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Developer Tools · head to head

OpsLevel vs Zipkin

OpsLevel logo

OpsLevel

Developer Tools

Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and production readiness

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zipkin logo

Zipkin

Cloud

Distributed tracing system for microservice latency

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Zipkin has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: OpsLevel opsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.; Zipkin less active development and smaller community momentum than Jaeger
  • They diverge on capability: OpsLevel covers Service catalogue, Zipkin covers Trace collection and search.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which OpsLevel and Zipkin actually diverge.

Attributes where OpsLevel and Zipkin differ
AttributeOpsLevelZipkin
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCloud

Identical on both: 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 OpsLevel

  • Service catalogue
  • Scorecards and rubric
  • Checks
  • Campaigns
  • Self-service actions
  • Slack and Teams integration
  • Catalogue auto-enrichment
  • Deployment on request

Only in Zipkin

  • Trace collection and search
  • Dependency diagram
  • Simple deployment
  • Pluggable storage

What people use each for

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

OpsLevel

  • A platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an auditnot Zipkin
  • Driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progressnot Zipkin
  • Giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform teamnot Zipkin
  • An organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning teamnot Zipkin

Zipkin

  • Adding distributed tracing quickly without standing up heavy infrastructurenot OpsLevel
  • Java and Spring Boot estates, where instrumentation support is long-establishednot OpsLevel
  • Small deployments where Jaeger is more than the problem requiresnot OpsLevel

Where each one falls short

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

OpsLevel

  • OpsLevel does not publish prices at all, not even a starting figure, so you cannot size a budget or compare against Backstage's zero licence cost without entering a sales cycle.
  • The Standard plan caps at 50 users, which is below the size at which service ownership becomes a real problem, so most genuine buyers land on Enterprise and its unpublished pricing.
  • Scores are only as honest as the metadata teams maintain; where ownership records go stale the rubric produces confident numbers about a catalogue that no longer reflects reality, and leadership acts on them.
  • It reports on quality rather than producing it, so it can generate friction between platform teams who set the rubric and product teams who see it as a scoreboard imposed on them without extra headcount to fix the findings.
  • As a hosted product it needs read access to source control, cloud accounts and observability tooling, which is a meaningful vendor review in regulated environments; on-premises exists but only on the Enterprise tier.

Zipkin

  • Less active development and smaller community momentum than Jaeger
  • Fewer features: sampling, storage options and UI are all more limited
  • The interface is dated and slower to work with on large trace volumes
  • Tracing alone still leaves metrics and logs in separate tools during an incident

Pricing, plan by plan

OpsLevel

On request
  • Standard$undefined/year
    • Up to 50 users
    • Unlimited catalogued components
    • Scorecards, campaigns and the global rubric
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Unlimited users
    • Custom integrations
    • Customisable dashboards

Zipkin

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

Which should you pick?

Choose OpsLevel if

  • You need service catalogue.
  • You also want scorecards and rubric.
OpsLevel review

Choose Zipkin if

  • You need trace collection and search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
  • You also want dependency diagram.
Zipkin review

Questions people ask

Is OpsLevel or Zipkin better?
Neither clearly leads. OpsLevel starts at On request and Zipkin at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, OpsLevel or Zipkin?
Zipkin has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for OpsLevel and Free for Zipkin.
Does OpsLevel or Zipkin run on more platforms?
OpsLevel runs on Web. Zipkin runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
Can I use Zipkin for free?
Yes. Zipkin has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. OpsLevel starts at On request.
What is OpsLevel best used for?
OpsLevel is most often used for a platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an audit, driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progress, giving developers a paved road to create a new service from a template without waiting on the platform team, an organisation where an incident took an hour to route because nobody could identify the owning team. Of those, a platform team that needs to prove every production service has a named owner and an on-call rota before an audit and driving a fleet-wide migration such as a runtime upgrade across 400 services with a deadline and visible progress are not what Zipkin is typically brought in for.
What can OpsLevel do that Zipkin cannot?
OpsLevel covers Service catalogue, Scorecards and rubric, Checks, Campaigns. Zipkin covers Trace collection and search, Dependency diagram, Simple deployment, Pluggable storage.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

OpsLevel: How much does OpsLevel cost?

It does not publish pricing. Billing is per developer using the portal, with volume discounts, and a quote requires a sales conversation.

Zipkin: Is Zipkin free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee.

OpsLevel: How does it compare with Backstage?

Backstage has no licence fee but you staff a team to build and run it. OpsLevel is hosted with checks, campaigns and scorecards out of the box, and you pay per developer instead.

Zipkin: Zipkin or Jaeger?

Jaeger has more momentum, more features and CNCF backing. Zipkin is lighter and quicker to stand up, and remains well supported in the Java and Spring ecosystem.

OpsLevel: Does it require writing catalogue YAML by hand?

No. It auto-discovers and enriches entries from connected systems, though teams still curate ownership and metadata.

Zipkin: Does Zipkin work with OpenTelemetry?

Yes. OpenTelemetry can export to Zipkin, which is now the usual way to instrument for it.

OpsLevel: Can it run on premises?

Yes, but only on the Enterprise plan.

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