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Open Source Is Dominating Observability

Open source dominance continues in observability, according to the Observability Survey from Grafana Labs.

A remarkable 75% of respondents are now using open source licensing for observability, with 70% reporting that their organizations use both Prometheus and OpenTelemetry in some capacity. Half of all organizations increased their investments in both technologies for the second year in a row.

The 2025 Observability Survey reveals that OpenTelemetry has continued its trajectory toward mainstream status with half of all organizations increasing their investments in the open source project for the second year in a row.

More than two-thirds of organizations (67%) use Prometheus in production in some capacity and while OpenTelemetry has less production usage (41%), it appears to have more momentum for future growth, with more than a third (38%) of respondents investigating it and only 6% reporting they have no plans to use OpenTelemetry at all. The survey also found that vendor neutrality and flexibility remain the most cited requirements for compatible observability solutions, directly aligning with OpenTelemetry's core value proposition.

"Our survey data confirms what we're seeing in the field — organizations aren't choosing between observability technologies, they're embracing multiple approaches to solve real-world problems," said Ted Young, developer programs director at Grafana Labs, cofounder of OpenTelemetry, and member of the OpenTelemetry Governance Committee. "This includes the growing adoption of both OpenTelemetry and Prometheus, two tools that work great together."

Other report findings include:

C-Suite Sees Importance of Observability

Roughly three-quarters of all companies say observability is business-critical at either the CTO, VP, or director level, with CTO being the most common response (33%). Organizations whose C-suite sees observability as business-critical are more likely to adopt more advanced tools and practices such as traces, profiles, SLOs, OpenTelemetry, and unified application and infrastructure observability.

Desire for AI to Tame Complexity Rises

The number one observability concern for respondents is complexity, while alert fatigue is cited as the biggest obstacle to faster incident response, so it's no wonder training-based alerts and faster root cause analysis topped respondents' AI/ML wishlist for observability.

Cost Management Remains Important, But Not Critical

Three-quarters of companies say cost is an important criteria when selecting observability technologies, though less than a third say they're concerned about observability costing too much — meaning organizations are more focused on getting value from their tools and techniques than just selecting the cheapest option.

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Open Source Is Dominating Observability

Open source dominance continues in observability, according to the Observability Survey from Grafana Labs.

A remarkable 75% of respondents are now using open source licensing for observability, with 70% reporting that their organizations use both Prometheus and OpenTelemetry in some capacity. Half of all organizations increased their investments in both technologies for the second year in a row.

The 2025 Observability Survey reveals that OpenTelemetry has continued its trajectory toward mainstream status with half of all organizations increasing their investments in the open source project for the second year in a row.

More than two-thirds of organizations (67%) use Prometheus in production in some capacity and while OpenTelemetry has less production usage (41%), it appears to have more momentum for future growth, with more than a third (38%) of respondents investigating it and only 6% reporting they have no plans to use OpenTelemetry at all. The survey also found that vendor neutrality and flexibility remain the most cited requirements for compatible observability solutions, directly aligning with OpenTelemetry's core value proposition.

"Our survey data confirms what we're seeing in the field — organizations aren't choosing between observability technologies, they're embracing multiple approaches to solve real-world problems," said Ted Young, developer programs director at Grafana Labs, cofounder of OpenTelemetry, and member of the OpenTelemetry Governance Committee. "This includes the growing adoption of both OpenTelemetry and Prometheus, two tools that work great together."

Other report findings include:

C-Suite Sees Importance of Observability

Roughly three-quarters of all companies say observability is business-critical at either the CTO, VP, or director level, with CTO being the most common response (33%). Organizations whose C-suite sees observability as business-critical are more likely to adopt more advanced tools and practices such as traces, profiles, SLOs, OpenTelemetry, and unified application and infrastructure observability.

Desire for AI to Tame Complexity Rises

The number one observability concern for respondents is complexity, while alert fatigue is cited as the biggest obstacle to faster incident response, so it's no wonder training-based alerts and faster root cause analysis topped respondents' AI/ML wishlist for observability.

Cost Management Remains Important, But Not Critical

Three-quarters of companies say cost is an important criteria when selecting observability technologies, though less than a third say they're concerned about observability costing too much — meaning organizations are more focused on getting value from their tools and techniques than just selecting the cheapest option.

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From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...

Today, organizations are generating and processing more data than ever before. From training AI models to running complex analytics, massive datasets have become the backbone of innovation. However, as businesses embrace the cloud for its scalability and flexibility, a new challenge arises: managing the soaring costs of storing and processing this data ...

Despite the frustrations, every engineer we spoke with ultimately affirmed the value and power of OpenTelemetry. The "sucks" moments are often the flip side of its greatest strengths ... Part 2 of this blog covers the powerful advantages and breakthroughs — the "OTel Rocks" moments ...

OpenTelemetry (OTel) arrived with a grand promise: a unified, vendor-neutral standard for observability data (traces, metrics, logs) that would free engineers from vendor lock-in and provide deeper insights into complex systems ... No powerful technology comes without its challenges, and OpenTelemetry is no exception. The engineers we spoke with were frank about the friction points they've encountered ...

Enterprises are turning to AI-powered software platforms to make IT management more intelligent and ensure their systems and technology meet business needs for efficiency, lowers costs and innovation, according to new research from Information Services Group ...

The power of Kubernetes lies in its ability to orchestrate containerized applications with unparalleled efficiency. Yet, this power comes at a cost: the dynamic, distributed, and ephemeral nature of its architecture creates a monitoring challenge akin to tracking a constantly shifting, interconnected network of fleeting entities ... Due to the dynamic and complex nature of Kubernetes, monitoring poses a substantial challenge for DevOps and platform engineers. Here are the primary obstacles ...

The perception of IT has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. What was once viewed primarily as a cost center has transformed into a pivotal force driving business innovation and market leadership ... As someone who has witnessed and helped drive this evolution, it's become clear to me that the most successful organizations share a common thread: they've mastered the art of leveraging IT advancements to achieve measurable business outcomes ...

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Real privacy protection thanks to technology and processes is often portrayed as too hard and too costly to implement. So the most common strategy is to do as little as possible just to conform to formal requirements of current and incoming regulations. This is a missed opportunity ...

The expanding use of AI is driving enterprise interest in data operations (DataOps) to orchestrate data integration and processing and improve data quality and validity, according to a new report from Information Services Group (ISG) ...