Combining tracing and profiling for enhanced observability: Introducing Span Profiles

Grafana Labs has introduced Span Profiles in Grafana 10.3, a feature that enhances application profiling by combining tracing and profiling for more detailed observability. Unlike traditional continuous profiling, which provides a broad overview over fixed intervals, Span Profiles offers dynamic, focused analysis on specific execution scopes, such as individual requests or trace spans, enabling engineering teams to identify and address performance bottlenecks more efficiently. This integration allows for seamless transitions from high-level trace overviews to in-depth analyses of specific trace spans, enriching trace data with actionable insights and leading to significant performance improvements. For instance, Grafana Labs utilized Span Profiles to improve CPU utilization by four times, reduce API calls to object storage by three times, and achieve substantial cost savings in their operations. The feature is available in Grafana Cloud and Grafana 10.3, providing a powerful tool for optimizing application performance and reducing operational costs.