whichdb
vs

OpenObserve vs Quickwit

OpenObserve: Single-binary Rust observability platform storing logs, metrics and traces as Parquet on object storage. Quickwit: Cloud-native search engine on object storage for logs and traces, built on Tantivy.

key differences

  • Licensing: OpenObserve is open source (copyleft) (GNU AGPL v3.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial); Quickwit is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0).
  • Quickwit is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than OpenObserve (≤ 1 PB).
  • Only OpenObserve has joins, role-based access.

choose openobserve for

  • +Self-hosted Datadog or Elastic replacement
  • +Kubernetes logs and traces on S3
  • +Small teams needing one observability tool
  • +Front-end RUM and session replay with backend logs

best at · Observability, Search, Time-series

choose quickwit for

  • +Log search and retention at large scale
  • +Distributed tracing backend
  • +Security and audit event search
  • +Cheap replacement for Elasticsearch hot-warm logging clusters

best at · Observability, Search, Time-series

OpenObserveSingle-binary Rust observability platform storing logs, metrics and traces as Parquet on object storage.
QuickwitCloud-native search engine on object storage for logs and traces, built on Tantivy.
overview
Primary model
Search Engine
Search Engine
Also supports
Time-Series, Columnar / OLAP
Document, Time-Series
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
OpenObserve Inc.
Quickwit (Datadog)
First release
2023
2021
Latest version
1.1.2 (Oct 20, 2026)
0.9.3 (Oct 22, 2026)
License
Open source (copyleft)GNU AGPL v3.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
20.4
11.9
Rank
#156
#275
GitHub stars
22.5K
11.7K
Stack Overflow questions
–
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
None
None
Consistency
Eventual
Eventual
Schema
Schemaless
Flexible
Architecture
Single node, Distributed, Shared storage
Distributed, Shared storage
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS
–
capabilities
Transactions
—
—
Joins
✓
—
Secondary indexes
—
—
Full-text search
✓
✓
Vector search
—
—
Geospatial
—
—
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
—
—
Triggers
—
—
Stored procedures
—
—
Materialized views
—
—
TTL / expiry
✓
✓
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
✓
✓
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
—
—
Role-based access
✓
—
Time travel
—
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
—
—
Streaming ingest
✓
✓
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL, PromQL
Quickwit query language, Elasticsearch Query DSL (subset)
Client languages
–
Any HTTP client
Best for
Observability, Search, Time-series
Observability, Search, Time-series
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

OpenObserve vs Quickwit: FAQ

What is the difference between OpenObserve and Quickwit?

OpenObserve: Single-binary Rust observability platform storing logs, metrics and traces as Parquet on object storage. Quickwit: Cloud-native search engine on object storage for logs and traces, built on Tantivy. Licensing: OpenObserve is open source (copyleft) (GNU AGPL v3.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial); Quickwit is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0). Quickwit is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than OpenObserve (≤ 1 PB). Only OpenObserve has joins, role-based access.

When should I choose OpenObserve over Quickwit?

Choose OpenObserve for self-hosted Datadog or Elastic replacement; kubernetes logs and traces on S3; and small teams needing one observability tool. Choose Quickwit for log search and retention at large scale; distributed tracing backend; and security and audit event search.

Is OpenObserve or Quickwit more popular?

OpenObserve ranks #156 on the WhichDB Score (20.4/100) and Quickwit ranks #275 (11.9/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are OpenObserve and Quickwit open source?

Yes. OpenObserve is open source. License: GNU AGPL v3.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial. Yes. Quickwit is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.