com); no replication between them.

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

GlitchTip
90 days by default when self-hosted, set by GLITCHTIP_RETENTION_DAYS and configurable per data type — events, transactions, logs, uptime checks and files all inherit it, releases keep 365 days. Events move from Postgres to cold storage after 30 days but stay queryable. GlitchTip publishes no retention figure for its hosted plans.
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) →
  • Installation — GlitchTip documentation ↗

    “Data Retention [...] GlitchTip automatically cleans up old data based on configurable retention periods. [...] GLITCHTIP_RETENTION_DAYS 90 Master default for all retention periods [...] GLITCHTIP_EVENT_HOT_DAYS 30 Days to keep events in PostgreSQL before archival [...] GLITCHTIP_RELEASE_RETENTION_DAYS 365 Release retention”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official docs · 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

Support on entry paid plan

GlitchTip
Support access on Small ($15/month), the entry paid plan; priority email and live chat from Medium; development support and prioritization on Large.
OpenObserve
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.
Sources (2) →
  • GlitchTip Pricing ↗

    “support access $15 / month [...] priority email & live chat support $50 / month [...] development support & prioritization”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • OpenObserve Pricing ↗

    “role-based access control (rbac) premium support deployment flexibility (public cloud, or bring your own cloud) architecture reviews volume discounts slas [...] for ingestion volumes above 50 gb per day or additional enterprise support, contact the openobserve sales team.”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

SOC 2

GlitchTip
No SOC 2 report claimed; the hosted architecture is described as adhering to principles found in HIPAA, SOC II and ISO 27001 frameworks.
OpenObserve
SOC 2 Type II certified; the report is requested through security@openobserve.ai or the trust portal.
Sources (2) →

ISO 27001

GlitchTip
No certification claimed; the hosted architecture is described as adhering to principles found in the ISO 27001 framework.
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

GlitchTip
BAA available on the Large plan ($250/month) for the US instance only; the EU instance is not covered.
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

GlitchTip
Fully independent EU instance in Frankfurt keeps events, accounts and email inside the EU; a DPA with EU SCCs and the UK addendum is published.
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

GlitchTip
Not certified itself; billing is handled by Stripe (PCI-DSS Service Provider Level 1), which never receives event data.
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

GlitchTip
DigitalOcean Volumes Block Storage encryption at rest; TLS 1.2+ in transit.
OpenObserve
Not guaranteed by OpenObserve: storage-layer encryption and key management depend on the hosting provider and deployment architecture.
Sources (2) →

Role-based access control

GlitchTip
Organization members hold one of four roles (member, admin, manager, owner) set via the members API, plus optional per-team roles. Linked as "API Documentation" from glitchtip.com/documentation.
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

GlitchTip
Hosted database cluster sits in a private VPC unreachable from the public internet; no customer-facing private connectivity is described.
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) →

Dedicated infrastructure

GlitchTip
All hosted plans run on the same security-controlled infrastructure; the difference between Free, Small, Medium and Large is contractual.
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.

Confirm by email; unsubscribe from any issue. Your address goes to Kit and nowhere else — what we do with it.

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 includesGlitchTip: 1,000 events a month, described by GlitchTip as free forever.
Credit card to startOpenObserve: No
Uptime SLAOpenObserve: SLAs appear in the enterprise feature list alongside architecture reviews and volume discounts. No percentage is published on the pricing page.
Events includedGlitchTip: 100,000 events a month on the cheapest paid plan; 1,000 on the free hosted plan. One meter, not several — GlitchTip counts events and nothing else.
Session replayOpenObserve: Supported
Ingest price per GBOpenObserve: $0.50 per GB ingested, quoted with a 30% annual-commitment discount already applied.
Query priceOpenObserve: $0.01 per GB queried, billed separately from ingest.
Customer-managed keysOpenObserve: 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.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: GlitchTip or OpenObserve?

GlitchTip: $15/month for the 100,000 event plan; $50 for 500,000 and $250 for 3 million

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: GlitchTip or OpenObserve?

GlitchTip: 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 GlitchTip or OpenObserve?

Pick GlitchTip if Anyone who wants Sentry-shaped error tracking without Sentry's bill — the SDKs are compatible, so switching is a DSN change, and self-hosting is free and genuinely supported.

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

GlitchTipOpen-source error tracking compatible with Sentry SDKs, offered as a hosted plan priced per event or run yourself for free.OpenObserveOpen-source observability covering logs, metrics, traces, RUM and session replay, priced per GB with retention included.

Related comparisons

Axiom vs GlitchTipAxiom vs OpenObserveBetter Stack vs OpenObserveDatadog vs GlitchTipDatadog vs OpenObserveElastic Cloud vs OpenObserveGlitchTip vs Better StackGlitchTip vs Grafana Cloud

Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.