InfluxDB vs Uptrace
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
InfluxDB
Purpose-built time series database for metrics and events
VS
Uptrace
OpenTelemetry-based tracing, metrics, and logs tool
| Feature | InfluxDB | Uptrace |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | MIT | BSL-1.1 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 31,754 | ★ 4,290 |
| First released | 2013 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Datadog, AWS Timestream | Datadog, New Relic |
What are InfluxDB and Uptrace?
InfluxDB
InfluxDB is an open-source time series database designed for high write and query loads of metrics, events, and analytics data. It powers monitoring dashboards, IoT data collection, and real-time analytics.
- High-throughput time series storage
- SQL and Flux query support
- Built-in retention policies
- Telegraf collector ecosystem
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
InfluxDB vs Uptrace: key differences
InfluxDB is written in Rust, while Uptrace is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for InfluxDB versus BSL-1.1 for Uptrace. InfluxDB is the more established project (first released 2013), while Uptrace arrived in 2021. InfluxDB has the considerably larger community, at 31,754 GitHub stars versus 4,290.
Why pick each one
Choose InfluxDB if…
- Excellent for IoT and metrics
- Rich tooling and integrations
Watch out for
- Clustering reserved for enterprise
- Query language changes between versions
Choose Uptrace if…
- Efficient ClickHouse backend
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- BSL license restrictions
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is InfluxDB or Uptrace better?
Neither is universally better. InfluxDB has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are InfluxDB and Uptrace free and open-source?
Yes. InfluxDB is licensed under MIT and Uptrace under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run InfluxDB and Uptrace with Docker?
InfluxDB: yes. Uptrace: yes.