What is Kubernetes monitoring?

Kubernetes monitoring refers to the process of tracking and analyzing the performance, health, and security of Kubernetes clusters, nodes, pods, and containers. It involves collecting and analyzing metrics, logs, events and traces to identify issues, optimize resource utilization, and ensure the reliability and scalability of Kubernetes environments

How does OpenObserve simplify Kubernetes observability?

OpenObserve simplifies Kubernetes observability by providing a unified platform for monitoring and troubleshooting Kubernetes applications. With OpenObserve, you can: - Collect metrics, logs, and traces from your Kubernetes cluster with minimal configuration and overhead.- Visualize performance and health metrics in real-time through customizable dashboards.- Receive proactive alerts and notifications for potential issues and security threats.- Analyze and troubleshoot issues with ease using our intuitive and scalable platform.

What are the key features of the OpenObserve Collector?

The OpenObserve Collector is a preconfigured OpenTelemetry (OTel) Collector that follows best practices to capture all signals from your Kubernetes environment. The key features include: - Metrics Collection: Gather metrics from your Kubernetes cluster, including CPU, memory, and disk usage.- Event Gathering: Capture events occurring within the cluster, facilitating real-time monitoring and alerting. e.g. which pods got evicted.- Log Aggregation: Collect logs from all pods, aiding troubleshooting and analysis.- Automatic Trace Capture: Enable tracing without requiring manual instrumentation of applications, using OpenTelemetry's auto-instrumentation capabilities.

Cluster-Wide Kubernetes Observability

Kubernetes Monitoring: Every Pod. Every Event. One Timeline

Complete Kubernetes visibility, from cluster to pod, in minutes.

Talk to a Human

1 Quick Install$_ Terminal

Cluster Name

prod-eu

TERMINAL

curl -sSL o2-datasource/k8s/install.sh | bash -s -- \
  --cluster-name=prod-eu \
  --access-key=•••••••••••• \
  --o2-url=https://your-org.openobserve.ai

Installs cert-manager, the OpenTelemetry operator and the collector automatically.

Workload Detection

Workload detected using fields

AWS Kubernetes

Cluster 6

prod-euprod-usstaging+3

Namespace 24

cert-managerkube-systempayments+21

Logs Traces Metrics

One command - logs, events, metrics and zero-code traces.

Nodes · Task Managerprod-eu

CPUMem %Disk %Net

pool-a-4f2c

0.95

35%

25%

47KB/s

pool-a-9d1e

0.84

22%

28%

54KB/s

pool-b-7b3a

0.74

40%

46%

68KB/s

system-2c8f

0.43

65%

28%

44KB/s

pool-b-e50d

0.23

55%

26%

24KB/s

Alerts · LibraryK8s 46

38Ready

8Not ingested

46All

Kubernetes API server errorsCritical

PROMQLapiserver_request_total

Kubernetes Node not readyCritical

PROMQLkube_node_status_condition

Kubernetes CronJob failingCritical

PROMQLkube_cronjob_status_last_sched…

Dashboards and 46 PromQL rules, already built.

user_add_to_cart · 9 spans

load-generatorIuser_add_to_cart

frontend-proxyCGET200

frontend-proxyCPOST200

cartSAddItem

valkey-cartCHGET

valkey-cartCHMSET

valkey-cartCEXPIRE

cartSGetCart

Span · Metrics

Service cartDuration 1.53ms

Correlated by: Namespace paymentsCluster prod-eu

Podcart-7d4f9c6b8-x2k4p

Nodenode-pool-a-4f2c

k8s_pod_cpu_usage

k8s_pod_memory_usage

Open a span, see the pod metrics for the pod that served it.

Native Kubernetes integrations

Connect your cluster in minutes. OpenObserve ingests directly from the tools you already run - no agents, no custom glue code.

Kubernetes setup guide

Complete Kubernetes Observability

Full visibility into containers, workloads, and infrastructure performance across clusters.

Stand Up In Minutes

Monitor your Kubernetes environment instantly with the OpenObserve Collector. Automatically capture metrics, logs, and traces.

Reduce Kubernetes Costs

Identify Kubernetes inefficiencies and optimize resources for immediate cost savings.

Why Use OpenObserve for Kubernetes Monitoring?

Unified Kubernetes Monitoring

Pod-Level Observability
Spot resource problems at the exact pod causing them. Track CPU, memory, and network metrics down to the pod level.
Live Cluster Dashboards
See application and infrastructure health the moment it changes, not after refreshing a stale dashboard.

Multi Cluster Visibility

In-Cluster Event Capture
Track every Kubernetes object in one place. Events for pods, deployments, HPA, and more are captured automatically.
Cross-Cluster Correlation
Compare and correlate events across every cluster you run instead of checking each one separately.

Resource Optimization

Resource Metrics
Allocate resources based on actual usage, not guesswork. CPU, memory, and storage utilization are tracked across nodes, pods, and containers.
Usage-Based Scaling Decisions
Scale with confidence using real usage patterns instead of static thresholds.

Uptime & Incident Management

Availability Monitoring
Know a cluster or app is down before a user tells you. Automated health checks run continuously.
Incident Response
Get from alert to diagnosis fast. Instant alerts come paired with the diagnostic detail needed to act.

Benchmarks

Measured against industry leaders

Same telemetry, same workloads, one platform. Every number is OpenObserve against a named vendor - not an industry average.

vs. Datadog
8×
more cost-effective
8x cost reduction means you can unify your observability into a single platform.
vs. Elastic
140×
storage efficiency
140x storage means longer retention doesn't necessarily mean expensive bills.
vs. Grafana stack
5–15×
faster performance
5x to 15x faster queries mean dashboards load in milliseconds, not minutes.

See how much you'd save switching today.

Calculate Your Savings

Testimonials

Teams trust OpenObserve with their Kubernetes clusters

Correlate between the environments and signals across various sources with OpenObserve built-in correlation engine.

“OpenObserve helped us migrate from Datadog in under an hour... reducing observability costs by 4x.”

Lower observability cost

< 1 hour

Migrated off Datadog

Flat pricing

No month-end surprises

Start in just a few steps

From zero to Kubernetes dashboards in minutes - no agents to babysit, no pipelines to wire by hand.

See the guide

1
Sign up
Spin up a
in the region closest to you.
2
Connect your cluster
Deploy the OpenObserve Collector to your cluster and load prebuilt Kubernetes dashboards in a couple of clicks.
3
Visualize
Watch logs, metrics, and traces stream in - correlated and query-ready from the first event.

Resources

Explore guides, videos, and articles

to help you get the most out of Kubernetes monitoring.

DOC