Cloud · head to head
OpenTelemetry vs Prometheus
OpenTelemetry
Cloud
Vendor-neutral standard for traces, metrics and logs
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Prometheus
Networking
Open source monitoring and alerting toolkit for cloud native environments
- 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; Prometheus not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
- They diverge on capability: OpenTelemetry covers Vendor-neutral SDKs, Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which OpenTelemetry and Prometheus actually diverge.
| Attribute | OpenTelemetry | Prometheus |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Open source, no licence fee | open-source |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker | Linux, macOS, Windows |
| Category | Cloud | Networking |
| Founded | Unknown | 2015 |
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 Prometheus
- Multi-dimensional Data Model
- PromQL Query Language
- Pull-based Collection
- Service Discovery
- Alerting Rules
- Federation
- Local Storage
- Grafana
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 Prometheus
- Standardising telemetry across services written in different languagesnot Prometheus
- Routing and filtering telemetry centrally to control observability spendnot Prometheus
Prometheus
- Monitoring and alerting systemnot OpenTelemetry
- Time-series databasenot OpenTelemetry
- Infrastructure metrics collectionnot 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
Prometheus
- Not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
- Hard limit on scrape body size; large responses cause scrape failure
- Per-scrape sample limit enforced; exceeding limit marks targets as failed
- Not designed for long-term durable storage; optimised for metrics collection
Pricing, plan by plan
OpenTelemetry
Free- OpenTelemetryFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support
Prometheus
Free- Prometheus (Open Source)Free
- 100% open source
- Community-driven project
- Apache 2 License
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 Prometheus if
- You need multi-dimensional data model.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- You also want promql query language.
Questions people ask
- Is OpenTelemetry or Prometheus better?
- Neither clearly leads. OpenTelemetry starts at Free and Prometheus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, OpenTelemetry or Prometheus?
- OpenTelemetry starts at Free and Prometheus at Free.
- Does OpenTelemetry or Prometheus run on more platforms?
- OpenTelemetry runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes, Docker. Prometheus runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- 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 Prometheus is typically brought in for.
- What can OpenTelemetry do that Prometheus cannot?
- OpenTelemetry covers Vendor-neutral SDKs, Collector, Three signals, Auto-instrumentation. Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model, PromQL Query Language, Pull-based Collection, Service Discovery.
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.
Prometheus: What does Prometheus cost?
Prometheus is completely free and open source. There are no pricing tiers or paid plans. The entire project is licensed under Apache 2 and hosted on GitHub.
SourceOpenTelemetry: 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.
Prometheus: Is Prometheus commercial software or free?
Prometheus is 100% open source and community-driven. It is a CNCF graduated project with no commercial restrictions or licensing fees.
SourceOpenTelemetry: 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.
Prometheus: How is Prometheus licensed?
Prometheus is licensed under the Apache 2 License, which permits free use, modification, and distribution for commercial and non-commercial purposes.
SourceRelated pages
More on OpenTelemetry
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