BCC vs Parca
BCC
github.com
Parca
parca.devSide by side
| Figure | BCC | Parca |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · eBPF Observability Tools | 7.9 (#12) | 8.1 (#9) |
| Languages | BCC provides kernel instrumentation in C, with front ends in Python and Lua. | The agent’s automatic profiling supports languages including C, C++, Rust, Go, Ruby, Node.js, Python, Java, .NET, Perl, and PHP. |
| Linux requirement | The installation guide says Linux kernel 4.1 or newer is generally required, along with specified kernel configuration options. | The quick start says the Parca Agent binary works only on Linux. |
| Support | The project points users to its GitHub issue tracker, the IOVisor mailing list, and the #iovisor IRC channel for project discussion and help. | Polar Signals offers paid support for users of Parca’s open-source project. |
Plans
In their own words
Parca
Parca is a self-hosted profiling system that collects and stores CPU, memory, I/O, and other profiles for queries over time. Its eBPF-based Parca Agent captures user-space and kernel-space stack traces, while the system also accepts valid pprof-formatted profiles pushed through gRPC or pulled from targets over HTTP. Users can query by labels, compare dimensions such as processes or code versions, and view profiles in the web interface with Icicle Graphs. A Grafana plugin can display profiles stored in Parca. The agent supports automatic profiling for languages including C, C++, Go, Rust, .NET, Deno, Erlang, Java, Julia, Node.js, Wasmtime, PHP, Ruby, and Python. Installation options include binaries, containers, Kubernetes, and Snaps. Parca is open source under the Apache 2 License and is free. The agent requires Linux kernel 4.18 or newer and privileged access to load eBPF programs. Parca says it receives profiling statistics and function-name metadata, not binaries or source code.