What is OpenTelemetry

OpenTelemetry is an observability framework and toolkit developed under the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) that focuses on generating, collecting, managing, and exporting telemetry data such as traces, metrics, and logs while remaining vendor- and tool-agnostic. It is not an observability backend but rather facilitates easy instrumentation of applications across various languages, infrastructures, or runtime environments by adhering to the principles of data ownership and avoiding vendor lock-in. OpenTelemetry emerged from the merger of OpenTracing and OpenCensus projects to address the lack of a standardized method for instrumenting code and transmitting telemetry data. Despite its comprehensive approach, which aims to standardize the collection of observability data, some developers criticize it for being bloated, slow, and inefficient due to its attempt to cover a wide scope of functionalities. This broad focus can lead to challenges in integration with existing observability and error monitoring platforms.

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