Chronosphere
Cloud-native observability platform for metrics and traces, now part of Palo Alto Networks.
Updated · AppBreakup editorial · Web
Chronosphere has been acquired. Chronosphere is now Cortex XCOR by Palo Alto Networks, according to Chronosphere's website.
Is Chronosphere free?
No, it's a paid product
5 alternatives with a free optionSwitch from Chronosphere to
All 5- Verified facts
- 5 of 5
- Alternatives ranked
- 5
- Approved reviews
- 0
- Visits sent from here
- 3
About Chronosphere
Chronosphere is a SaaS observability platform built for large, container-heavy and Kubernetes environments where metric volumes and cardinality explode. It ingests metrics and traces in open formats such as Prometheus and OpenTelemetry, so teams can move from self-run Prometheus without rewriting instrumentation, and its backend is based on the M3 time series database that began at Uber. A control plane shows which data is actually used and lets teams aggregate or drop the rest, which is the core of its cost-control pitch. It also sells a telemetry pipeline from the creators of Fluent Bit for collecting, transforming and routing logs to any destination. Pricing is quote-based: the platform charges for useful data rather than hosts, and the pipeline by data throughput. Chronosphere has been acquired by Palo Alto Networks and is being renamed Cortex XCOR, so it suits large enterprises more than small teams.
Best for: Large engineering orgs running Prometheus at scale that need to rein in metric volume and cost..
Chronosphere pricing (checked Nov 8, 2026)
Each line is quoted from Chronosphere's own site, with the page it came from.
| Plan or term | What it says | Checked | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing basis | Useful data, not hosts | Nov 8, 2026 | chronosphere.io |
Pros and cons
What works
- Accepts Prometheus and OpenTelemetry data without re-instrumenting
- Control plane shows which metrics are used so waste can be dropped
- Telemetry pipeline routes logs to any destination
Why people leave
- No self-serve plan or public prices; sales-led only
- Built for large enterprises, overkill for small teams
- Acquisition and rename to Cortex XCOR adds roadmap uncertainty
Chronosphere vs Grafana, Datadog and New Relic
From each app's listing and the prices verified on its own site. A dash means we haven't verified it yet.
| Attribute | Chronosphere | Grafana | Datadog | New Relic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Open source | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid |
| Verified price | — | From $19/month + usage | Infrastructure Pro, $15 per host/month billed annually | $10 for the first full user, then $99 per user (Standard) |
| Free plan | No | 10k metric series, 50 GB logs, 14-day retention | Yes, up to 5 hosts with 1-day metric retention | 100 GB data ingest/month |
| Open source | No | Yes | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | Yes | No | No |
| Platforms | Web | Web, Self-hosted | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android |
Top Chronosphere alternatives
See all 5- 1
Grafana76.3Grafana Cloud's Mimir handles large Prometheus workloads, with a free tier and self-hosted option.
- 2
Datadog75.3One vendor for metrics, logs, APM and security, with self-serve signup and public prices.
- 3
New Relic65.0Full-stack observability with usage-based pricing and a free monthly data allowance.
- 4
VictoriaMetrics64.8Open source, Prometheus-compatible metrics store you can run yourself at very high scale.
- 5
Honeycomb59.4Built for high-cardinality tracing and event queries, with a free plan to start.
Why people left Chronosphere
In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.
No switching stories yet. If you moved away from Chronosphere, review the app you switched to and tell us why.
Reviews
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Chronosphere: common questions
What is Chronosphere?
Chronosphere: Cloud-native observability platform for metrics and traces, now part of Palo Alto Networks. Best for large engineering orgs running Prometheus at scale that need to rein in metric volume and cost. Available for Web.
Is Chronosphere free?
No, Chronosphere is a paid product.
How much does Chronosphere cost?
Chronosphere is a paid product. Pricing basis: Useful data, not hosts. Checked on Chronosphere's own site, November 2026.
Is Chronosphere open source?
No, Chronosphere is not open source. Open-source alternatives include Grafana and VictoriaMetrics.
What platforms does Chronosphere run on?
Chronosphere is available for Web.
What are the best alternatives to Chronosphere?
The highest-ranked Chronosphere alternatives right now are Grafana, Datadog and New Relic. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.
Chronosphere vs Grafana: what's the difference?
Chronosphere is a paid product; Grafana is free and open source. Grafana is open source and Chronosphere is not. Both run on Web.