# OpenObserve

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/observability/openobserve/

Open-source observability covering logs, metrics, traces, RUM and session replay, priced per GB with retention included.

## Who it suits

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.

Consider something else if Ingest is $0.50 per GB against Grafana Cloud's $0.050, so the simplicity costs an order of magnitude at volume.

## Adoption signals

- Open source: openobserve/openobserve — 21,751 stars, 1,076 forks (GitHub, checked 2026-09-12)

## iScore

57 / 100 (80% interval 51–62), rank 9 of 9 in observability — interval overlaps the next rank, so this is an ordering, not a finding.

inetGeek's own reading, computed from sourced facts against category peers by disclosed rules. Not a provider claim. Intervals are 80%; a provider with few documented facts is pulled toward the category middle rather than scored on what little is known.
Read this score with care:
- Documented but not scored, because the page states it as text with no comparable number or a yes/limited/no (a one-time, usage-based or other-vendor price, or a per-site choice): minimum_paid_price, support_included, uptime_sla. Read them on the provider page; the score neither rewards nor penalises what it could not compare.

Method: https://inetgeek.com/iscore/. Full output with every criterion's basis: https://inetgeek.com/scores.json. Every observability peer ranked: https://inetgeek.com/observability/openobserve/alternatives/

- Price: 40 (25–56), weight 31%, 5 of 7 criteria scored; scored for peers, not here — undocumented or stated without a number or a yes/limited/no: free_allowance, minimum_paid_price
- Capacity and limits: 49 (33–65), weight 18%, 2 of 3 criteria scored; scored for peers, not here — undocumented or stated without a number or a yes/limited/no: events_included
- Capabilities: 73 (66–79), weight 12%, 2 of 2 criteria scored
- Trust and compliance: 81 (75–88), weight 18%, 10 of 13 criteria scored; scored for peers, not here — undocumented or stated without a number or a yes/limited/no: audit_logs, support_included, uptime_sla
- Evidence: 98 (98–98), weight 10%, 4 of 4 criteria scored
- Adoption: 14 (4–24), weight 10%, 1 of 2 criteria scored

## What the documentation says

### Pricing

- Free tier: No — Cloud offers a 14-day trial only; the self-hosted Enterprise build is free up to 50 GB/day ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-13)
- Kind of free offer: Free trial ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-13)
- Credit card to start: No ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-13)
- When the free offer ends: 14 days. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-13)
- Entry paid plan: 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. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-13)
- Pricing model: 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. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-06)

### Infrastructure

- Regions: 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). ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing.md), read 2026-09-13)
- Uptime SLA: SLAs appear in the enterprise feature list alongside architecture reviews and volume discounts. No percentage is published on the pricing page. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing/), read 2026-09-14)

### Observability

- Retention 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. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-06)
- Session replay: Supported ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-06)
- Self-hostable: Supported ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-06)
- Ingest price per GB: $0.50 per GB ingested, quoted with a 30% annual-commitment discount already applied. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-06)
- Query price: $0.01 per GB queried, billed separately from ingest. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-06)

### Support

- Support on entry paid plan: 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. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing/), read 2026-09-14)

### Compliance

- SOC 2: SOC 2 Type II certified; the report is requested through security@openobserve.ai or the trust portal. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/pricing), read 2026-09-13)
- ISO 27001: ISO 27001 certification announced November 2025, with the certificate held in the trust portal; the security page itself makes no ISO representation. ([source](https://security.openobserve.ai/), read 2026-09-13)
- HIPAA: 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. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/docs/features/enterprise/), read 2026-09-13)
- GDPR / data residency: Customer selects the storage region and OpenObserve does not relocate stored data without instruction; a DPA covering EU and UK GDPR is published. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/security), read 2026-09-13)
- PCI DSS: 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. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/docs/features/enterprise/), read 2026-09-13)
- Encryption at rest: Not guaranteed by OpenObserve: storage-layer encryption and key management depend on the hosting provider and deployment architecture. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/security), read 2026-09-13)
- Customer-managed keys: 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. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/docs/user-guide/account-administration/management/cipher-keys/), read 2026-09-13)
- Role-based access control: Yes on Cloud (preconfigured) and Enterprise (via OpenFGA); not available in the open-source edition, where all users have unrestricted access. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/docs/user-guide/identity-and-access-management/role-based-access-control/), read 2026-09-13)
- Private networking / VPC: 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. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/legal/sla/), read 2026-09-13)
- Dedicated infrastructure: Single-Tenant Hosted and OpenObserve-managed BYOC deployments are offered alongside multi-tenant Cloud, all under the 99.8% SLA. ([source](https://openobserve.ai/security), read 2026-09-13)

## Compared with

- [OpenObserve vs SigNoz](https://inetgeek.com/compare/signoz-vs-openobserve/)
- [OpenObserve vs Grafana Cloud](https://inetgeek.com/compare/grafana-cloud-vs-openobserve/)
- [OpenObserve vs Datadog](https://inetgeek.com/compare/datadog-vs-openobserve/)
- [OpenObserve vs Axiom](https://inetgeek.com/compare/axiom-vs-openobserve/)
- [OpenObserve vs Better Stack](https://inetgeek.com/compare/betterstack-vs-openobserve/)
- [OpenObserve vs Elastic Cloud](https://inetgeek.com/compare/elastic-cloud-vs-openobserve/)
- [OpenObserve vs GlitchTip](https://inetgeek.com/compare/glitchtip-vs-openobserve/)
- [OpenObserve vs Sentry](https://inetgeek.com/compare/openobserve-vs-sentry/)