Freedom251 › Kubernetes Monitoring
Observatorium

What Observatorium is
Observatorium is a free, open-source observability system for Kubernetes environments. It ingests, stores, and serves metrics and logs, while tracing is marked as coming soon. The project combines Thanos, Loki, Tempo or Jaeger, and Open Policy Agent behind consistent tenancy APIs and signal correlation. Metrics enter through Prometheus remote write and are queried through Prometheus-compatible APIs. Logs use the Loki Push API and are available through Loki query and tail APIs. OIDC/OAuth2 provides authentication, while Open Policy Agent handles authorization. Its API proxy is intended for all external traffic and supports tenant isolation, cross-tenant requests, rate limiting, roles, and tracing. Deployment guidance uses Jsonnet-generated manifests in a local Kubernetes cluster, with self-hosted operation and managed Kubernetes support. The Apache 2.0 project is described as work in progress, with documentation, design, user guides, and configuration support still developing. Thanos Receive replicates writes across availability zones and uploads data blocks to regional Amazon S3 storage.
Who it suits
Observatorium suits teams operating Kubernetes observability in their own environments, especially larger users using the Operator in production. It is also suitable for teams wanting open-source tenancy controls and APIs across metrics and logs.
What it does well
- Free and open source under Apache 2.0
- Prometheus and Loki ingestion and query APIs
- OIDC/OAuth2 authentication with OPA authorization
- Tenant isolation and cross-tenant request support
- Self-hosted and managed Kubernetes support
What to know first
- Tracing is labeled as coming soon
- Project documentation and configuration remain in progress
- Requires operating the system in your environment
Verdict
Observatorium brings several observability projects together behind shared tenancy and access controls. It provides strong metrics and log foundations, but tracing and project documentation are still developing.
Facts from Observatorium's own pages
- Access control
- The API proxy is described as supporting tenant isolation, cross-tenant requests, rate limiting, roles, and tracing, and as intended for all external traffic. · observatorium.io, 5 Oct 2026
- Architecture
- It combines projects including Thanos, Loki, Tempo/Jaeger, and Open Policy Agent under consistent tenancy APIs. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Authentication
- The homepage lists authentication using OIDC/OAuth2. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Authorization
- The homepage lists authorization using Open Policy Agent. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- The project provides Jsonnet configuration and a Kubernetes Operator deployment option. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- External traffic
- The documentation says the Observatorium API proxy should be used for all external traffic and supports tenancy isolation, rate limiting, roles, and tracing. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The documentation describes combining Thanos, Loki, Tempo/Jaeger, and Open Policy Agent in the Observatorium system. · observatorium.io, 5 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The getting-started guide describes the system for people operating observability in their own environments and notes that the Operator is used in production by larger users. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- License
- The homepage describes Observatorium as open source under the Apache 2.0 license. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Logs
- It supports log ingestion through the Loki Push API and access through Loki query and tail APIs. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Maintainers
- The maintainers page lists contributors affiliated with Red Hat, Polar Signals, or unaffiliated contributors. · observatorium.io, 5 Oct 2026
- Metrics
- It supports Prometheus-compatible remote-write ingestion and query APIs. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Metrics storage
- The architecture page says Thanos Receive replicates each write request three times across availability zones and uploads two-hour data blocks to regional Amazon S3 storage. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Project status
- The repository describes the project as work in progress and says documentation, design, user guides, and configuration support are in progress. · github.com, 5 Oct 2026
- Project type
- The site describes Observatorium as a meta project that combines existing observability projects behind consistent tenancy APIs and signal correlation. · observatorium.io, 5 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Observatorium is an open-source system for ingesting, storing, and using observability signals in a multi-tenant Kubernetes environment. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Support
- The project repository directs users to its Slack channel or GitHub issues for questions or missing features. · github.com, 5 Oct 2026
- Tracing status
- The homepage labels traces as “Coming Soon!”. · observatorium.io, 11 Oct 2026
Where Observatorium stands on Freedom251
- Kubernetes Monitoring#35 of 56