Druid vs Jaeger
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Druid
Distributed, column-oriented, real-time analytics data store
VS
Jaeger
End-to-end distributed tracing for microservices
| Feature | Druid | Jaeger |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Web Analytics | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Java | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,042 | ★ 23,082 |
| First released | 2026 | 2017 |
| Replaces | — | Datadog APM, New Relic |
Why pick each one
Choose Druid if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 14k GitHub stars
- Written in Java
Frequently asked questions
Is Druid or Jaeger better?
Neither is universally better. Jaeger has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Druid and Jaeger free and open-source?
Yes. Druid is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Jaeger under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Druid and Jaeger with Docker?
Druid: yes. Jaeger: yes.