Free Chronosphere alternatives: 5 apps ranked by verified data

Facts checked Nov 8, 2026AppBreakup editorialHow we rank

5 of the 5 Chronosphere alternatives we track can be used for free (free, open source, or with a free plan). Grafana, Datadog and New Relic rank highest, with facts last verified Nov 8, 2026.

Chronosphere has been acquired. Chronosphere is now Cortex XCOR by Palo Alto Networks, according to Chronosphere's website.

Quick comparison

#	App	Pricing	Verified price	Open source	Platforms	Verified facts	Score
1	Grafana	Open source	From $19/month + usage	Yes	Web, Self-hosted	4 of 4	76.3
2	Datadog	Free plan + paid	Infrastructure Pro, $15 per host/month billed annually	No	Web, iOS, Android	6 of 7	75.3
3	New Relic	Free plan + paid	$10 for the first full user, then $99 per user (Standard)	No	Web, iOS, Android	7 of 7	65.0
4	VictoriaMetrics	Open source	From $200/month	Yes	Self-hosted, Linux, macOS +1	4 of 4	64.8
5	Honeycomb	Free plan + paid	From $150/month	No	Web	4 of 4	59.4

1. GrafanaTop pick
Best for: Teams that want flexible dashboards over many data sources, self-hosted or as a managed cloud
Open sourceSelf-hostableWeb, Self-hosted
76.3
score / 100
Why switch from Chronosphere
Grafana Cloud's Mimir handles large Prometheus workloads, with a free tier and self-hosted option.
Pros
Connects to almost any metrics, logs or SQL data source
Fully open-source stack you can self-host
Hosted cloud has a usable free tier
Cons
Self-hosting Loki, Tempo and Mimir at scale is real work
Building good dashboards takes time and query knowledge
Cloud usage pricing has many meters to track
Visit Grafana Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.3100
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.1550
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Grafana a good Chronosphere alternative?
Verified facts
4 of 4 verified
License
AGPL-3.0
Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free tier
10k metric series, 50 GB logs, 14-day retention
Checked Nov 8, 2026grafana.com(opens source in a new tab)
Pro plan
From $19/month + usage
Checked Nov 8, 2026grafana.com(opens source in a new tab)
Logs on free tier
50 GB/month
Checked Nov 8, 2026grafana.com(opens source in a new tab)
2. Datadog
Best for: Cloud-heavy teams that want metrics, traces, logs and alerts in one hosted product and can budget for it
Free plan + paidWeb, iOS, Android
75.3
score / 100
Why switch from Chronosphere
One vendor for metrics, logs, APM and security, with self-serve signup and public prices.
Pros
Very wide integration catalogue that works with little setup
Metrics, traces and logs are linked in one interface
Mature dashboards, monitors and on-call features
Cons
Per-product, per-host pricing makes bills hard to forecast
Custom metrics and log volume get expensive quickly
No self-hosted option
Visit Datadog Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.377
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.15100
Freshness ×0.1590
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Datadog a good Chronosphere alternative?
Verified facts
6 of 7 verified
Starting price
Infrastructure Pro, $15 per host/month billed annually
Checked Nov 8, 2026datadoghq.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free tier
Up to 5 hosts, 1-day metric retention
Source changed Nov 8, 2026datadoghq.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free trial
14 days
Checked Nov 8, 2026datadoghq.com(opens source in a new tab)
Integrations
1,000+
Checked Nov 8, 2026datadoghq.com(opens source in a new tab)
Enterprise plan
$23 per host/month billed annually
Checked Nov 8, 2026datadoghq.com(opens source in a new tab)
APM plan
From $31 per host/month
Checked Nov 8, 2026datadoghq.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free plan
Yes, up to 5 hosts with 1-day metric retention
Checked Nov 8, 2026datadoghq.com(opens source in a new tab)
3. New Relic
Best for: Teams that want full-stack APM with predictable data-based pricing and a usable free tier
Free plan + paidWeb, iOS, Android
65.0
score / 100
Why switch from Chronosphere
Full-stack observability with usage-based pricing and a free monthly data allowance.
Pros
Perpetual free tier with a meaningful monthly data allowance
One query language across all telemetry types
Wide language agent support plus OpenTelemetry ingest
Cons
Full-platform user seats are expensive on paid tiers
Interface has many overlapping views to learn
Hosted only
Visit New Relic Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.363
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.1550
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is New Relic a good Chronosphere alternative?
Verified facts
7 of 7 verified
Free tier
100 GB data ingest/month
Checked Nov 8, 2026newrelic.com(opens source in a new tab)
Data price
$0.40/GB beyond 100 GB free
Checked Nov 8, 2026newrelic.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free full user
1
Checked Nov 8, 2026newrelic.com(opens source in a new tab)
Basic users
Unlimited, free
Checked Nov 8, 2026newrelic.com(opens source in a new tab)
Starting price
$10 for the first full user, then $99 per user (Standard)
Checked Nov 8, 2026newrelic.com(opens source in a new tab)
Pro plan
$349 per full user/month, annual commitment
Checked Nov 8, 2026newrelic.com(opens source in a new tab)
Free plan
Yes, 100 GB data ingest/month and 1 full user
Checked Nov 8, 2026newrelic.com(opens source in a new tab)
4. VictoriaMetrics
Best for: Teams outgrowing Prometheus who want cheaper long-term metrics storage
Open sourceSelf-hostableSelf-hosted, Linux, macOS, Windows
64.8
score / 100
Why switch from Chronosphere
Open source, Prometheus-compatible metrics store you can run yourself at very high scale.
Pros
Uses far less memory and disk than many alternatives
Drop-in compatible with Prometheus and Grafana
Simple single-binary option, cluster when needed
Cons
Some features are enterprise-only
MetricsQL extensions can reduce portability
Logs and traces products are newer
Visit VictoriaMetrics Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.387
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is VictoriaMetrics a good Chronosphere alternative?
Verified facts
4 of 4 verified
License
Apache-2.0
Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab)
Cloud price
From $200/month
Checked Nov 8, 2026victoriametrics.com(opens source in a new tab)
Cloud free trial
30 days
Checked Nov 8, 2026victoriametrics.com(opens source in a new tab)
Editions
Open source and enterprise
Checked Nov 8, 2026victoriametrics.com(opens source in a new tab)
5. Honeycomb
Best for: Teams debugging microservices who want fast, exploratory queries over traces
Free plan + paidWeb
59.4
score / 100
Why switch from Chronosphere
Built for high-cardinality tracing and event queries, with a free plan to start.
Pros
Fast queries across high-cardinality fields at no extra cost
BubbleUp makes outliers easy to explain
Event-based pricing with no per-seat or per-host fees
Cons
Weaker for classic host metrics and log search
Needs good instrumentation to get value
Hosted only
Visit Honeycomb Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.369
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.15100
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is Honeycomb a good Chronosphere alternative?
Verified facts
4 of 4 verified
Free plan
Up to 20M events/month
Checked Nov 8, 2026honeycomb.io(opens source in a new tab)
Free forever
Yes
Checked Nov 8, 2026honeycomb.io(opens source in a new tab)
Pro plan
From $150/month
Checked Nov 8, 2026honeycomb.io(opens source in a new tab)
OpenTelemetry
Supported
Checked Oct 29, 2026honeycomb.io(opens source in a new tab)

Quick comparison

1. GrafanaTop pick

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

2. Datadog

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

3. New Relic

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

4. VictoriaMetrics

Pros

Cons

Verified facts

5. Honeycomb

Pros

Cons

Verified facts