Cloud · head to head
Jaeger vs Thanos
Thanos
Cloud
Highly available Prometheus with long-term object storage
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Jaeger tracing is only as good as the instrumentation, and partial instrumentation produces misleading gaps; Thanos several components — sidecar, store, querier, compactor, ruler — each with its own configuration and failure modes
- They diverge on capability: Jaeger covers Distributed trace search, Thanos covers Global query.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Jaeger and Thanos actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cloud).
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 Thanos
- Global query
- Object storage retention
- Deduplication
- Downsampling
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 Thanos
- Understanding real service dependencies rather than the diagram on the wikinot Thanos
- Debugging failures that only appear under production traffic patternsnot Thanos
Thanos
- Querying metrics across many clusters or regions from one placenot Jaeger
- Retaining metrics for years without local disk growthnot Jaeger
- Removing the gap that appears when a single Prometheus instance restartsnot 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
Thanos
- Several components — sidecar, store, querier, compactor, ruler — each with its own configuration and failure modes
- The compactor is a common source of operational trouble and must not run twice against the same bucket
- Query latency over object storage is meaningfully higher than local Prometheus
- Object storage costs and API request charges become real at high volume
Pricing, plan by plan
Jaeger
Free- JaegerFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support
Thanos
Free- ThanosFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support
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.
Choose Thanos if
- You need global query.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Kubernetes, Linux, Docker.
- You also want object storage retention.
Questions people ask
- Is Jaeger or Thanos better?
- Neither clearly leads. Jaeger starts at Free and Thanos at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Jaeger or Thanos?
- Jaeger starts at Free and Thanos at Free.
- Does Jaeger or Thanos run on more platforms?
- Jaeger runs on Linux, Kubernetes, Docker. Thanos runs on Kubernetes, Linux, Docker.
- 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 Thanos is typically brought in for.
- What can Jaeger do that Thanos cannot?
- Jaeger covers Distributed trace search, Dependency graph, Adaptive sampling, Pluggable storage. Thanos covers Global query, Object storage retention, Deduplication, Downsampling.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Jaeger: Is Jaeger free?
Yes, open source and CNCF-graduated. Costs are the storage backend you run.
Thanos: Is Thanos free?
Yes, open source and CNCF-incubating. Costs are the object storage it uses.
Jaeger: Do I use Jaeger or OpenTelemetry?
Both, usually. Instrument with OpenTelemetry and use Jaeger to store and query the traces.
Thanos: Does Thanos replace Prometheus?
No. It runs alongside existing Prometheus servers, adding global query, deduplication and long-term storage.
Jaeger: Does Jaeger handle metrics and logs?
No. It is a tracing system. Metrics and logs need Prometheus, Loki or an equivalent.
Thanos: Thanos or VictoriaMetrics?
Thanos layers onto Prometheus using object storage and is the more established multi-cluster answer. VictoriaMetrics is a separate store aiming at lower resource use and fewer moving parts.
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