hertzbeat vs traceway
Observability platforms compared: hertzbeat and traceway
hertzbeat and traceway combine multiple observability functions in self-hostable platforms. hertzbeat emphasizes agentless infrastructure monitoring, configurable collection, alerts, and status pages, while traceway centers on OpenTelemetry signals and application investigation, including session replay and AI tracing.
hertzbeat: Monitor Systems, Metrics, Logs, and Alerts
Apache HertzBeat is a self-hosted observability platform for collecting metrics and logs, managing alerts, and publishing service status pages. It suits teams seeking agentless monitoring with configurable collection and optional collector clusters.
traceway: OpenTelemetry-Native Observability in One Platform
Traceway is an MIT-licensed observability platform built on OpenTelemetry, combining traces, logs, metrics, errors, session replay, and more. Self-host it with Docker Compose or use Traceway Cloud to investigate application issues in one place.
| hertzbeat | traceway | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Java | Go |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Stars | 7.4k | 1.8k |
| Forks | 1.3k | 92 |
| Last analyzed | Oct 3, 2026 | Oct 31, 2026 |
Key differences
- hertzbeat collects metrics from infrastructure and services using configurable protocols and templates, while traceway ingests OpenTelemetry traces, logs, and metrics over OTLP/HTTP.
- hertzbeat includes log intake, alert processing, notifications, and public status pages; traceway adds exception tracking, session replay, endpoint SLOs, AI usage inspection, and on-call paging.
- hertzbeat is written in Java and licensed under Apache-2.0; traceway is written in Go and licensed under MIT.
- hertzbeat supports distributed collectors for cloud-edge and isolated-network monitoring; traceway offers Docker Compose, embedded Go mode, and documented SQLite and DuckDB options.
- hertzbeat has 7.4k stars and 1.3k forks, compared with traceway's 1.8k stars and 92 forks. traceway's project health is marked active, with a noted contributor-concentration risk.
Choose hertzbeat if you…
- need agentless monitoring across infrastructure, databases, and services.
- want configurable collection alongside alert management and status pages.
- need collectors for isolated or edge environments managed centrally.
Choose traceway if you…
- want to investigate application issues by connecting OpenTelemetry traces, logs, and metrics.
- need session replay or exception tracking for web and mobile applications.
- want AI usage visibility, SLO monitoring, or an embeddable Go backend.
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This comparison is generated with AI from the OSRepos analyses of both projects. Always check each project's repository and documentation before choosing.