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Head-to-head · Distributed Tracing Tools

Grafana Tempo vs VictoriaTraces

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 4 checks side by side
Higher score Grafana Tempo #4 in Distributed Tracing Tools 9.0/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 3 of 3 features Visit Grafana Tempo
VictoriaTraces #8 in Distributed Tracing Tools 8.5/10 Open source ✓ 2 of 3 features Visit VictoriaTraces

Grafana Tempo leads on 1 check, VictoriaTraces on 0, and 3 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 4 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreGrafana Tempo · 9.0/10
  • Free planonly Grafana Tempo
  • Most featuresGrafana Tempo · 3 of 3

Grafana Tempo scores higher on our rubric for distributed tracing tools: 9.0 against 8.5 out of 10; our editors rank them #4 and #8.

Grafana Tempo offers tail-based sampling; VictoriaTraces doesn't.

Grafana Tempo is the better fit for grafana-based trace storage and analysis. VictoriaTraces is the better fit for scalable self-hosted trace storage.

  • Grafana Tempo fits best

    Grafana-based trace storage and analysis

  • VictoriaTraces fits best

    Scalable self-hosted trace storage

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Grafana Tempo 9.0/10 Visit ↗ VictoriaTraces 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.0 8.5
Ranking #4 in Distributed Tracing Tools #8 in Distributed Tracing Tools
Best for Grafana-based trace storage and analysis Scalable self-hosted trace storage
Pricing model Free Free
Starting price Free plan Open source
Free plan ✓ (best) Not checked yet
Free trial — —
Deployment Self-hosted Self-hosted
Support Community, Docs Community, Docs
Integrations 11 integrations 7 integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Grafana Tempo 3/3 · VictoriaTraces 2/3
OpenTelemetry support ✓ ✓
Service map ✓ ✓
Tail-based sampling ✓ (best) —
Specs
Trace retention Not checked yet Not checked yet
Deployment model Self_hosted Self_hosted
Pricing basis Not checked yet Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • OpenTelemetry, Jaeger, and Zipkin ingestion support
  • TraceQL, service graphs, and span metrics in one backend
  • Object-storage retention with monolithic or microservices deployment
  • Accepts OTLP over HTTP and gRPC, plus Jaeger and Tempo-compatible APIs
  • Supports single-binary and horizontally scalable cluster deployments
  • Combines trace exploration, dependency queries, retention, alerting, and multi-tenancy
Cons
  • Self-managed deployment requires Linux or API-based infrastructure
  • Grafana Cloud Traces is a separate managed offering
  • Platform coverage is narrower than some distributed tracing tools
  • Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the infrastructure
  • Tail-based sampling is planned rather than currently supported
  • Requires familiarity with the VictoriaMetrics observability ecosystem
Our verdict

Grafana Tempo is an open-source distributed tracing backend for teams operating microservices and other distributed systems. It ingests trace data through OpenTelemetry, Jaeger, and Zipkin protocols, stores traces in object storage, and…

Read the review →

VictoriaTraces is an open-source distributed tracing database from VictoriaMetrics for SRE, DevOps, observability, and platform engineering teams managing distributed systems. It ingests OpenTelemetry trace data over OTLP HTTP and gRPC,…

Read the review →
  1. Grafana TempoDistributed Tracing Tools 9.0Free plan
  2. VictoriaTracesDistributed Tracing Tools 8.5Open source

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Grafana Tempo — where it wins

    • OpenTelemetry, Jaeger, and Zipkin ingestion support
    • TraceQL, service graphs, and span metrics in one backend
    • Object-storage retention with monolithic or microservices deployment

    Where it doesn't

    • Self-managed deployment requires Linux or API-based infrastructure
    • Grafana Cloud Traces is a separate managed offering
    • Platform coverage is narrower than some distributed tracing tools

  • VictoriaTraces — where it wins

    • Accepts OTLP over HTTP and gRPC, plus Jaeger and Tempo-compatible APIs
    • Supports single-binary and horizontally scalable cluster deployments
    • Combines trace exploration, dependency queries, retention, alerting, and multi-tenancy

    Where it doesn't

    • Self-hosted deployment requires teams to operate the infrastructure
    • Tail-based sampling is planned rather than currently supported
    • Requires familiarity with the VictoriaMetrics observability ecosystem

More comparisons

All distributed tracing tools comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update