SigNoz
activeby SigNoz Inc. · since 2021
OpenTelemetry-native APM and observability platform storing logs, metrics and traces in ClickHouse.
Overview
SigNoz is an open-source observability platform that combines APM, distributed tracing, log management, metrics and alerting in one product, built around OpenTelemetry from the start. Under the hood it uses ClickHouse as its storage and query engine, which gives fast aggregation over spans and logs and lets advanced users write ClickHouse SQL alongside the query builder and PromQL. It is a Datadog or New Relic alternative you can self-host with Docker or Helm, or use as SigNoz Cloud. Most of the code is MIT-licensed, while enterprise features such as SSO live in a separately licensed directory.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Logs, metrics and traces correlated in one UI
- +OpenTelemetry-native ingestion with no proprietary agents
- +ClickHouse storage gives fast aggregations over high-cardinality data
- +Self-hostable with Docker or Helm, plus a managed cloud
- +Permissive MIT licence for the core
Trade-offs
- −You operate ClickHouse, ZooKeeper/Keeper and collectors when self-hosting
- −Pre-1.0 versioning with frequent changes
- −Some enterprise features (SSO, advanced RBAC) are commercial
- −Less mature than commercial APM suites for some integrations
Great for
- +Self-hosted Datadog or New Relic replacement
- +OpenTelemetry backend for microservices
- +APM with trace-to-log correlation
- +Kubernetes infrastructure monitoring
Think twice for
- −General-purpose database needs
- −Teams unwilling to run ClickHouse
- −Pure metrics at Prometheus-scale with PromQL-only tooling
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 8 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Large · ≤ 1 PB
- Horizontal scaling
- Native
- Multi-region
- No
- Transactions
- None
- Consistency
- Eventual
- Schema
- Schemaless
- Architecture
- Distributed, Client server
- Query languages
- SQL (ClickHouse), PromQL, Query builder
Scales through the underlying ClickHouse cluster and OpenTelemetry collectors.
Deployment
available on · AWS
Ecosystem
Alternatives to SigNoz
Single-binary Rust observability platform storing logs, metrics and traces as Parquet on object storage.
signoz vs openobserve →Object-storage-backed distributed tracing backend with TraceQL search and trace-derived metrics.
signoz vs grafana-tempo →Label-indexed log aggregation: Prometheus-style streams, chunks on object storage, LogQL queries.
signoz vs grafana-loki →Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.
signoz vs clickhouse →Rust telemetry datalake for logs, metrics and traces on S3, queried with SQL.
signoz vs parseable →Lucene-based distributed search and analytics engine for text, vectors, logs and metrics.
signoz vs elasticsearch →SigNoz FAQ
What is SigNoz?
SigNoz is a columnar / OLAP database by SigNoz Inc., first released in 2021. SigNoz is an open-source observability platform that combines APM, distributed tracing, log management, metrics and alerting in one product, built around OpenTelemetry from the start. Under the hood it uses ClickHouse as its storage and query engine, which gives fast aggregation over spans and logs and lets advanced users write ClickHouse SQL alongside the query builder and PromQL. It is a Datadog or New Relic alternative you can self-host with Docker or Helm, or use as SigNoz Cloud. Most of the code is MIT-licensed, while enterprise features such as SSO live in a separately licensed directory.
Is SigNoz open source?
Yes. SigNoz is open source. License: MIT (core) with separately licensed enterprise directory.
Does SigNoz support ACID transactions?
No. SigNoz does not provide ACID transactions; its consistency model is eventual.
Does SigNoz scale horizontally?
SigNoz scales horizontally out of the box, with built-in sharding or partitioning. It is comfortable at large scale (≤ 1 PB).
How can I run SigNoz?
You can self-host it and use the vendor's managed cloud. Managed offerings include SigNoz Cloud. It is available on AWS.
What is SigNoz best for?
SigNoz is a strong fit for self-hosted Datadog or New Relic replacement, OpenTelemetry backend for microservices and APM with trace-to-log correlation. Think twice for general-purpose database needs.
What are the best alternatives to SigNoz?
Common alternatives to SigNoz include OpenObserve, Grafana Tempo, Grafana Loki, ClickHouse and Parseable. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is SigNoz?
SigNoz ranks #195 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (17.0/100), and #18 among columnar / OLAP databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.