The main difference between SigNoz, Better Stack, and CubeAPM lies in focus and depth. SigNoz is an OpenTelemetry-based open-source tool, Better Stack centers on uptime and incident monitoring, while CubeAPM delivers full-stack MELT observability with predictable pricing.

Most teams start with SigNoz or Better Stack for affordability, but scaling brings higher ingestion and retention costs. At mid-sized scale, CubeAPM delivers roughly 55–65% lower observability costs compared to SigNoz and Better Stack, while keeping pricing predictable as workloads grow.

In this article, we compare SigNoz, Better Stack, and CubeAPM to help teams choose the right platform.

SigNoz vs Better Stack vs CubeAPM Comparison

Features	CubeAPM	SigNoz	Better Stack
Known for	Unified MELT observability platform with predictable costs.	OpenTelemetry-native logs, metrics, and traces platform.	Full-stack monitoring with integrated telemetry.
Multi-Agent Support	Yes (OTel, New Relic, Datadog, Elastic)	Partial (OTel)	Partial (OTel)
MELT Support	Full MELT	Full MELT	Full MELT
Setup	Self-hosted but vendor-managed	SaaS & Self-hosted	SaaS only
Pricing	Ingestion-based pricing of $0.15/GB	Logs: $0.3/GB Traces: $0.3/GB Metrics: $0.1/mil	Free Tier: 10 monitors Logs & Traces:$0.15/GB
Sampling Strategy	Smart sampling	Head + Tail-based	Tail + Head + Log
Log Retention	Infinite Retention	Logs: 15 days  Metrics: 30 days	Logs: 30 days Metrics: 13 months
Support TAT	Within Minutes	No details	Within minutes to hours

SigNoz vs Better Stack vs CubeAPM: Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Known For

CubeAPM: Unified MELT observability with predictable $0.15/GB pricing, unlimited retention, and self-host or BYOC deployment. Known for fast Slack-based support and deep OpenTelemetry integration.

SigNoz: Open-source OTel-native observability platform offering full APM, metrics, and log analytics with flexible hosting and transparent usage pricing.

Better Stack: Full-stack observability combining uptime, on-call, and log monitoring with a clean UI, Slack/Teams workflows, and simple Telemetry bundles.

Multi-Agent Support

CubeAPM: Ships with native multi-agent support, OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Datadog, New Relic, and Elastic collectors, making migration simple without re-instrumenting. Teams can ingest data from four plus agent types simultaneously for hybrid workloads.

SigNoz: OpenTelemetry-first. It accepts Fluent Bit, Fluentd, Logstash, Vector, Jaeger, and Zipkin through the OTel Collector, but does not maintain multiple vendor agents like New Relic or Datadog. It’s compatible, but not fully multi-agent by definition.

Better Stack: Clearly meets multi-agent standards. Its Telemetry backend supports Fluent Bit, Fluentd, Filebeat, Logstash, Vector, Prometheus remote_write, and the OpenTelemetry Collector, plus its own eBPF-based collector for containers and Kubernetes.

MELT Coverage

CubeAPM: Provides complete MELT coverage within a single OpenTelemetry-native platform. The suite includes APM, Infrastructure, Log, RUM, and Synthetic Monitoring.

SigNoz: Offers full MELT coverage using OpenTelemetry, supporting metrics, logs, and traces natively. At scale, a self-hosted option typically requires managing multiple backends (for example, ClickHouse and Prometheus), which adds operational overhead for deployment and maintenance.

Better Stack: Delivers full MELT coverage through its managed Telemetry stack, ingesting metrics, logs, and traces via multiple agents while generating events from alerts and incidents, with no backend management required by users.

Deployment & Setup

CubeAPM: Deployed self-hosted inside your VPC or on-prem, giving teams full control over telemetry data while being managed like a SaaS. This model removes operational burden, supports unlimited retention, and ensures predictable pricing without compromising data residency or compliance requirements.

SigNoz: Supports both Cloud SaaS and self-hosted deployments. While this flexibility suits teams that want OpenTelemetry control, running SigNoz in a self-hosted environment typically introduces operational overhead related to managing multiple backends and scaling storage.

Better Stack: Better Stack is a SaaS-only platform, with telemetry and monitoring data stored outside the customer’s environment. However, you still incur the data-out cost (charged by your cloud provider, like AWS) because you first send your telemetry data out from your cloud to the Better Stack cloud.

Pricing: Approximate Cost for Small, Medium & Large Teams

*Disclaimer: Pricing comparisons are based on standardized Small/Medium/Large team profiles defined in our internal benchmarking sheet. Actual costs may vary by usage, region, and plan. Please verify current pricing with each vendor.

An APM host is a host that is actively generating traces data and an Infra host is any physical or virtual OS instance that you monitor with any observability tool.

Below is a cost comparison for small, mid-sized, and large teams.

Approx. Cost for Teams	Small(~30)	Mid-sized (~125)	Large(~250)
CubeAPM	$2,080	$7,200	$15,200
SigNoz	$4,600	$16,000	$34,000
Better Stack	$5,723	$20,550	$43,350

CubeAPM: Cost for Small, Medium, and Large Teams

CubeAPM follows a single, predictable $0.15 / GB ingestion model with no additional fees for users, hosts, or retention. All telemetry types, logs, traces, and metrics are billed uniformly, ensuring cost stability as data scales.

• Small teams (~30): $2,080
  
• Mid-sized teams (~125): $7,200
  
• Large teams (~250): $15,200

CubeAPM is ideal for startups, SaaS providers, and enterprises managing multi-terabyte ingestion per month. 

SigNoz: Cost for Small, Medium, and Large Teams

SigNoz uses a hybrid pricing model

• Teams plan: $49 / month base
• Logs and Traces: $0.30 / GB 
• Metric: $0.1/mil samples

Here are the estimated costs for different team sizes:

• Small teams (~30): $4,600
  
• Mid-sized teams (~125): $16,000
  
• Large teams (~250): $34,000

While SigNoz remains a strong open-source choice, costs increase sharply at higher ingestion volumes.

Better Stack: Cost for Small, Medium, and Large Teams

Better Stack’s Telemetry bundles include fixed GB limits and metric datapoints, with overages charged:

• Free Tier: 10 monitors. 1 status page
• Logs & Traces: $0.10/GB ingested
• Metrics: $7.5/2B included
• Uptime: $21/month for 10 monitors 

Here are the cost estimates for different team sizes:

• Small teams (~30): $5,723
  
• Mid-sized teams (~125): $20,550
  
• Large teams (~250): $43,350

Better Stack suits teams emphasizing uptime and incident workflows, but limited retention makes it less cost-effective for long-term telemetry storage.

Sampling Strategy

CubeAPM: CubeAPM uses adaptive smart sampling to focus on high-signal telemetry such as errors, latency outliers, and anomalous traces, while suppressing repetitive low-value data. In practice, this can reduce overall telemetry volume by up to 95% without losing the context needed for root-cause analysis.

SigNoz: SigNoz relies on OpenTelemetry for trace sampling and volume control. It supports head-based sampling at the SDK level and collector-level filtering or tail-based decisions using OpenTelemetry processors, allowing teams to drop spans or traces based on attributes, services, or routes before storage. 

Better Stack: Supports log sampling through shipper-level controls to reduce noisy logs before ingestion. Head-based and tail-based sampling can be applied upstream using OpenTelemetry SDKs and collectors, allowing teams to manage telemetry volume before data reaches the platform.

Data Retention

CubeAPM: Offers unlimited data retention. Logs, traces, and metrics can be retained indefinitely without additional retention fees, giving teams full historical visibility and compliance-friendly data control.

SigNoz: Applies default retention limits on its Cloud offering, with 15 days for logs and traces and 30 days for metrics. These defaults define how long telemetry data is stored before being automatically deleted.

Better Stack:  Retains logs for 30 days by default and metrics for up to 13 months. This default retention window may limit long-term historical analysis and retrospective debugging for teams that require extended data history.

Support & Response Time

CubeAPM: Connects teams directly with core engineers through Slack and WhatsApp, delivering minute-level responses and white-glove onboarding.

SigNoz:  Offers support through email, Slack, GitHub, and community channels, with no publicly documented support turnaround time (TAT).

Better Stack: Better Stack provides support via email and documentation channels, and notes that the team will respond “as soon as we can, typically within a few hours,” with no publicly published incident response SLA for engineering-level escalation.

Which Tool Is Best for You? Why Brands Choose CubeAPM

Each platform has its strengths. SigNoz suits engineering teams who prefer open-source control and self-hosted transparency. Better Stack works well for organizations focused on uptime, incident response, and bundled telemetry. If your goal is unified observability with predictable scaling and deep OpenTelemetry coverage, CubeAPM clearly stands out.

Why Brands Choose CubeAPM

• Unified MELT Stack: Covers APM, Infrastructure, Logs, Real User Monitoring, and Synthetic Monitoring in one platform.
  
• Predictable Pricing: Transparent $0.15/GB ingestion model without per-user or host-based fees.
  
• Unlimited Retention: Keep all logs and traces forever when self-hosted or BYOC, ensuring compliance and audit readiness.
  
• Multi-Agent Compatibility: Works with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Datadog, New Relic, and Elastic agents for seamless migration.
  
• Smart Sampling: Reduces noise by retaining critical traces and compressing low-value telemetry automatically.
  
• Flexible Deployment: Available as SaaS, BYOC, or full self-host; deploy in your own cloud for total data control.

SigNoz vs Better Stack vs CubeAPM: Use Cases

Here’s when each platform makes the most sense, depending on your observability priorities and team scale.

Choose CubeAPM if:

• You handle large-scale telemetry ingestion and need predictable $0.15/GB pricing without user or host limits.
  
• You require unlimited data retention or BYOC/self-hosting for compliance and data ownership.
  
• You want a unified platform covering APM, Infra, Logs, RUM, and Synthetics.
  
• You need multi-agent compatibility and direct Slack/WhatsApp support for faster troubleshooting.

Choose SigNoz if:

• You prefer an open-source, OpenTelemetry-native observability stack.
  
• You want flexible hosting options like Cloud, BYOC, or self-hosted deployments.
  
• You need a lightweight APM solution with metrics, logs, and traces under one roof.
  
• You aim to avoid vendor lock-in while maintaining full pipeline control.

Choose Better Stack if:

• You focus on incident management, uptime, and on-call workflows.
  
• You want integrated status pages and alerting with modern UI and team visibility.
  
• You prefer simple bundle-based pricing with pre-sized Telemetry data limits.

Conclusion

Both SigNoz and Better Stack deliver solid observability experiences for growing teams, but each has limitations. SigNoz requires more setup and scaling effort, while Better Stack’s bundles can become restrictive at high data volumes.

CubeAPM solves these gaps with a unified MELT stack, predictable $0.15 / GB pricing, unlimited retention, and flexible self-host or BYOC deployment. Its OpenTelemetry-native design and minute-level Slack support make it ideal for modern, fast-moving DevOps teams.

If you’re ready to simplify observability and cut unpredictable costs, try CubeAPM today—a single platform built for complete visibility and total data control.

FAQs