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Should I use Uptrace?

Cut observability costs by 80%. OpenTelemetry-native tracing, metrics, and logs with predictable pricing. Self-host free or use Uptrace Cloud. - uptrace.dev

Depends. Buy for OpenTelemetry-standard engineering teams that can self-host or accept usage-based cloud pricing — the cost math versus Datadog is credible. Skip if you need a funded vendor with SLAs, long cloud retention, or a turnkey zero-ops product.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~40 public sources; many are SEO comparison posts, so independent review depth is limited.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support evidence found
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

Self-hosted

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Uptrace CloudUsage-based
On-PremisesFrom $1,000 minimum fee

Best for

  • OpenTelemetry-standard engineering teams
  • Cost-sensitive teams fleeing Datadog bills
  • Self-hosters comfortable running ClickHouse
  • Microservices shops needing unified traces

Not for

  • Non-engineering teams — this is pure developer tooling
  • Zero-ops buyers wanting turnkey SaaS with vendor SLAs
  • Teams needing long cloud retention on the base plan (4 weeks only)
  • Buyers requiring a funded vendor with a deep support bench

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Prices increase April 10, 2026 — verify new rates before committing

medium

On-premises carries a $1,000 minimum fee despite 'self-host free' messaging

medium

Cloud base retention is just 4 weeks; keeping data longer costs extra

medium

Bootstrapped, unfunded vendor — expect a lean team and limited support depth

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Unified traces, metrics, and logs in one OpenTelemetry-native backend
  • Free open-source self-hosting of the full APM stack
  • Transparent, predictable usage-based pricing per independent comparison
  • Scales to billions of spans on ClickHouse
  • Enterprise edition handles huge traces at scale

Cons

  • Cloud base plan keeps data only 4 weeks
  • On-premises deployments carry a $1,000 minimum fee
  • Source-available license, not fully open source
  • Bootstrapped company with no outside funding
  • Prices increasing April 2026

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/20/2026 - 11 sources - No breaches found; two 2024 SQL-injection CVEs in Uptrace's pgdriver Go library — keep the driver updated.

official x5review x3security x2news x1
  • CVE-2024-44905: Uptrace pg SQL injection, SQL injection vulnerability disclosed in Uptrace's PostgreSQL driver code.
  • CVE-2024-44906: pgdriver v1.2.1 SQL injection, Medium-severity SQL injection in v1.2.1.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 11

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Transparent usage pricing; free self-host option
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Intuitive query builder; OpenTelemetry-native setup
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Unified traces, metrics, logs; billions of spans
  • Support quality. No support evidence found
  • Security posture: 2/5. Two SQL-injection CVEs in pgdriver, 2024
  • Free Self-hosting Open-source APM, you run it
  • $1,000 On-premises minimum Minimum Uptrace fee
  • 4 weeks Cloud retention Base Uptrace Cloud plan
  • Bootstrapped Funding No outside funding raised

Pricing

Self-hosted

Free

  • Full APM: traces, metrics, logs
  • You operate ClickHouse and infra

Uptrace Cloud

Usage-based

  • 4-week data retention base
  • Dropped data $0.01/GB

On-Premises

From $1,000 minimum fee

  • Commercial, self-managed
  • Enterprise edition available

Security

No breaches found; two 2024 SQL-injection CVEs in Uptrace's pgdriver Go library — keep the driver updated.

  • CVE-2024-44905: Uptrace pg SQL injectionSQL injection vulnerability disclosed in Uptrace's PostgreSQL driver code.10
  • CVE-2024-44906: pgdriver v1.2.1 SQL injectionMedium-severity SQL injection in v1.2.1.⁹

What users say

Reddit users report hosted Uptrace covers their needs, and third-party comparisons consistently credit its unified traces, metrics, and logs.

“We have been using hosted uptrace for”
Reddit, r/OpenTelemetry
“uptrace gives me everything in”
Reddit, r/django
Full analysis

Based on ~40 public sources; many are SEO comparison posts, so independent review depth is limited.

Genuinely cheap OTel-native APM if you self-host; bootstrapped vendor, 4-week cloud retention, price hike coming.

Methodology

Based on ~40 public sources; many are SEO comparison posts, so independent review depth is limited.

Sources

  1. Uptrace — OpenTelemetry-Native Observability Platformuptrace.dev
    official
  2. Uptrace Pricinguptrace.dev
    official
  3. Uptrace On-Premisesuptrace.dev
    official
  4. Uptrace Pricing Update — April 2026uptrace.dev
    official
  5. uptrace/uptrace on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  6. Uptrace — RFP.wiki Observability Platforms profilerfp.wiki
    review
  7. Honeycomb vs Uptrace: Pricing, Features & Verdictgappsy.com
    review
  8. Reddit r/selfhosted — Uptrace source-available APMreddit.com
    review
  9. NVD — CVE-2024-44906nvd.nist.gov
    security
  10. CVE-2024-44905 — SentinelOne vulnerability databasesentinelone.com
    security
  11. Uptrace company profile — Tracxntracxn.com
    news

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