Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1

Is OpenObserve a good Splunk Observability Cloud alternative?

Accepted Answer

Yes, for teams that want logs, metrics, and traces in one OpenTelemetry-native platform without per-host pricing. Splunk Observability Cloud (built from SignalFx and Omnition) is a strong real-time metrics and APM product, but logs require the separate Splunk platform and costs are tied to host counts and metric time series. OpenObserve covers all three signals natively, bills on ingest, and can be self-hosted or run as cloud.

Question 2

How does pricing compare?

Accepted Answer

Splunk Observability Cloud lists at roughly $15/host/month for Infrastructure Monitoring, $55/host/month for standalone APM, and $75/host/month for the end-to-end plan (billed annually), with custom metrics governed by per-host MTS entitlements and overage charges. Log ingest is licensed separately on the Splunk platform. OpenObserve has no per-host, per-seat, or per-MTS fees; you pay for data ingested, and columnar Parquet on object storage keeps long-term retention cheap. Teams with large container fleets or heavy custom metrics usually see the biggest savings.

Question 3

How much effort is the migration?

Accepted Answer

Usually less than migrating from agent-based tools, because Splunk Observability Cloud is already OpenTelemetry-based. Its collector distribution and SDK wrappers sit on top of standard OTel, so migration is mostly configuration: add an OTLP exporter to OpenObserve, dual-ship for a few weeks, swap SPLUNK env vars for OTEL equivalents, then rebuild key dashboards and detectors. Most teams complete a cutover in weeks, not months.

Question 4

Does OpenObserve handle logs, or do I need a separate product like Splunk Enterprise?

Accepted Answer

Logs are first-class in OpenObserve, full-text search, SQL queries, dashboards, alerts, and pipelines, stored in the same platform as your metrics and traces. In Splunk Observability Cloud, Log Observer Connect lets you view logs, but the logs themselves must be ingested and licensed in Splunk Cloud Platform or Splunk Enterprise. With OpenObserve there is no second product to buy or operate.

Question 5

Will I lose features by leaving Splunk Observability Cloud?

Accepted Answer

Be honest about your usage. Splunk Observability Cloud excels at real-time streaming metrics (SignalFlow detectors), full-fidelity NoSample trace ingestion, and mature RUM/Synthetics. OpenObserve matches the core: logs, metrics, traces, RUM, dashboards, alerts, and pipelines with SQL/PromQL. If your workflows depend on SignalFlow-specific analytics or Splunk's synthetics suite, plan replacements during evaluation. Many teams find they use a fraction of what they pay for.

Question 6

Is OpenObserve open source, and can I self-host it?

Accepted Answer

Yes. OpenObserve's source is on GitHub with 19.8k+ stars, and you can self-host it as a single binary or an HA cluster via Helm, in your VPC, on-prem, or air-gapped. Splunk Observability Cloud is SaaS-only. If data residency or control matters, self-hosting with your own object storage bucket is a major differentiator.

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	Splunk Observability Cloud	OpenObserve	Reference Links
Feature parity: logs, metrics, traces, dashboards, alerts, pipelines	Metrics, traces, RUM; logs via Log Observer Connect	✓ All in one platform	Logs Metrics Traces Dashboards Alerts Pipelines
Pricing model	Per-host: ~$15/host/mo (Infra) to ~$75/host/mo (End-to-End), billed annually; or per-MTS usage plans	Usage-based on ingest: no per-host or per-seat fees	See pricing
Custom metrics	MTS entitlements per host (e.g. 100–200 custom MTS); overages billed, histograms counted as 8 MTS	No per-series entitlements or overage charges	Metrics docs
Native log storage & search	Requires Splunk Enterprise / Splunk Cloud (separate license) behind Log Observer Connect	Built in: full-text search, SQL, and pipelines	Logs overview
Container & autoscaling cost behavior	Monitored hosts/containers count toward billing; scale-out raises cost	Host count irrelevant: pay only for data ingested	-
OpenTelemetry support	✓ via Splunk Distribution of the OTel Collector and wrapped SDKs	✓ vanilla upstream OTel Collector, OTLP native	OpenTelemetry with OpenObserve
Query language	SignalFlow (proprietary) for metrics; SPL for logs on Splunk platform	SQL/PromQL	Used universally with no learning curve
Open Source	✗	✓ (core under open license, source on GitHub)	-
Self-hosting & data residency	SaaS only: data lives in Splunk's realms	Self-host on your infra or use OpenObserve Cloud	Architecture
Storage & retention	Vendor-managed; retention tied to plan (metrics up to 13 months)	Your object storage (S3/GCS/Azure), retention on your terms	Storage management
Real User Monitoring	✓ (separately priced add-on)	✓ Included	RUM docs
IAM & SSO	✓	✓	SAML, OIDC, LDAP, role-based access

OpenObserve vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Why teams switch from Splunk Observability Cloud

No Per-Host Pricing

No Custom-Metric (MTS) Math

Logs Included, Not Bolted On

Plain OpenTelemetry

140x Storage Efficiency

Self-Host or Cloud

See how OpenObserve replaces Splunk Observability Cloud

Feature comparison

Migrating from Splunk Observability Cloud

Dual-ship from your existing collectors

Standardize on upstream OpenTelemetry

Recreate dashboards and detectors, then cut over