Jaeger
What it is
Jaeger is a free, open-source platform for distributed tracing in complex systems. It helps teams locate performance bottlenecks, investigate root causes, and examine service dependencies. Jaeger receives traces through the OpenTelemetry Protocol and accepts Zipkin spans over HTTP in Thrift, JSON v1/v2, and Protobuf formats. Its interface offers System Architecture and Deep Dependency Graph views. Service Performance Monitoring derives aggregate metrics from traces and displays time-series charts. Sampling supports head-based methods with centralized static or adaptive configuration, plus tail-based sampling. Distributed storage backends include Cassandra, Elasticsearch, and OpenSearch; ClickHouse is experimental behind a feature gate. Security documentation covers TLS, mutual TLS for several connections, and bearer-token authentication between browser and UI. Jaeger v2 ships as binaries and container images, while its all-in-one setup combines collector and query components with transient in-memory storage. Binaries are listed for macOS, Linux, and Windows. Jaeger v1 reached end of life on December 31, 2025 and no longer receives updates.
For and against
For
- OpenTelemetry and Zipkin ingestion
- Service dependency graph views
- Head- and tail-based sampling
- Multiple distributed storage backends
- Free open-source deployment
Against
- Self-hosted storage and scale depend on infrastructure
- ClickHouse support is experimental
- Jaeger v1 no longer receives updates
- No real user monitoring
The verdict
Jaeger provides broad tracing ingestion, dependency analysis, sampling, and performance views for self-hosted environments. Choose deployment components and storage carefully, and use the maintained v2 line.
Who it suits
Jaeger suits engineering teams troubleshooting distributed systems with trace data, dependency views, performance metrics, and configurable sampling. It is intended for self-hosted deployments where storage and scale are managed through selected infrastructure.
Plans and prices
Jaeger
100% open source · self-hosted deployment · storage capacity and scale depend on chosen infrastructure
Read 3 Oct 2026 · jaegertracing.io
On the record
- Artifact verification
- The download page says binary releases include SHA-256 checksum files and cryptographic signatures.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Community support
- The project directs users to CNCF Slack, GitHub issues and discussions, and Stack Overflow for contact and help.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- Jaeger v2 is available as executable binaries and container images, and the all-in-one setup runs collector and query components in one process with transient in-memory storage.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Notable lifecycle limit
- Jaeger v1 reached end of life on December 31, 2025 and no longer receives updates.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Open source
- The project describes Jaeger as 100% open source and cloud native.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Performance monitoring
- Service Performance Monitoring computes aggregate metrics from traces and visualizes them as time-series charts.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Jaeger is an open-source distributed tracing platform for monitoring and troubleshooting workflows in complex distributed systems.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Sampling
- Jaeger supports head-based sampling with centralized remote configuration, including static or adaptive configuration, and tail-based sampling.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Security
- Jaeger documents TLS and mutual TLS support for several component connections, plus bearer-token authentication between browser and UI.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Service graphs
- The UI supports System Architecture and Deep Dependency Graph service graphs.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Storage integrations
- Primary supported distributed storage backends are Cassandra, Elasticsearch, and OpenSearch; ClickHouse is experimental behind a feature gate.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Supported desktop platforms
- The download page lists binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Tracing protocol
- Jaeger can receive trace data using the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP).jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Troubleshooting
- Jaeger helps identify performance bottlenecks, track root causes, and analyze service dependencies.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
- Zipkin compatibility
- Jaeger accepts Zipkin spans over HTTP in Thrift, JSON v1/v2, and Protobuf formats.jaegertracing.io · read 3 Oct 2026
