{"data":{"slug":"pixie","name":"Pixie","tagline":"Apache-2.0 eBPF in-cluster observability for Kubernetes","category":"observability","categoryName":"Observability","url":"https://px.dev","github":"https://github.com/pixie-io/pixie","pricing":"open-source","hook":"Pixie is a CNCF observability tool for Kubernetes that uses eBPF to capture service maps, full-body requests, network and resource metrics and profiles automatically, and stores and queries them inside the cluster.","whatsGood":"Apache-2.0 (pixie-io/pixie), developed since 2020. No code changes: eBPF collects HTTP, gRPC, DNS and database traffic, CPU profiles and more. Data stays in the cluster and the project says it uses under 5% of cluster CPU, usually under 2%. PxL, a Pythonic query language, works across the UI, CLI and APIs. ★~6.5k.","theCatch":"Data is kept in memory in-cluster for a short window, so it is for live debugging, not long-term retention. It needs a supported Linux kernel and privileged pods. Running the control plane yourself is more involved than using a hosted Pixie cloud. Release tags are split by component and some are old, so follow the docs for current versions.","verdict":"Magic for live Kubernetes debugging — pair it with long-term storage elsewhere.","addedAt":"2026-10-18","featured":false,"domain":"Observability","subSpecialty":"Observability","subcategory":"Observability","tags":["self-host","permissive","kubernetes","observability","active"],"capabilities":[],"surfaces":["Self-host"],"ecosystem":["Multi-platform"],"licenseModel":"Apache-2.0","githubStars":6548,"starsPerWeek":19,"access":"free","archived":false,"repo":{"createdAt":"2020-02-27","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/pixie","html":"/gems/pixie","markdown":"/gems/pixie.md","category":"/api/gems?category=observability","categoryPage":"/stacks/observability"}}