SigNoz

SigNoz is an OpenTelemetry-native observability platform for application and infrastructure telemetry. It suits teams that want to investigate logs, metrics and traces together, whether they host the stack themselves or pay for managed cloud service. Its breadth is appealing, but the choice between operational work and usage-based cloud charges deserves careful attention.

Overview

Logs, metrics, traces and exceptions share a workspace with dedicated explorers and alerting. SigNoz does not require proprietary agents, which helps teams keep instrumentation vendor-free. Its APM charts cover p99 latency, error rate, Apdex and operations per second, with database and external-call monitoring to help narrow down performance issues. Distributed traces add flamegraph and Gantt views for following requests across services.

The combination is useful when teams need to move from an alert or service metric into request-level traces and related signals. ClickHouse underpins storage and querying, with hot and cold storage tiers. The trade-off is deployment: self-hosting preserves control, but the team must manage infrastructure, scaling, upgrades, storage and backups.

Key features

Query, dashboards and alerting

The Query Builder supports aggregations, filters and formulas across signal types, and custom dashboards can combine metrics, logs and traces. This gives teams flexibility to build views around their systems rather than rely only on fixed charts. Alerts can use thresholds, anomaly detection or Apdex, so teams can choose different ways to surface telemetry problems.

Integrations and deployment

The integrations directory covers 45 connections across Temporal, databases, AWS, Azure, GCP and other platforms. Self-host installation options include Docker, Docker Swarm and Kubernetes. That range suits teams already operating those environments, though it does not remove the ongoing work of running the service.

SigNoz Cloud is SOC2 Type II and HIPAA compliant, with data centers in the United States, European Union and India. The Teams plan includes support through in-product chat, email and Slack.

Pricing

SigNoz has a free self-managed community edition, paid cloud plans and an enterprise tier. New users can access all features in SigNoz Cloud free for 30 days. Cloud costs depend on telemetry usage, so the included usage and per-signal charges matter as much as the headline monthly price.

• Self Hosted SigNoz (Community): free. The software is free, but infrastructure, storage, scaling, upgrades and backups are your responsibility. It fits teams willing to operate their own observability stack.
• SigNoz Cloud for Startups: $19 a month, billed first 12 months, with $19 telemetry usage included. Eligibility requires a company less than 3 years old, fewer than 30 employees and less than $6 million raised. It offers a lower entry point for qualifying startups, but the discounted price is time-limited and usage beyond the included amount may add cost.
• SigNoz Cloud (Teams): $49 a month minimum, with $49 usage included. Logs cost $0.30/GB, traces $0.30/GB and metrics $0.10/mn samples. Teammates and hosts are unlimited, making this a better fit for teams that want managed service without seat or host caps; telemetry charges can still rise with use. Support is through in-product chat, email and Slack.
• SigNoz Enterprise: custom pricing, starting at $4000/month. It offers Cloud Dedicated, BYOC, self-hosted enterprise support, volume discounts, annual contracts and dedicated support. This is aimed at organizations needing deployment flexibility and dedicated assistance, rather than small teams seeking a low-cost plan.

Platforms

SigNoz is available on Android, iOS and web, as well as through an API and self-hosted deployment. Its hybrid deployment model gives teams a choice between managed cloud and running the platform themselves.

Who it's for

SigNoz is a strong fit for engineering teams standardizing on OpenTelemetry that want logs, metrics, traces, exceptions and alerting in one observability platform. It is especially compelling when cross-signal investigation and distributed tracing matter. Teams without capacity to operate infrastructure should favor cloud, while those with tight or unpredictable telemetry budgets should account for usage charges before committing.

Pros and cons

• Pro: OpenTelemetry-native instrumentation avoids proprietary agents, giving teams flexibility at the collection layer.
• Pro: Logs, metrics, traces and exceptions share explorers, query tools, dashboards and alerting, supporting investigation across signals.
• Pro: Flamegraph and Gantt trace views, plus APM charts and database and external-call monitoring, help teams inspect both service performance and request paths.
• Con: Self-hosting transfers infrastructure, storage, scaling, upgrades and backup work to the team.
• Con: Cloud plans charge for telemetry beyond included usage, so costs can grow as signal volume rises.
• Con: The Startup price is limited to qualifying companies and applies only for the first 12 months.

Alternatives

For an alternative with a free plan and API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web and Windows platforms, consider PetalTrace.

OpenLIT is worth considering for unlimited self-hosted usage, users, projects and environments on its free OSS plan, with community support through GitHub.

Choose W&B Weave if its free plan's 1 GB/mo ingestion, 5 GB/mo storage, and AI application evaluations, tracing and scorers fit your needs.

Opik offers an open-source core observability and evaluation feature set that users can run locally.

Agenta may suit small teams looking for a free Hobby plan with 2 team members, 5,000 agent runs/month, 20 evaluations/month and 1-week trace retention.

Langfuse has a free Hobby plan with 50k units/month, 30 days of data access, 2 users and GitHub community support; its Core plan is $29 a month.

LangWatch is another freemium option, described as open source under Apache 2.0, with a free Developer plan.

Traccia offers a free Hobby plan with 50K events and 7 days of retention, or an Observe plan at $99 a month with 500K events.

Browse Observability Platforms for more options, or compare tools in Application Performance Monitoring, Metrics Monitoring Tools, Distributed Tracing Tools and Kubernetes Monitoring. Teams focused on AI agents can also explore AI Agent Observability Tools.

Verdict

Choose SigNoz if your team wants OpenTelemetry-based logs, metrics, traces and application monitoring in one place, with the option to self-host or use managed cloud. Its cross-signal tooling and tracing views are the main reasons to choose it. Look elsewhere if you cannot absorb self-hosting work and need predictable costs that do not rise with telemetry volume.