OpenObserve vs SigNoz
Object storage instead of ClickHouse disks. Single binary, no cluster to babysit. OTel-native observability with built-in RUM and pipelines.
TRUSTED BY INNOVATIVE TEAMS
Why teams switch from SigNoz
The many reasons that teams are making the switch
No ClickHouse Cluster to Run
SigNoz self-hosted means operating ClickHouse plus ZooKeeper, shards, and rebalancing. OpenObserve is a single binary, or a stateless HA cluster via Helm.
Object Storage, Not Disks
SigNoz retention grows with ClickHouse disk capacity. OpenObserve stores Parquet on S3/GCS/MinIO: long retention at commodity storage prices.
Stateless Scaling
No shard rebalancing or ON CLUSTER schema changes. Compute and storage are separated; add or remove nodes anytime.
Built-in RUM & Session Replay
SigNoz has frontend monitoring (Web Vitals via OTel) but no session replay. OpenObserve ships RUM with session replay and error tracking.
Same OTel Standards, No Lock-in
Both platforms are OpenTelemetry-native; switching is a collector endpoint change. Open Parquet storage format means your data stays portable.
Pipelines Built In
Transform, enrich, redact, and route logs, metrics, and traces at ingest with VRL-powered pipelines: no separate processing layer to maintain.
See how OpenObserve replaces SigNoz
Get a personalized walkthrough and see what you'd save by moving telemetry off ClickHouse disks onto object storage.
- 30-minute personalized walkthrough
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- See your real migration path from SigNoz
Feature comparison
Two OTel-native platforms, two very different architectures
| Feature | SigNoz | OpenObserve | Reference Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feature parity: logs, metrics, traces, dashboards, alerts, pipelines | ✓ | ✓ | LogsMetricsTracesDashboardsAlertsPipelines |
| OpenTelemetry native | ✓ | ✓ | OTLP over gRPC and HTTP |
| Storage backend | ClickHouse on block storage / disks | Object storage: S3, GCS, Azure Blob, MinIO | Learn more |
| Deployment footprint | Multi-service stack: ClickHouse, ZooKeeper, backend, collector | Single binary or single container; HA via Helm | Learn more |
| Scaling model | Scale ClickHouse: shards, replicas, rebalancing | Stateless nodes; compute and storage separated | Learn more |
| Long-term retention | Limited by ClickHouse disk; cloud default 15 days for logs/traces | Months or years on object storage without budget blowouts | Learn more |
| Real User Monitoring (RUM) | Frontend monitoring (Web Vitals); no session replay | Built-in RUM with session replay and error tracking | Learn more |
| Data pipelines | Log pipelines via OTel processors | VRL pipelines for logs, metrics, and traces at ingest | Learn more |
| Query language | Query builder + ClickHouse SQL / PromQL | Standard SQL + PromQL | Used universally with no learning curve |
| Open source | ✓ | ✓ | - |
| IAM & SSO | ✓ | ✓ | SAML, OIDC, LDAP, role-based access |
Migrating from SigNoz
Both platforms are OpenTelemetry-native, so migration is mostly a collector endpoint change, not a re-instrumentation project.
Repoint your OpenTelemetry Collector
Your apps are already instrumented with OTel. Add an OTLP exporter for OpenObserve to your collector config and dual-ship to both platforms while you validate. No application code changes.
Rebuild dashboards and alerts
Recreate your key SigNoz dashboards using SQL and PromQL in OpenObserve, and port alert rules. Rebuild ingest-time processing as OpenObserve pipelines with VRL for parsing, enrichment, and redaction.
Cut over and retire the ClickHouse stack
Shift traffic fully to OpenObserve, then decommission ClickHouse, ZooKeeper, and the SigNoz services. Keep long-term history cheaply on object storage. Our team can help accelerate this process.
"OpenObserve is super fast, definitely very lightweight, and you can get started with an initial POC in two to three minutes to be honest."
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about switching from SigNoz to OpenObserve