Jaeger vs OpenTelemetry: What are the differences?

Introducing OpenTelemetry and Jaeger

OpenTelemetry and Jaeger are both open-source observability tools that aim to provide insight into the performance and behavior of modern software systems. While they have some similarities, there are several key differences between the two.

1. Architecture: OpenTelemetry is designed as a set of APIs, SDKs, and other instrumentation libraries that can be integrated into applications and services, allowing for distributed tracing, metrics collection, and other observability features. On the other hand, Jaeger is a complete tracing platform that consists of a backend storage component, a query service, and instrumentation libraries. This difference in architecture means that OpenTelemetry is more modular and can be integrated into existing systems more easily, while Jaeger provides a more comprehensive tracing solution out of the box.

2. Vendor Support: OpenTelemetry is a collaborative effort between several major companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. This level of industry support means that OpenTelemetry is likely to have better long-term support and a wider range of integrations with popular frameworks and libraries. Jaeger, on the other hand, is maintained primarily by the Jaeger community and has fewer resources and commercial backing.

3. Instrumentation Libraries: OpenTelemetry provides a wide range of instrumentation libraries for various programming languages and frameworks, making it easy to add observability to different types of applications. These libraries are designed to be consistent and provide a unified API. Jaeger, on the other hand, provides its own set of instrumentation libraries, which may not have the same level of compatibility or consistency across different languages and frameworks.

4. Standardization: OpenTelemetry aims to be a vendor-agnostic and industry-standard solution for observability. It is actively working on defining and implementing standards for distributed tracing, metrics, and other observability areas. This standardization effort makes it easier for developers and operators to adopt and integrate OpenTelemetry into their systems. Jaeger, while widely used and supported, is not part of a broader standardization effort and may have different conventions and practices.

5. Data Exporters: OpenTelemetry provides a flexible and extensible model for exporting collected telemetry data to various backend systems and analytics platforms. This allows users to choose the most appropriate storage and analysis solutions for their specific needs. Jaeger, on the other hand, has a more limited set of built-in exporters, although it does support exporting data to popular systems like Elasticsearch and Jaeger's own storage backend.

6. Community Ecosystem: OpenTelemetry benefits from a vibrant and growing community that actively contributes to its development, provides support, and creates additional tools and integrations. This strong community ecosystem ensures that OpenTelemetry will continue to evolve and improve over time. While Jaeger also has a dedicated community, it is not as large or as well-funded as OpenTelemetry's community.

In Summary, OpenTelemetry and Jaeger differ in their architecture, vendor support, instrumentation libraries, standardization efforts, data exporters, and community ecosystem.