# Parca

> Apache-2.0 eBPF continuous profiling down to the line number

**Category:** Observability  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://parca.dev  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/parca-dev/parca  
**Added:** 2026-10-18

---

## The Hook

Parca is an open-source continuous profiler: its eBPF agent profiles every process on a host with very low overhead, and the server stores pprof profiles so you can see CPU and memory use over time, down to the line number.

## What's Good

Apache-2.0 (parca-dev/parca), release v0.29.1 (2026-09-28). The agent discovers targets from Kubernetes or systemd and supports C, C++, Rust, Go and more without instrumentation. Everything is pprof, so it ingests profiles from any language and interoperates with existing tools. Label-based search lets you compare profiles across any dimension. ★~5k.

## The Catch

Still 0.x. The eBPF agent needs root and a recent kernel. Interpreted languages get less detail than compiled ones. It overlaps with Grafana Pyroscope, which integrates more tightly if you are already on Grafana. Polar Signals runs the commercial cloud.

## Verdict

Zero-instrumentation profiling that cuts real infra cost — a strong pick outside the Grafana stack.