Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to choose one and Enter to open it.

This page's audience our own tag's counts — open to see them
–Visits
–Page views
–Clicks to vendors
–Time on page
–Reading now
Clicks to vendors, by tool
  • –
Top countries
  • –
Devices
  • –

– · visits, page views and clicks counted by our own tag, which counts more than our checked analytics; every figure rounded down · how we count

Head-to-head · Profiling Software

Pyroscope vs async-profiler

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 4 checks side by side
Higher score Pyroscope #3 in Profiling Software 9.1/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 3 of 3 features Visit Pyroscope
async-profiler #10 in Profiling Software 8.3/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 3 of 3 features Visit async-profiler

Pyroscope leads on 0 checks, async-profiler on 0, and 4 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 scorePyroscope · 9.1/10
  • Free planboth

Pyroscope scores higher on our rubric for profiling software: 9.1 against 8.3 out of 10; our editors rank them #3 and #10.

Pyroscope is the better fit for teams needing scalable continuous profiling. async-profiler is the better fit for free, deep Java and native profiling.

  • Pyroscope fits best

    Teams needing scalable continuous profiling

  • async-profiler fits best

    Free, deep Java and native profiling

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 Pyroscope 9.1/10 Visit ↗ async-profiler 8.3/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.1 8.3
Ranking #3 in Profiling Software #10 in Profiling Software
Best for Teams needing scalable continuous profiling Free, deep Java and native profiling
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free
Starting price $19/mo Free plan
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud, Self-hosted Self-hosted, Desktop
Platforms Web, Windows, macOS, Linux Linux, macOS
Support Email, Community, Docs Community, Docs
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Pyroscope 3/3 · async-profiler 3/3
CPU profiling ✓ ✓
Memory profiling ✓ ✓
Thread profiling ✓ ✓
Specs
Profiling modes Both Both
Supported languages C/C++, Go, Rust, Zig, Java, .NET, Python, Ruby, PHP, Node.js, Perl Java, C, C++
Deployment model Not checked yet Self-hosted
Our review
Pros
  • Free plan includes 50 GB monthly ingestion and 14-day retention
  • Supports CPU, memory, and thread profiling across many languages
  • Grafana, eBPF, APIs, multi-tenancy, and horizontal scaling
  • Profiles CPU, heap, native memory, locks, wall time and counters
  • Outputs Flame Graphs and JFR, with Java and C APIs
  • Open-source, self-hosted tooling for Java, C and C++
Cons
  • Pro adds usage-based charges for processed, written, and retained data
  • Free plan support is limited to the community
  • Advanced deployments may require instrumentation or platform configuration
  • Primarily targets Java applications on HotSpot-based JVMs
  • Officially maintained builds focus on Linux and macOS
  • Requires local binaries, libraries or agent integration
Our verdict

Pyroscope is an open-source continuous profiling database for development and platform teams investigating application performance. It aggregates, stores, queries, and visualizes profiles covering CPU usage, memory allocation,…

Read the review →

async-profiler is an open-source, self-hosted profiling tool primarily for Java applications running on HotSpot-based JVMs. It also supports native application profiling and integration with C and C++ through a native API. The project is…

Read the review →
  1. PyroscopeProfiling Software 9.1Free plan
  2. async-profilerProfiling Software 8.3Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Pyroscope — where it wins

    • Free plan includes 50 GB monthly ingestion and 14-day retention
    • Supports CPU, memory, and thread profiling across many languages
    • Grafana, eBPF, APIs, multi-tenancy, and horizontal scaling

    Where it doesn't

    • Pro adds usage-based charges for processed, written, and retained data
    • Free plan support is limited to the community
    • Advanced deployments may require instrumentation or platform configuration

  • async-profiler — where it wins

    • Profiles CPU, heap, native memory, locks, wall time and counters
    • Outputs Flame Graphs and JFR, with Java and C APIs
    • Open-source, self-hosted tooling for Java, C and C++

    Where it doesn't

    • Primarily targets Java applications on HotSpot-based JVMs
    • Officially maintained builds focus on Linux and macOS
    • Requires local binaries, libraries or agent integration

More comparisons

All profiling software comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update