OpenTelemetry eBPF Profiler vs Parca
OpenTelemetry eBPF Profiler
github.com
Parca
parca.devSide by side
| Figure | OpenTelemetry eBPF Profiler | Parca |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Continuous Profiling Tools | 7.1 (#22) | 8.1 (#12) |
| Languages | It supports native code including C/C++, Rust, Zig and Go, as well as Hotspot JVM, Python, Ruby, PHP, Node.js, V8, Perl, Erlang and .NET. | The agent’s automatic profiling supports languages including C, C++, Rust, Go, Ruby, Node.js, Python, Java, .NET, Perl, and PHP. |
| Linux requirement | The profiler is Linux-only; recent commits may require Linux kernel 5.10 or later, while earlier commits supported 5.4 or 4.19. | The quick start says the Parca Agent binary works only on Linux. |
Plans
In their own words
OpenTelemetry eBPF Profiler
OpenTelemetry eBPF Profiler has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
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.