Splunk vs Openobserve
Self-hosted for $4/mo on hetzner CAX11, versus $150-$1800/user/mo on Splunk.
Side-by-side
| Splunk | Openobserve (self-hosted) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $150-$1800/user/mo | $4.13/mo flat (any team size) |
| Hosting | Splunk's servers | Your VPS (hetzner CAX11) |
| Data ownership | Splunk controls the data | Your disk, your encryption |
| Source code | Closed | Open (AGPL-3.0) |
| Customization | API + integrations only | Full source access; modify freely |
| Maintenance burden | Zero | Backups + updates (Docker available) |
| Health score (ossreplace) | — | 72 / 100 |
Why teams leave Splunk
- Pricing model so opaque enterprises hire consultants to model it
- Index-volume billing punishes verbose logging
- License compliance audits are intrusive
- Cloud-locked at the high tiers
Openobserve answers this by: OpenObserve, Quickwit, and ELK-style stacks give the same log search + dashboards on a single VPS.
The cost math
Assumes 5-person team using Splunk at the midpoint price ($975/user/mo).
| Period | Splunk | Openobserve on hetzner | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $4875 | $4.13 | $4870.87 |
| Yearly | $58500 | $49.56 | $58450.44 |
| 3 years | $175,500 | $149 | $175,351 |
Deploy Openobserve now
One-click deploys at the cheapest provider for this workload:
Affiliate disclosure — these links may earn ossreplace a commission at no cost to you.
Common questions
Is Openobserve a good alternative to Splunk?
Openobserve is an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Splunk with an ossreplace health score of 72/100 — a composite of project activity, maturity, community, security, and adoption. It runs on your own hetzner VPS from $4.13/mo with full source access under the AGPL-3.0 license, versus Splunk's $150–1800/user/mo hosted plans.
How much cheaper is Openobserve than Splunk?
A 5-person team pays about $4875/mo on Splunk. Self-hosting Openobserve on hetzner CAX11 costs a flat $4.13/mo regardless of team size — roughly $175,351 less over three years (100% lower).
Is Openobserve hard to self-host?
Openobserve ships a Docker setup, so deployment is usually a single docker-compose command on a $4.13/mo VPS. You own the backups and updates, and there are no per-seat fees.
Do you keep control of your data with Openobserve vs Splunk?
Yes. Because Openobserve runs on your own server, the data lives on your disk under your encryption. With Splunk, Splunk controls the hosting, storage, and access.