This document provides a categorized list of common observability tools used for metrics, logs, and traces, along with their default ports and alternatives.
📊 Metrics Collection
| 🔍 Tool | 🧩 Type | 🌐 Default Port(s) | 🔁 Alternatives |
|---|
| Prometheus 🟢 | Collector | 9090 | Zabbix, Graphite, VictoriaMetrics |
| Node Exporter 🟢 | Agent | 9100 | Telegraf, Collectd |
| cAdvisor 🟡 | Agent (Docker) | 8080 | Docker stats API, kubelet metrics |
| Alloy 🔵 | Agent | 12345 (configurable) | OTEL Collector, Fluent Bit + Prom Exporter |
| Cacti 🟣 | Poller/Frontend | 80/443 (Web UI) | MRTG, LibreNMS |
📦 Logs Collection
| 🔍 Tool | 🧩 Type | 🌐 Default Port(s) | 🔁 Alternatives |
|---|
| Loki 🔵 | Backend | 3100 (HTTP API) | Elasticsearch + Kibana, Graylog, Splunk |
| Promtail 🟢 | Agent | (Pushes to Loki) | Fluent Bit, Vector |
| Fluent Bit 🟡 | Agent | 2020 (HTTP), 5140 (Syslog) | Vector, Logstash |
| Fluentd 🟣 | Agent/Processor | (Configurable) | Logstash, Fluent Bit |
| Vector 🟣 | Agent/Router | 8686 (API), configurable | Fluent Bit, Promtail |
| Graylog 🟤 | Backend + UI | 9000 (Web), 12201 (GELF) | Elasticsearch + Kibana |
| Syslog-ng ⚫ | Agent/Forwarder | 514 (Syslog) | Rsyslog |
| NXLog ⚫ | Agent/Forwarder | (Configurable) | Syslog-ng, Fluentd |
| GoAccess 🟢 | Analyzer/Web UI | 7890 (Web) | Web log-specific tools |
| Octopussy 🟡 | SIEM/Log Analyzer | 514 (Syslog) | Graylog, OSSIM |
| CloudWatch Logs ☁️ | Cloud Service | AWS-managed | Sumo Logic, Datadog |
| Logwatch ⚫ | Analyzer (Local) | (Runs via cron) | System reporting tools |
🕵️♀️ Traces Collection
| 🔍 Tool | 🧩 Type | 🌐 Default Port(s) | 🔁 Alternatives |
|---|
| Tempo 🟢 | Backend | 3200 (gRPC), 4317/4318 (OTLP) | Jaeger, Zipkin |
| OTEL Collector 🔵 | Agent/Gateway | 4317 (gRPC), 4318 (HTTP) | Alloy, Fluent Bit (OTLP) |
📈 Visualization
| 🔍 Tool | 🧩 Type | 🌐 Default Port(s) | 🔁 Alternatives |
|---|
| Grafana 🟢 | Dashboard | 3000 | Kibana, Chronograf, Metabase |
🚨 Alerting
| 🔍 Tool | 🧩 Type | 🌐 Default Port(s) | 🔁 Alternatives |
|---|
| Alertmanager 🟡 | Alert Router | 9093 | ElastAlert, Grafana Alerting |
🧠 Legend
- 🟢 Stable and widely adopted
- 🟡 Lightweight or experimental
- 🔵 Modern replacement or hybrid agent
- 🟣 GUI-driven or rich ecosystem
- 🟤 Enterprise-ready/log-focused
- ⚫️ System-level or legacy
- ☁️ Cloud-native service