Cloud · head to head
OpenTelemetry vs OWASP ZAP
OpenTelemetry
Cloud
Vendor-neutral standard for traces, metrics and logs
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
OWASP ZAP
Cybersecurity
Free, open-source web application scanner and intercepting proxy, now governed by the Software Security Project.
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: OpenTelemetry genuinely complex to adopt: collectors, pipelines, samplers and exporters are a system to run in their own right; OWASP ZAP authenticated scanning of modern single-page applications is the hard part and ZAP makes you build it by hand: session handling, token refresh and login scripts are configured per application, and a misconfigured session means the scanner logs itself out and reports a clean result for pages it never reached.
- They diverge on capability: OpenTelemetry covers Vendor-neutral SDKs, OWASP ZAP covers Intercepting proxy.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which OpenTelemetry and OWASP ZAP actually diverge.
| Attribute | OpenTelemetry | OWASP ZAP |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Open source, no licence fee | free |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker | Desktop, Cli, Api |
| Category | Cloud | Cybersecurity |
| Founded | Unknown | 2001 |
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 OpenTelemetry
- Vendor-neutral SDKs
- Collector
- Three signals
- Auto-instrumentation
Only in OWASP ZAP
- Intercepting proxy
- Passive scanner
- Active scanner
- AJAX spider
- Automation Framework
- Headless daemon and REST API
- Docker images
- Add-on marketplace
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
OpenTelemetry
- Instrumenting once and keeping the option to change observability vendor laternot OWASP ZAP
- Standardising telemetry across services written in different languagesnot OWASP ZAP
- Routing and filtering telemetry centrally to control observability spendnot OWASP ZAP
OWASP ZAP
- Adding a baseline security scan to every application's pipeline where per-target commercial licensing would limit coverage to a handfulnot OpenTelemetry
- Manual penetration testing that needs an intercepting proxy, request replay and fuzzing without a paid licence per testernot OpenTelemetry
- Teaching developers what an attack against their own endpoint looks like, using a tool they can install themselvesnot OpenTelemetry
- Pre-release regression scanning of an internal application that would never justify a commercial DAST subscriptionnot OpenTelemetry
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
OpenTelemetry
- Genuinely complex to adopt: collectors, pipelines, samplers and exporters are a system to run in their own right
- Language SDKs mature at different rates, so a polyglot estate gets uneven support
- It produces and moves telemetry but does not store or visualise it, so a backend is still required and still billed
OWASP ZAP
- Authenticated scanning of modern single-page applications is the hard part and ZAP makes you build it by hand: session handling, token refresh and login scripts are configured per application, and a misconfigured session means the scanner logs itself out and reports a clean result for pages it never reached.
- There is no support contract in the product, so when a scan breaks the day before a release the escalation path is a GitHub issue and a community chat, which is not an answer that satisfies a delivery manager or an auditor who wants a named responsible party.
- Active scanning sends genuine attack traffic, so it can create records, trigger emails, exhaust rate limits or destabilise a fragile environment, and pointing it at production without prior agreement produces an incident rather than a test result.
- Output needs triage: passive rules generate large volumes of low-severity informational findings about headers and cookie flags that bury the few results that matter, and a team without someone tuning the rule set stops reading the report within a few sprints.
- As a dynamic scanner it can only test what it can reach, so authorisation flaws between accounts, business logic abuse and anything behind an undiscovered endpoint go unreported, and a passing ZAP scan is evidence of nothing more than the absence of the classes of bug it looks for.
Pricing, plan by plan
OpenTelemetry
Free- OpenTelemetryFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support
OWASP ZAP
Free- Free & Open SourceFree
- Full functionality
- Active & passive scanning
- Spider
Which should you pick?
Choose OpenTelemetry if
- You need vendor-neutral sdks.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker.
- You also want collector.
Choose OWASP ZAP if
- You need intercepting proxy.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Desktop, Cli, Api.
- You also want passive scanner.
Questions people ask
- Is OpenTelemetry or OWASP ZAP better?
- Neither clearly leads. OpenTelemetry starts at Free and OWASP ZAP at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, OpenTelemetry or OWASP ZAP?
- OpenTelemetry starts at Free and OWASP ZAP at Free.
- Does OpenTelemetry or OWASP ZAP run on more platforms?
- OpenTelemetry runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker. OWASP ZAP runs on Desktop, Cli, Api.
- Can I use OpenTelemetry for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is OpenTelemetry best used for?
- OpenTelemetry is most often used for instrumenting once and keeping the option to change observability vendor later, standardising telemetry across services written in different languages, routing and filtering telemetry centrally to control observability spend. Of those, instrumenting once and keeping the option to change observability vendor later and standardising telemetry across services written in different languages are not what OWASP ZAP is typically brought in for.
- What can OpenTelemetry do that OWASP ZAP cannot?
- OpenTelemetry covers Vendor-neutral SDKs, Collector, Three signals, Auto-instrumentation. OWASP ZAP covers Intercepting proxy, Passive scanner, Active scanner, AJAX spider.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
OpenTelemetry: Is OpenTelemetry free?
Yes, open source under the CNCF. What you pay for is the backend you export to.
OWASP ZAP: Is it still called OWASP ZAP?
The project left OWASP in August 2024 and is now governed by the Software Security Project, with core development sponsored by Checkmarx. The tool is now just ZAP, though most existing documentation, courses and search results still use the OWASP name.
OpenTelemetry: Does OpenTelemetry replace Datadog or Grafana?
No. It replaces their proprietary agents and instrumentation libraries. You still need a backend to store and query the data.
OWASP ZAP: Is it free for commercial use?
Yes. It is Apache 2.0 licensed, with no per-application, per-scan or per-user cost, and it can be used and modified commercially without a licence agreement.
OpenTelemetry: Why adopt a vendor-neutral standard?
Because instrumentation is the expensive part. Once code emits OTel, changing observability vendor is a collector config change instead of re-instrumenting every service.
OWASP ZAP: Can it replace a penetration test?
No. It automates checks for known vulnerability classes against endpoints it can reach. It does not reason about business logic, chain findings into an attack, or test authorisation between accounts, which is most of what a tester actually does.
OWASP ZAP: Does it run in CI?
Yes, through the official Docker images and the Automation Framework, which defines scan jobs in YAML so configuration lives in the repository. A baseline passive scan is the usual starting point because it is fast and non-intrusive.
OWASP ZAP: How does it compare to Burp Suite?
Burp Suite Professional is the more polished manual testing tool and has a stronger scanner and extension ecosystem, but it is licensed per tester and Burp Suite Enterprise per target. ZAP is the better fit where cost per target is the binding constraint; many teams use both.
Related pages
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