How SigNoz Pricing and Deployment Choice Work
SigNoz uses simple usage-based pricing for its managed cloud, and also offers a self-hosted edition you run on your own infrastructure. If you want someone else to operate the observability backend, choose SigNoz Cloud; if you need to keep telemetry on infrastructure you control, choose Self-Hosted SigNoz. The site provides a Pricing page and a monthly bill estimator so you can turn your expected telemetry volume into a cost figure before committing.
What the pricing model is
SigNoz describes its pricing as "simple usage-based pricing" that "stays predictable as you scale." That means your bill tracks how much telemetry you actually send and store rather than a flat per-seat license.
Two practical implications:
- Cost scales with usage. More traces, logs, metrics, and spans generally mean a higher bill, so the estimator is the right tool for forecasting rather than guessing.
- Predictability is a stated goal. The pricing page and calculator exist specifically so you can model monthly spend ahead of time.
The site does not publish specific per-unit rates in the material available here, so use the pricing calculator to get numbers for your own workload.
Cloud vs. self-hosted: the real decision
Both options run on the same OpenTelemetry-native platform. The difference is who operates it and where the data lives.
| Dimension | SigNoz Cloud | Self-Hosted SigNoz |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the backend | SigNoz (managed) | Your team, on your infrastructure |
| Data location | SigNoz-managed environment | Your own infrastructure |
| Operational burden | Lower — no backend to maintain | You handle deployment, scaling, upgrades |
| Cost shape | Usage-based pricing | Your own infrastructure cost |
| Best when | You want to move fast without running storage/query infra | You need data control or already run the infrastructure |
The site frames this as "the freedom to run on your infrastructure with Self-Hosted SigNoz" alongside SigNoz Cloud as the managed path.
What you get in either case
The platform is positioned as a one-stop observability tool covering:
- APM — P99, Apdex, database calls, and external calls per service
- Logs — columnar database search with trace correlation built in
- Tracing — load and analyze traces with up to a million spans
- Alerts — threshold, anomaly, and Apdex alerts on any telemetry signal
- LLM observability — OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, LiteLLM, and agent telemetry
- Infra monitoring — Kubernetes, hosts, and cloud metrics next to every service
- Dashboards — reusable templates for services, infra, cloud, databases, and LLM usage
It is built on OpenTelemetry, so instrumentation is vendor-neutral rather than tied to a proprietary agent.
How to estimate your cost
- Open the Pricing page and the monthly bill estimator.
- Enter your expected telemetry volume — the signals you plan to send (traces, logs, metrics) and roughly how much.
- Read the projected monthly figure and compare it against your budget.
- If the number works, start on SigNoz Cloud; if data control or existing infrastructure makes self-hosting cheaper or required, plan a self-hosted deployment instead.
Compliance and security signals
For teams that need to clear procurement, the site states SOC 2 Type II compliance and HIPAA compliance, and links a Trust Center. These are relevant if your deployment choice is constrained by data-handling requirements — check them against your own obligations before deciding.
Choosing between the two
- Pick SigNoz Cloud if you want the fastest path, don't want to run storage and query infrastructure, and are comfortable with usage-based spend.
- Pick Self-Hosted SigNoz if telemetry must stay on infrastructure you control, or if you already operate the underlying systems and prefer to absorb the cost there.
- In both cases, run your numbers through the estimator first — the deployment decision and the budget decision are linked, and the calculator is the intended way to connect them.