Free and open first
Best Runtime Monitoring Software in 2026
- 56 apps
- Research read 10 Oct 2026
- How the order is worked out
- 1
Coroot
Free plan Open source APILinuxSelf-hosted+2Choose Coroot if you need self-hosted observability with service maps, tracing, profiling and incident analysis.
- 2
Netdata
Free plan Open source AndroidAPIiPhone+5Netdata combines infrastructure metrics, logs, alerts, and troubleshooting across cloud and on-premises deployment options.
- 3
Uptrace
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+3Uptrace offers flexible analysis and deployment options for OpenTelemetry data, from a free Cloud plan to self-hosted editions.
- 4
Airbrake
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+1Airbrake combines error context, deployment tracking, and performance monitoring for technical teams. Check monthly quotas and on-demand excess charges when choosing a plan.
- 5
Alibaba Cloud ARMS RUM
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+3Alibaba Cloud ARMS RUM covers several core monitoring areas and specifies a 90-day retention period.
- 6
Apache SkyWalking
Free plan APILinuxMac+3Apache SkyWalking covers service observability and AI workload inspection in a self-hosted package.
- 7
Azure Application Insights
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+3Application Insights offers telemetry collection, investigation, and usage analytics, with the first 5 GB per month per billing account free.
- 8
Backtrace
Free plan AndroidiPhoneLinux+4Backtrace combines error reporting, search, and debugging tools with several deployment options.
- 9
BugSnag
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+5BugSnag combines error grouping, diagnostics, stability tracking, and performance monitoring across a broad range of platforms.
- 10
Embrace
Free plan AndroidAPIExtension+2Embrace links mobile and web performance signals with user sessions and supports data forwarding through OpenTelemetry interfaces.
- 11
AppSignal
Free plan APIWebAppSignal covers errors, performance, logs and tracing, with a free plan and annual-billed paid access.
- 12
Grafana Cloud Application Observability
Free plan AndroidAPIExtension+5Grafana Cloud Application Observability brings several telemetry types and service-level views together for application investigation.
- 13
Honeycomb
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+2Honeycomb combines telemetry ingestion with investigation tools for tracing and related data. Free has stated monthly data allowances; larger deployments can consider Pro or custom Enterprise plans.
- 14
Exceptionless
Free plan APISelf-hostedWebExceptionless combines event reporting and stack-trace details with hosted and self-hosted deployment options.
- 15
GlitchTip
Free plan APISelf-hostedWebGlitchTip combines error tracking with performance, uptime, and log monitoring, and offers both hosted and self-hosted deployment.
- 16
Google Cloud Trace
Free plan APILinuxWebCloud Trace offers latency visualization, SQL querying and connections to logs and BigQuery, with a free monthly span allowance.
- 17
Hypertrace
Free plan LinuxSelf-hostedWeb+1Hypertrace offers trace exploration, service views, and deployment options for teams investigating system behavior.
- 18
Jaeger
Free plan APILinuxMac+3Jaeger provides distributed tracing, service graphs, and trace-derived performance metrics as a self-hosted open-source project.
- 19
groundcover
by groundcoverFree plan LinuxSelf-hostedWebgroundcover combines eBPF-based telemetry collection with cloud and on-premises deployment options. Compare the retention, support, and per-host plan details with your monitoring needs.
- 20
Middleware
Free plan AndroidAPIExtension+5Middleware covers a broad set of monitoring and observability products, with a free plan and a usage-billed option. Check the plan limits and retention period against your needs.
- 21
Odigos
Free plan LinuxMacSelf-hosted+1Odigos brings runtime capture, access controls, and data shaping together in a self-hosted offering.
- 22
DataBuff
Free plan APISelf-hostedWebDataBuff combines OpenTelemetry observability with AI queries, service inspection, and incident analysis.
- 23
Honeybadger
Free plan APIWebHoneybadger combines several production monitoring functions with a free entry plan and a 30-day trial.
- 24
Parca
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1Parca provides self-hosted profile collection and query tools, with web and Grafana visualization options. Before using its Agent, account for the Linux kernel and privileged-access requirements.
- 25
Prometheus
Free plan LinuxMacSelf-hosted+2Prometheus provides a free monitoring and alerting toolkit with flexible metric collection and querying. Its stated accuracy limitation makes it unsuitable for per-request billing workloads.
#1Places #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 on this list can be bought by the makers of the software on it. See the price