cAdvisor vs Uptrace
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
cAdvisor
Container resource usage and performance analysis
VS
Uptrace
OpenTelemetry-based tracing, metrics, and logs tool
| Feature | cAdvisor | Uptrace |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 96 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSL-1.1 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,440 | ★ 4,290 |
| First released | 2014 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Datadog | Datadog, New Relic |
What are cAdvisor and Uptrace?
cAdvisor
cAdvisor provides container users with an understanding of the resource usage and performance characteristics of their running containers. It exposes per-container CPU, memory, network, and filesystem metrics.
- Per-container resource metrics
- Live web UI
- Prometheus metrics export
- Auto-discovers containers
Uptrace
Uptrace is an open-source observability tool that uses OpenTelemetry to collect distributed traces, metrics, and logs. It stores data in ClickHouse and provides a clean UI for analyzing application performance.
- Distributed tracing
- Metrics and logs support
- ClickHouse storage
- OpenTelemetry-native
cAdvisor vs Uptrace: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for cAdvisor versus BSL-1.1 for Uptrace. CAdvisor is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Uptrace. CAdvisor is the more established project (first released 2014), while Uptrace arrived in 2021. CAdvisor has the considerably larger community, at 19,440 GitHub stars versus 4,290.
Why pick each one
Choose cAdvisor if…
- Zero configuration
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Limited historical retention
- Best paired with Prometheus
Choose Uptrace if…
- Efficient ClickHouse backend
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- BSL license restrictions
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is cAdvisor or Uptrace better?
cAdvisor is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Uptrace if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are cAdvisor and Uptrace free and open-source?
Yes. cAdvisor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Uptrace under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run cAdvisor and Uptrace with Docker?
cAdvisor: yes. Uptrace: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, cAdvisor or Uptrace?
cAdvisor has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Uptrace. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.