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Cloud · head to head

Jaeger vs Ory

Jaeger logo

Jaeger

Cloud

Open-source end-to-end distributed tracing

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Ory logo

Ory

Cybersecurity

Open-source identity, authentication, and permissions infrastructure

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Jaeger tracing is only as good as the instrumentation, and partial instrumentation produces misleading gaps; Ory production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.
  • They diverge on capability: Jaeger covers Distributed trace search, Ory covers Authentication APIs.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 29 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Jaeger and Ory actually diverge.

Attributes where Jaeger and Ory differ
AttributeJaegerOry
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeusage-based
PlatformsLinux, Kubernetes, Dockerweb, api
CategoryCloudCybersecurity

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Jaeger

  • Distributed trace search
  • Dependency graph
  • Adaptive sampling
  • Pluggable storage

Only in Ory

  • Authentication APIs
  • Permissions engine
  • Machine-to-machine tokens
  • B2B organizations
  • SAML SSO
  • Multi-region deployments

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Jaeger

  • Finding which service in a request path causes the latencynot Ory
  • Understanding real service dependencies rather than the diagram on the wikinot Ory
  • Debugging failures that only appear under production traffic patternsnot Ory

Ory

  • Adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new productnot Jaeger
  • Implementing fine-grained permission checksnot Jaeger
  • Supporting B2B organizations and multi-tenancynot Jaeger
  • Building machine-to-machine authentication for microservicesnot Jaeger

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Jaeger

  • Tracing is only as good as the instrumentation, and partial instrumentation produces misleading gaps
  • Storage is the real operational cost: high-volume tracing on Elasticsearch or Cassandra is a cluster to run and pay for
  • Traces alone, without correlated metrics and logs, leave you switching between tools during an incident

Ory

  • Production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.
  • SAML SSO and multi-region deployments are reserved for the custom-priced Enterprise tier.
  • Usage-based pricing across aDAU, M2M tokens, and permission checks makes cost estimation more complex than flat per-MAU billing.

Pricing, plan by plan

Jaeger

Free
  • JaegerFree
    • Full functionality
    • No usage limits
    • Community support

Ory

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Community support
    • No production environments
  • Production$64/month
    • $21 monthly credit included
    • 1 production environment
    • 3 staging environments
  • Growth$779/month
    • $255 monthly credit included
    • 2 production environments
    • B2B organizations (max 3)

Which should you pick?

Choose Jaeger if

  • You need distributed trace search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Kubernetes, Docker.
  • You also want dependency graph.
Jaeger review

Choose Ory if

  • You need authentication apis.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want permissions engine.
Ory review

Questions people ask

Is Jaeger or Ory better?
Neither clearly leads. Jaeger starts at Free and Ory at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Jaeger or Ory?
Jaeger starts at Free and Ory at Free.
Does Jaeger or Ory run on more platforms?
Jaeger runs on Linux, Kubernetes, Docker. Ory runs on web, api.
Can I use Jaeger for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Jaeger best used for?
Jaeger is most often used for finding which service in a request path causes the latency, understanding real service dependencies rather than the diagram on the wiki, debugging failures that only appear under production traffic patterns. Of those, finding which service in a request path causes the latency and understanding real service dependencies rather than the diagram on the wiki are not what Ory is typically brought in for.
What can Jaeger do that Ory cannot?
Jaeger covers Distributed trace search, Dependency graph, Adaptive sampling, Pluggable storage. Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Jaeger: Is Jaeger free?

Yes, open source and CNCF-graduated. Costs are the storage backend you run.

Ory: What does Ory cost?

Ory has a free Developer tier, a Production plan at $770/year including a $21 monthly credit, a Growth plan at $9,350/year including a $255 monthly credit, and custom Enterprise pricing.

Source
Jaeger: Do I use Jaeger or OpenTelemetry?

Both, usually. Instrument with OpenTelemetry and use Jaeger to store and query the traces.

Ory: How is usage metered?

Beyond the included credit, Ory charges per average daily active user (aDAU), per machine-to-machine token, and per permission check, with lower per-unit rates on the Growth plan.

Source
Jaeger: Does Jaeger handle metrics and logs?

No. It is a tracing system. Metrics and logs need Prometheus, Loki or an equivalent.

Ory: What payment methods are supported?

Ory accepts credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex) and bank transfer, processed via Stripe.

Source
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