Jaeger vs LightStep: What are the differences?

## Introduction
In the landscape of distributed tracing tools, Jaeger and LightStep stand out as popular choices for monitoring and troubleshooting complex systems. While both provide similar functionalities, they do differ in some key aspects.

1. **Data Sampling Approach**: Jaeger employs a head-based sampling approach, where sampling decisions are made at the beginning of a trace. In contrast, LightStep utilizes tail-based sampling, making decisions at the end of a trace. This difference affects the completeness and accuracy of the sampled data, influencing the overall trace analysis results.

2. **Backend Storage Options**: Jaeger offers an open-source backend storage option, relying on databases like Elasticsearch or Cassandra to store tracing data. On the other hand, LightStep provides a managed backend solution, handling data storage and processing internally. This variance in storage options can impact scalability, maintenance, and performance based on an organization's specific requirements.

3. **User Interface and Visualization**: LightStep is known for its highly intuitive and visually appealing user interface, offering advanced visualization features such as histograms and flame graphs. Jaeger, although functional, may lack some advanced visualization capabilities, making it slightly less user-friendly for complex trace analysis tasks.

4. **Trace Analysis Capabilities**: LightStep excels in offering advanced trace analysis capabilities by providing features like end-to-end latency optimization and outlier detection. Jaeger, while powerful, may not offer the same level of depth in trace analysis functionality, potentially limiting the insights that can be derived from traced data.

5. **Pricing Model**: One significant distinguishing factor between Jaeger and LightStep is their pricing models. Jaeger being open-source is often more cost-effective for organizations looking to set up tracing infrastructure at scale without incurring licensing fees. LightStep, being a commercial product, may involve licensing costs based on usage and features required, making it a more substantial investment for some enterprises.

6. **Community Support and Ecosystem Integration**: Jaeger, being open-source, benefits from a vibrant community of contributors and integrations with popular observability tools like Prometheus and Grafana. While LightStep offers integrations with various tools as well, the level of community support and ecosystem diversity for Jaeger can provide additional flexibility and customization options for users.

In Summary, Jaeger and LightStep exhibit distinct differences in data sampling approaches, backend storage options, user interfaces, trace analysis capabilities, pricing models, and community support, catering to different needs and preferences within the realm of distributed tracing.