Tracetest is an open-source tool for integration and end-to-end testing that uses OpenTelemetry traces. It lets developers and QA engineers check service responses, trace data, span timing, and side effects in distributed systems. Tests can begin with HTTP, gRPC, or Kafka triggers, or work alongside existing Cypress, k6, Playwright, and Postman tests. Trace views can help identify instrumentation issues, missing attributes, naming problems, and potential exposure of sensitive data such as passwords or API keys. Tests can run through the CLI in CI/CD pipelines, using YAML definitions suited to source control. Test suites can also run on a schedule as synthetic monitors and send alerts through webhooks. Listed integrations include Datadog, Grafana Tempo, Jaeger, Honeycomb, GitHub Actions, Cypress, Playwright, and k6. The open-source version is available at 0.00 USD per free; the commercial Cloud and Enterprise offerings have been discontinued. Core can run as a Docker container in local environments, but the documentation says it is not suitable for production.
Who it is for
It is aimed at developers and QA engineers working on distributed systems, including with Go, Rust, Node.js, or Python. Teams using OpenTelemetry and existing test tools may find its trace-based checks useful.
What is good
- Checks responses, spans, and distributed-system side effects.
- Works with existing Cypress, k6, Playwright, and Postman tests.
- Runs tests in CI/CD through its CLI.
- Supports scheduled synthetic monitoring and webhook alerts.
- Open-source version remains available at 0.00 USD per free.
What to know first
- Commercial Cloud and Enterprise offerings have ended.
- Core is described as unsuitable for production.
- No free trial is listed.
Verdict
Tracetest pairs existing tests with trace-level assertions and can run checks in CI/CD or as scheduled monitors. Its open-source version remains available, but Core is documented for local use rather than production.
Tracetest plans and pricing
All plansCompared on distributed tracing tools
- Free plan
- Yes
- OpenTelemetry support
- Yes
- Service map
- Yes
- Deployment model
- self_hosted
