SigNoz vs Zabbix
Both are free/open-source alternatives to Datadog. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
SigNoz
An OpenTelemetry-native, single-app Datadog alternative.
SigNoz brings metrics, traces, and logs into one open-source application built natively on OpenTelemetry, so you get APM-style visibility without per-host SaaS pricing.
Zabbix
Mature, enterprise-grade open-source monitoring you fully own.
Zabbix has been an open-source monitoring workhorse since 2001, covering infrastructure, network, server, application, and cloud monitoring with alerting, dashboards, and auto-discovery built in. It is a single self-hosted platform rather than an assembled stack, which makes it a strong Datadog alternative for teams that want broad coverage and mature alerting without per-host SaaS billing.
Side by side
| SigNoz | Zabbix | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 88 | 86 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT (core) | AGPL-3.0 |
| Pricing | Free / self-host; optional managed cloud | Free / self-host (optional paid support and cloud from Zabbix) |
SigNoz edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
SigNoz
Strengths
- +One app for traces, metrics, and logs
- +OpenTelemetry-native
- +Purpose-built as a Datadog replacement
Trade-offs
- −Younger ecosystem than Grafana
- −Self-hosting needs a datastore to operate
Zabbix
Strengths
- +Extremely mature and battle-tested (since 2001)
- +Broad coverage — infra, network, servers, apps, cloud in one platform
- +Powerful alerting and auto-discovery out of the box
- +No per-host or per-metric billing when self-hosted
Trade-offs
- −Interface and setup feel more traditional than newer tools
- −Not OpenTelemetry-native — less focused on distributed tracing/APM
- −Initial configuration has a learning curve
Facts verified 2026-07-12. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.