Thanos vs Uptrace
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Thanos
Highly available Prometheus setup with long-term storage
VS
Uptrace
OpenTelemetry-based tracing, metrics, and logs tool
| Feature | Thanos | Uptrace |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSL-1.1 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,214 | ★ 4,290 |
| First released | 2018 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Datadog, Grafana Cloud | Datadog, New Relic |
What are Thanos and Uptrace?
Thanos
Thanos extends Prometheus with global query view, unlimited retention, and high availability. It uses object storage to keep metrics cheaply for years while presenting a single query endpoint across many Prometheus instances.
- Global query view
- Unlimited metric retention
- Object storage backend
- Downsampling for fast queries
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
Thanos vs Uptrace: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Thanos versus BSL-1.1 for Uptrace. Uptrace is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Thanos. Thanos is the more established project (first released 2018), while Uptrace arrived in 2021. Thanos has the considerably larger community, at 14,214 GitHub stars versus 4,290.
Why pick each one
Choose Thanos if…
- Scales Prometheus to massive deployments
- Cheap long-term storage
Watch out for
- Complex multi-component architecture
- Steep learning curve
Choose Uptrace if…
- Efficient ClickHouse backend
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- BSL license restrictions
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Thanos or Uptrace better?
Neither is universally better. Thanos 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 Thanos and Uptrace free and open-source?
Yes. Thanos is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Uptrace under BSL-1.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Thanos and Uptrace with Docker?
Thanos: yes. Uptrace: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Thanos or Uptrace?
Uptrace has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Thanos. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.