Mermin review
An open-source Linux agent for exporting enriched eBPF network flows through OpenTelemetry.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Mermin is an open-source, self-hosted network observability agent for DevOps, SRE, and platform teams. It attaches eBPF to the Linux kernel to capture network conversations, aggregate them into bidirectional flows, add Kubernetes context, and export the results as OpenTelemetry trace spans. The product is designed for Kubernetes environments, while bare-metal deployments are supported through a privileged container. It requires no application code changes or sidecars, making its focus network visibility rather than application instrumentation.
Deployment and ecosystem fit are central to Mermin. In Kubernetes, it runs per node as a DaemonSet and can enrich traffic with pod, service, deployment, and namespace information. On bare metal, it uses a privileged-container deployment. Configurable network-flow filtering helps focus collection, and supported traffic includes TCP, UDP, ICMP, VXLAN, Geneve, and WireGuard. OTLP export connects Mermin with OpenTelemetry-compatible destinations, including Grafana Tempo, Jaeger, Elastic, Grafana, OpenSearch, and Datadog.
Mermin's scope is deliberately narrower than a full observability platform. Its published capabilities cover kernel network capture, flow aggregation, Kubernetes enrichment, and export, but not application tracing or kernel profiling. Teams seeking network-level telemetry from Linux nodes should find the feature set aligned with that use case, particularly when their existing stack accepts OpenTelemetry flow traces. Teams that need code-level tracing, profiling, or support beyond Linux should choose a tool with those capabilities instead. As open-source software, Mermin has no separate paid tier described in its published product materials.
Mermin pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Captures and aggregates bidirectional network flows with eBPF
- Enriches flows with Kubernetes pod, service, deployment, and namespace metadata
- Exports flow traces over OTLP to several observability destinations
- Where it doesn't
- Supports Linux only
- Does not provide application tracing
- Does not include kernel profiling
Mermin fact sheet, pricing and score →
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