Google Cloud Trace vs Jaeger
Google Cloud Trace
cloud.google.comJaeger
jaegertracing.ioSide by side
| Figure | Google Cloud Trace | Jaeger |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $0.20/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Distributed Tracing Tools | 7.8 (#14) | 8.0 (#11) |
| Spec score · Runtime Monitoring Software | 7.6 (#30) | 8.1 (#24) |
| Spec score · Application Performance Monitoring | 7.7 (#25) | 8.1 (#16) |
| Purpose | Cloud Trace collects latency data to help troubleshoot performance bottlenecks across services and generative AI applications. | Jaeger is an open-source distributed tracing platform for monitoring and troubleshooting workflows in complex distributed systems. |
Plans
In their own words
Google Cloud Trace
Google Cloud Trace has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Jaeger
Jaeger is a free, open-source distributed tracing platform for monitoring complex systems and investigating performance problems. It helps teams locate bottlenecks, examine root causes, and map dependencies between services. Jaeger receives OpenTelemetry Protocol data and accepts Zipkin spans over HTTP in Thrift, JSON v1/v2, and Protobuf formats. Its UI includes System Architecture and Deep Dependency Graph views, while Service Performance Monitoring turns traces into aggregate metrics and time-series charts. Sampling supports head-based configurations, including centralized static or adaptive settings, and tail-based sampling. Cassandra, Elasticsearch, and OpenSearch are supported distributed storage backends; ClickHouse is experimental behind a feature gate. Jaeger v2 ships as binaries and container images, with an all-in-one mode using transient in-memory storage. It is self-hosted, so infrastructure determines capacity and scale. Jaeger v1 reached end of life on December 31, 2025.