Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1

Is OpenObserve a good Dash0 alternative?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if you want the same OpenTelemetry-native approach with more control. Both platforms ingest OTLP directly and avoid proprietary agents. The differences: OpenObserve is open source, can be self-hosted anywhere (single binary to HA Kubernetes cluster), stores data on your own object storage in Apache Parquet, and prices by volume ingested rather than per million spans, logs, or metric data points. If you specifically want a fully managed SaaS and are happy with 30-day log/trace retention, Dash0 is a polished product; the trade-off is control and long-term economics.

Question 2

How does OpenObserve pricing compare to Dash0's?

Accepted Answer

Dash0 publishes consumption pricing per signal: per million metric data points and per million spans or log records, with no seat or base fees. That model is transparent, but costs scale with event counts; high-cardinality metrics, verbose logs, and chatty traces add up fast. OpenObserve prices by data volume ingested, backed by low-cost object storage, with no per-signal, per-seat, or per-host fees. For high-volume workloads, volume-based pricing on object storage is typically the more predictable and cheaper model. Run your own numbers on our pricing page.

Question 3

How hard is it to migrate from Dash0 to OpenObserve?

Accepted Answer

Easier than most migrations, because both platforms are OpenTelemetry-native. Your instrumentation doesn't change; you update the OTLP exporter endpoint and auth headers in your OpenTelemetry Collector or SDK configuration. Most teams dual-ship to both platforms for a few weeks, rebuild key dashboards and alerts, validate parity, then cut over. Both platforms support PromQL and SQL, so your queries largely carry over with minimal rewriting.

Question 4

Can I self-host OpenObserve? Does Dash0 offer self-hosting?

Accepted Answer

Dash0 is a SaaS-only product; there is no self-hosted option. OpenObserve runs anywhere: a single binary on a laptop, Docker, an HA cluster via Helm on Kubernetes, air-gapped environments, or our managed cloud. Data lives on your own S3, GCS, Azure Blob, or MinIO bucket, which matters for data residency, compliance, and regulated industries.

Question 5

What about data retention?

Accepted Answer

Dash0 retains spans, logs, and web events for 30 days (metrics for 13 months). OpenObserve stores telemetry in compressed Apache Parquet on object storage, so retention is a setting, not a pricing tier; keeping months or years of logs and traces costs object-storage rates, not premium retention fees.

Question 6

Will I lose features moving from Dash0 to OpenObserve?

Accepted Answer

Core observability is covered: logs, metrics, traces, dashboards, alerts, RUM, and ingest pipelines. Dash0 has strengths worth acknowledging: a clean OTel-first UX, Perses-compatible dashboards, and built-in synthetic monitoring. If synthetic checks are critical, you'd pair OpenObserve with a dedicated synthetics tool. In exchange you gain SQL querying, full pipelines with VRL transforms, self-hosting, configurable long-term retention, and open source.

Question 7

Is OpenObserve enterprise-ready?

Accepted Answer

Yes. OpenObserve is SOC2 Type II certified and ISO 27001 compliant. We process over 2 PB of data daily across thousands of deployments, including Fortune 100 enterprises. Enterprise features include RBAC, SSO, sensitive data redaction, and dedicated support.

Feature	Dash0	OpenObserve	Reference Links
Feature parity: logs, metrics, traces, dashboards, alerts	✓	✓	Logs Metrics Traces Dashboards Alerts Pipelines
OpenTelemetry-native (OTLP ingestion)	✓	✓	Send OTLP directly, no proprietary agent required
Open Source	✗ Closed-source SaaS built on open standards	✓ Source available on GitHub	-
Self-hosting / on-prem	✗ SaaS only	✓ Single binary, Helm HA cluster, or managed cloud	Learn more
Query language	SQL + PromQL	SQL for logs/traces + PromQL for metrics	Familiar SQL: no query-language retraining
Pricing model	Per-signal: per million spans, log records, and metric data points	Volume-based ingestion, no per-signal or per-seat fees	Learn more
Log & trace retention	30 days	Configurable: months or years on object storage	Learn more
Storage backend	Vendor-managed SaaS storage	Your own S3/GCS/Azure bucket (Apache Parquet)	Learn more
Ingest pipelines & transformation	Filtering and spam suppression controls	Full real-time and scheduled pipelines with VRL functions	Learn more
Frontend monitoring (RUM)	✓	✓	Real User Monitoring
IAM & SSO	✓	✓	SAML, OIDC, LDAP, role-based access
Air-gapped / data residency deployments	✗	✓ Runs entirely inside your environment	-

OpenObserve vs Dash0

Why teams switch from Dash0

No Per-Signal Pricing

Retention on Your Terms

Self-Host or Cloud

Open Source, Not Just Open Standards

Data Residency & Compliance

See how OpenObserve replaces Dash0

Feature comparison

Migrating from Dash0

Repoint your OpenTelemetry collectors and SDKs

Rebuild dashboards and alerts

Cut over and set retention on your terms