Observability beyond monitoring
Distributed tracing, request logs, host metrics, Kubernetes and alerting for Node.js and Python teams - unified on OpenTelemetry, live in two commands, priced with two transparent meters.
Built on OpenTelemetryNo card requiredFree plan: 5 GB/mo, never billed
Trusted by engineering teams at
Platform
Six product surfaces, one signal graph - every one included on every plan, Free included.
APM & Services
Requests, error rates, latency percentiles and active alerts for every service - with per-service drill-down into performance, endpoints, database operations and resource usage.
Distributed Tracing
OpenTelemetry-powered spans with automatic context propagation. HTTP calls, MongoDB and PostgreSQL queries, Redis commands - laid out on a waterfall you can read at 2 a.m.
Log Management
Every request arrives with method, path, status, duration, headers and - for Node.js - captured console output, error stacks and the trace ID that joins it to its distributed trace.
Monitors & Alerts
Monitors evaluate every minute across error rate, p99 latency, CPU, memory, request volume and Kubernetes health - with separate warning and critical thresholds, and alerts that tell you when things recover, too.
Runtime & Host Metrics
Percentiles tell you something is slow; runtime metrics tell you why. Process CPU, memory RSS, host load and Node.js event-loop lag are sampled continuously by the same agent that traces your requests.
Kubernetes
The cluster agent snapshots nodes, pods, containers, workloads and HPA state, streams Kubernetes events with warning reasons, and can collect container logs for namespaces you opt in. Setup is guided from the console's integration wizard.
Under the hood
Six views the console gives you, drawn in line. Point at one to explore it.
Distributed tracing
One request followed from service to service, each hop timed - OpenTelemetry context propagation joins the spans for you.
Request logs
Every request logged with method, path, status and duration - and on Node.js, its console output alongside.
Errors
On Node.js, exceptions arrive with their stack and the trace ID of the request that raised them.
Host & runtime metrics
CPU, memory, host load and Node.js event-loop lag, sampled by the same agent that traces your requests.
Service dependencies
A per-service dependency graph shows what calls what, so a slow database reads as more than one red line.
Access control
Custom-role RBAC on Pro, and an audit log of every monitor edit, key rotation and invite.
One signal graph
Traces, request logs, host metrics, Kubernetes health and alerts land in one console - already connected, so nobody tabs between four tools to answer “what broke?”.
Polartrace console
30.4k
requests/h - traced, logged and monitored across 12 services
From alert to root cause
The alert links to the breach. The trace shows the database call that timed out. The request log carries the error and its stack. Minutes from page to patch - before customers notice.
trace 4f2a91
waterfall
request log
Node.js
ERROR payment gateway timeout after 1100 ms
trace_id=4f2a91 · stack trace attached
Kubernetes monitoring
The read-only cluster agent snapshots nodes, pods, workloads and HPA state, and streams Kubernetes events with warning reasons - right beside the services those pods run. Setup is guided from the console's integration wizard.
Cluster health
Pods by status
Kubernetes events
warnings by reason
Integration ecosystem
Node.js and Python agents built on OpenTelemetry, auto-instrumenting Express, Fastify, Koa, NestJS, Flask, FastAPI and Django - plus MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kubernetes and Slack. No YAML week.
Compare
Same core products - APM & tracing, logs, infrastructure. The difference is the invoice. List price to list price against Datadog and New Relic, verified October 2026.
vsDatadogvsNew RelicMonthly, at each vendor's published list rates. Hosts, data and team size as stated per row.
| Workload |  | Datadog | New Relic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter5 hosts · 30 GB/mo · 3 engineers | $89Starter $29 + 3 × $20 flat | ~$259Polartrace ≈ 66% less | ~$208Standard · Polartrace ≈ 57% less |
| Growth20 hosts · 100 GB/mo · 8 engineers | $399Growth $99 + 15 × $20 flat | ~$1,015Polartrace ≈ 61% less | ~$2,792Pro, annual · Polartrace ≈ 86% less |
| Pro50 hosts · 500 GB/mo · 15 engineers | $1,099Pro $299 + 40 × $20 flat | ~$2,775Polartrace ≈ 60% less | ~$5,395Pro, annual · Polartrace ≈ 80% less |
Datadog: annual list, verified October 2026 - Infrastructure Pro $15/host, APM $31/host attached to it, log ingest $0.1/GB plus 15-day indexing at $1.7 per million events (about 2 KB per event assumed). New Relic: verified October 2026 - every engineer as a full-platform user on the cheapest edition that admits the team (Standard: $10 first user, $99 each additional, max 5; Pro: $349/user annual), data over the free 100 GB at $0.4/GB, hosts free. Polartrace: current published plan prices and the flat $20 extra-host rate.
Every plan includes tracing, logs, metrics, Kubernetes and alerting. You pay for data and hosts past your allowance - at rates printed on the pricing page, with a spend cap you set.
No card required · every rate published · first overage invoice waived
Running Datadog or New Relic today? See what the same workload costs here
Thirty minutes with the team that builds it. Tell us when works for you and what you run - we'll come prepared.
Opens our Calendly page in a new tab - pick a 30-minute slot in your timezone, no account needed.
A 30-minute call, on your agenda
Prefer to skip the call? The free plan is 5 GB/month, never billed - two commands and you're live.
