Maple
Built by us Pick it if: You want Dash0's model, source-available and self-hostable, with uptime, on-call, replay and error tracking in one app.
Maple starts from the same place as Dash0: OpenTelemetry in, usage-based pricing, no per-seat fee, an MCP server for agents. The source is on GitHub and it self-hosts as one container. Around traces, logs and metrics it puts the rest of the on-call loop in the same app: uptime checks and cron heartbeats, on-call schedules with escalation, SLOs with burn-rate alerts, errors grouped into issues, and browser session replay linked to the trace behind each click.
Strengths
- + Source on GitHub; self-hosts as one container, and “maple start” runs it on a laptop
- + Uptime checks, cron heartbeats and on-call schedules with escalation (email, Slack, Discord)
- + SLOs with burn-rate alerts, and errors grouped into issues with an owner and a state
- + Session replay linked to traces, plus a hosted MCP server and alert investigations
Trade-offs
- - No PromQL: a visual query builder and SQL instead
- - 30 days for traces and logs, 90 for metrics, against Dash0's 13 months for metrics
- - The self-hosted version has no alerting or team accounts yet
- - No phone or SMS paging or scripted browser checks yet
- - Younger, with a smaller ecosystem, and no free plan on Maple Cloud
$39/mo with 100 GB each of logs, traces and metrics, then $0.30 per GB · Source-available (FSL-1.1, Apache 2.0 after two years); self-hosts for one team, without alerting yet
SigNoz
Pick it if: You want an open-source, self-hosted platform and need to keep PromQL.
SigNoz is the closest open-source match for a Dash0 user. It is OpenTelemetry-native, stores everything in ClickHouse, and queries metrics with PromQL as well as its own builder and SQL. Self-hosting is mature, with Docker, Helm and per-platform guides, and the Community edition is multi-user with roles.
Strengths
- + PromQL in dashboards, and Prometheus rules carry over
- + The most polished self-hosting path on this list
- + Metric samples billed per million ($0.10), which suits many small series
Trade-offs
- - 15 days for logs and traces by default, and longer retention raises the rate
- - SAML, OIDC and fine-grained RBAC sit in the commercially licensed ee/ directory
- - Metrics kept one month by default, against Dash0's 13 months
$49/mo including $49 of usage, then $0.30 per GB of logs and traces · MIT core, SSO and RBAC under a commercial license; self-hostable
Grafana Cloud / LGTM
Pick it if: PromQL and dashboards-as-code are how your team works.
Grafana is where most PromQL users end up. Existing dashboards and recording rules carry over unchanged, the plugin catalog connects almost any data source, and the whole stack can be self-hosted with mature Helm charts. The cost is operational: Loki, Tempo and Mimir are separate services, each with its own query language.
Strengths
- + PromQL, LogQL and TraceQL; dashboards-as-code
- + Hundreds of plugins and community dashboards
- + Self-hostable under AGPL, or fully managed on Grafana Cloud
Trade-offs
- - Self-hosting means running four services
- - Cloud adds $8 per active user beyond three, and $6.50 per thousand active metric series
- - A query language per signal: PromQL, LogQL and TraceQL
Free tier, then $19/mo + $8 per user, $0.55 per GB of logs and traces · AGPL-3.0 (Grafana, Loki, Tempo, Mimir); Cloud is proprietary
Honeycomb
Pick it if: You debug by slicing high-cardinality traces and want BubbleUp.
Honeycomb is a query engine for wide events. BubbleUp ranks every attribute of a slow or failing slice of requests against the baseline, and it is the main reason teams pick it. Like Dash0 it bills per item, not per byte, and it keeps 60 days of events and metrics on every plan, including the free one.
Strengths
- + BubbleUp outlier analysis, heatmaps and SLOs with burn-rate alerts
- + A real free plan: 20M events and 100M metric data points a month
- + 60 days of retention on every plan
Trade-offs
- - Closed source; single-tenant hosting only on Enterprise
- - Frontend observability is an Enterprise add-on
- - No PromQL
Free up to 20M events/mo; Pro $3.00 per million events, from $150 · No (Refinery is Apache 2.0); Private Cloud on Enterprise
Better Stack
Pick it if: You need phone and SMS paging or Playwright browser checks.
Better Stack is an incident platform with telemetry attached: uptime checks, on-call schedules and a Slack incident bot, fed by logs, traces, errors and replays. It ingests OTLP and also takes PromQL, and its per-GB rate for logs and traces is lower than most on this list.
Strengths
- + Uptime, Playwright checks, and on-call with phone and SMS
- + Low log and trace rates with storage billed separately
- + PromQL and SQL
Trade-offs
- - Closed source, with no self-hosting
- - Metrics billed on stored size, from $0.50 per GB-month
- - Anyone on call needs a $34/mo Responder license
Bundles from $30/mo; logs and traces $0.10/GB + $0.05/GB-month stored (EU) · No; SaaS, custom VPC on Enterprise
Axiom
Pick it if: You ship a lot of event data and want the lowest ingest rate at volume.
Axiom is an event store first: everything lands in a dataset, you query it in APL, and monitors run those queries on a schedule. Its ingest rate falls with volume without negotiation, and cheap storage makes long retention affordable. You get less product on top of the data.
Strengths
- + Ingest rates that fall with volume, and cheap long retention
- + Hard spend caps that pause ingestion instead of billing overage
- + MCP server and agent skills, with per-token query cost limits
Trade-offs
- - Closed source, with no self-hosting
- - APL and MPL to learn; no PromQL
- - Less product on top of the data: alerts are scheduled queries, and errors stay raw events
$25/mo, then $0.12/GB loaded, $0.20 per GB-hour of queries, $0.03/GB stored · No; SaaS only
Datadog
Pick it if: You need breadth: security, network monitoring, browser tests and 800+ integrations.
Datadog is the incumbent with a product for each layer: APM, logs, RUM, synthetics, network monitoring, security and CI visibility. It accepts OTLP, but some features need the Datadog Agent. Moving here from Dash0 trades usage pricing for per-host and per-product meters.
Strengths
- + More than 800 vendor-maintained integrations
- + Full RUM, mobile RUM and browser synthetics
- + SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and FedRAMP
Trade-offs
- - Per-host pricing plus a separate meter for each product
- - Some features need the Datadog Agent, not just OpenTelemetry
- - Closed source and SaaS only
Per host: infrastructure from $15, APM from $31, plus per-product meters · No (the Agent is open source); SaaS only
New Relic
Pick it if: A few people use it, you want 100 GB free, and NRQL suits you.
New Relic gives every account 100 GB of ingest free and charges per GB after that, which is closer to Dash0's model than Datadog's. The catch is users: full-platform seats cost $99 each on Standard, capped at five, and $349 on Pro. It accepts OTLP, with some features only through its own agents.
Strengths
- + 100 GB of ingest free every month
- + NRQL, a SQL-like language across every data type
- + Scripted browser and API checks included
Trade-offs
- - Per-user fees that grow with the team
- - Eight days of trace retention by default
- - Some features need New Relic's agents
100 GB free, then $0.40 per GB, plus per-user fees · No (the agents are open source); SaaS only
