SigNoz vs Grafana
Datadog replacement shape - bundled OTel platform vs. composable dashboard layer
| SigNoz | Grafana | |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | Full-stack, OpenTelemetry-native APM + logs + metrics. The closest single-tool Datadog alternative. | The de-facto open-source dashboard layer. Plug into Prometheus, Loki, Tempo, InfluxDB — one pane of glass. |
| License | Apache-2.0 (core) / source-available (enterprise) | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go / TypeScript | Go / TypeScript |
| GitHub stars (approx) | 19000 | 65000 |
| Categories | all-in-one, traces, logs, metrics | metrics, logs, traces |
| Replaces SaaS | datadog, new-relic | datadog, new-relic, dynatrace |
| Self-host deployment | docker-compose, kubernetes helm | docker, kubernetes helm, apt, rpm, homebrew |
| Commercial hosted option | yes (vendor-run) | yes (vendor-run) |
| Repository | https://github.com/SigNoz/signoz | https://github.com/grafana/grafana |
| Freshness checked | 2026-04-22 | 2026-04-22 |
When to prefer SigNoz
You want one OpenTelemetry-native product that stores traces, metrics, logs, alerts, and exceptions without assembling Grafana plus separate backends. SigNoz is stronger when the goal is a short list of all-in-one Datadog replacements and running ClickHouse is acceptable.
When to prefer Grafana
You already have or want separate backends such as Prometheus, Loki, Tempo, Mimir, Elasticsearch, or InfluxDB, and need the most mature visualization and alerting UI over them. Grafana is the safer choice when you are standardizing on a composable observability stack rather than replacing the stack with one vendor product.