OpenObserve

Open-source alternative to Datadog, Splunk

OpenObserve is an open-source alternative to Datadog and Splunk. It is an observability platform that collects logs, metrics, and traces, and presents them through dashboards with alerts. It is designed for teams that want full visibility into their systems without a closed SaaS platform.

Best for: Engineering teams monitoring logs, metrics, and traces in one place.

Key features

  • Logs, metrics, and traces in a single platform
  • Dashboards with alerting
  • Self-hostable observability

Before you switch

Developer tools live or die by their community. Before switching, glance at recent commit activity, open issues, and documentation quality — a healthy project answers questions quickly. Most open-source dev tools install with a single command and play well with existing workflows, so you can trial one alongside your current stack. If your team depends on it daily, check the release cadence and whether commercial support is available.

Like every project on OpenShelf, OpenObserve is developed in the open — you can read the code, follow development, and even contribute. Check the system requirements and the project’s own documentation linked on this page before installing.