OpenLLMetry vs Weave
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | OpenLLMetry | Weave |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,445 | ★ 1,130 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces | LangSmith, Datadog LLM Observability | LangSmith |
What are OpenLLMetry and Weave?
OpenLLMetry
OpenLLMetry is a set of OpenTelemetry extensions from Traceloop that add observability to LLM applications. It instruments calls to model providers and vector databases so traces and metrics can be sent to any self-hosted backend.
- OpenTelemetry-based tracing
- Instruments popular LLM SDKs
- Vendor-neutral export
- Vector database instrumentation
Weave
Weave is a lightweight toolkit from Weights & Biases for logging, tracing and evaluating LLM application calls. The tracing server component can be self-hosted to keep AI evaluation data on your own infrastructure.
- LLM call tracing
- Evaluation framework
- Self-hostable server
- Python-native
OpenLLMetry vs Weave: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. OpenLLMetry is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Weave. OpenLLMetry has the considerably larger community, at 7,445 GitHub stars versus 1,130.
Why pick each one
Choose OpenLLMetry if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 7.4k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Choose Weave if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenLLMetry or Weave better?
Neither is universally better. OpenLLMetry has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are OpenLLMetry and Weave free and open-source?
Yes. OpenLLMetry is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Weave under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenLLMetry and Weave with Docker?
OpenLLMetry: yes. Weave: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, OpenLLMetry or Weave?
OpenLLMetry has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Weave. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.