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Grafana Tempo vs Zipkin: catalog facts
Grafana Tempo	Zipkin
Free Free and open source. Hosting, hardware and any external services are separate.	Free Free and open source. Hosting, hardware and any external services are separate.
Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Integrates with Grafana trace exploration Uses object storage for trace data	Provides trace collection and lookup Shows how requests move through services
Requires trace instrumentation, collectors and a separate visualization setup.	Requires instrumented applications and storage configuration.
Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: AGPL-3.0	License: Apache-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.