Pinpoint APM vs Uptrace
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Pinpoint APM | Uptrace |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSL-1.1 |
| Language | Java | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,872 | ★ 4,290 |
| First released | 2015 | 2021 |
| Replaces | New Relic, Dynatrace | Datadog, New Relic |
What are Pinpoint APM and Uptrace?
Pinpoint APM
Pinpoint is an open-source application performance management tool for large-scale distributed systems written in Java, PHP, and Python. It traces transactions across components to diagnose performance issues.
- Distributed transaction tracing
- Application topology maps
- Real-time monitoring
- Agent-based instrumentation
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
Pinpoint APM vs Uptrace: key differences
Pinpoint APM is written in Java, while Uptrace is built with Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Pinpoint APM versus BSL-1.1 for Uptrace. Uptrace is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Pinpoint APM. Pinpoint APM is the more established project (first released 2015), while Uptrace arrived in 2021. Pinpoint APM has the considerably larger community, at 13,872 GitHub stars versus 4,290.
Why pick each one
Choose Pinpoint APM if…
- Detailed call-stack tracing
- Good for large JVM systems
Watch out for
- Heavy infrastructure needs
- Complex setup
Choose Uptrace if…
- Efficient ClickHouse backend
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- BSL license restrictions
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Pinpoint APM or Uptrace better?
Neither is universally better. Pinpoint APM has the larger community, while Uptrace is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Pinpoint APM and Uptrace free and open-source?
Yes. Pinpoint APM is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Uptrace under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pinpoint APM and Uptrace with Docker?
Pinpoint APM: yes. Uptrace: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Pinpoint APM or Uptrace?
Uptrace has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Pinpoint APM. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.