{"data":{"slug":"jaeger","name":"Jaeger","tagline":"Apache-2.0 CNCF distributed tracing, OTLP-native","category":"observability","categoryName":"Observability","url":"https://www.jaegertracing.io","github":"https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger","pricing":"open-source","hook":"Jaeger stores and searches distributed traces: point your OpenTelemetry SDKs at it over OTLP and you get a UI to follow one request across services, find slow spans and see service dependencies.","whatsGood":"Apache-2.0 (jaegertracing/jaeger), CNCF graduated, release v2.22.0. Jaeger v2 is built on the OpenTelemetry Collector, so it speaks OTLP over gRPC (4317) and HTTP (4318) and reuses Collector config. One `docker run` gives you the all-in-one with UI and in-memory storage for local debugging, including traces from your own agents. Documented support for Elasticsearch, Cassandra and ClickHouse backends with a published version policy. ★~23k.","theCatch":"Traces only — metrics and logs live elsewhere, so most teams pair it with Prometheus/Grafana or pick an all-in-one such as SigNoz. In-memory storage is for local use; production means running and sizing a storage backend yourself. v2 configuration differs from v1 CLI flags, so older guides may not match.","verdict":"The default self-hosted trace backend for OpenTelemetry — start with all-in-one, then budget for the storage.","addedAt":"2026-10-15","featured":false,"domain":"Observability","subSpecialty":"Tracing","subcategory":"Tracing","tags":["self-host","permissive","evals","observability","active"],"capabilities":["tracing","otel","self-host"],"surfaces":["Self-host"],"ecosystem":["Go"],"licenseModel":"Apache-2.0","githubStars":23311,"starsPerWeek":42,"access":"free","archived":false,"repo":{"createdAt":"2016-04-15","pushedAt":"2026-10-19","license":"Apache-2.0","archived":false,"checkedAt":"2026-10-19"}},"related":[{"slug":"sentry","name":"Sentry","tagline":"Error tracking that actually helps"},{"slug":"grafana","name":"Grafana","tagline":"Dashboards for everything observable"},{"slug":"prometheus","name":"Prometheus","tagline":"Time-series metrics for cloud-native"},{"slug":"opentelemetry","name":"OpenTelemetry","tagline":"Vendor-neutral observability framework"},{"slug":"datadog","name":"Datadog","tagline":"Unified observability platform"}],"links":{"self":"/api/gems/jaeger","html":"/gems/jaeger","markdown":"/gems/jaeger.md","category":"/api/gems?category=observability","categoryPage":"/stacks/observability"}}