AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry vs Cribl Stream

AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry (ADOT) collects logs, metrics, and traces, with options to send correlated telemetry to one or more observability backends. Applications can be instrumented once, and auto-instrumentation can generate traces without changes to application code. ADOT also gathers metadata from AWS resources and managed services to connect application performance data with infrastructure information. Documented destinations include Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS X-Ray, Amazon OpenSearch, OTLP-compliant backends, and Amazon MSK. It supports workloads on AWS App Runner, Lambda, EC2, ECS, EKS on EC2, Fargate, and on-premises datacenters. Getting-started guides cover Go, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, .NET, PHP, and Android. The project describes ADOT as backed by AWS Support, testing, and certification, and says it contributes changes and fixes to the OpenTelemetry community. ADOT is free and supports cloud and self-hosted deployment. The download page lists Collector version 0.50.0, released August 25, 2026, under the Apache-2.0 license.

Cribl Stream processes machine data such as logs, instrumentation, application data and metrics in real time, then delivers it to an analysis platform. It can add external context, redact, obfuscate or encrypt sensitive fields, and optimize data for performance and cost requirements. Pipelines built from Functions transform incoming events, while Routes direct events to Pipelines and Destinations. Cribl says Stream connects to more than 80 data sources and destinations and supports Cribl Packs for integrations. The Copilot Editor accepts plain-language prompts to help build and refine pipelines, transform and enrich data, filter noise, and route telemetry. Stream can run on Cribl-managed cloud infrastructure or on customer infrastructure, Kubernetes Pods or containers. The Free plan costs nothing and supports up to 1TB per day, unlimited Pipelines and Routes, and Community Support; the on-prem Free license requires sending anonymized telemetry to Cribl. Standard and Enterprise are billed by credits used at ingest, with no prices listed. Cribl was founded in 2018.