GigaOm Key Criteria for Evaluating Kubernetes Observability Solutionsv1.0

1. Executive Summary

Kubernetes observability refers to the comprehensive monitoring, logging, and tracing capabilities required to gain insights into Kubernetes clusters and the applications running within them. It involves tracking the performance, health, and operation of Kubernetes infrastructure and workloads, providing visibility into the complex, dynamic environment of containerized applications. Key components include metrics, logs, and traces that help diagnose operational issues, optimize performance, and ensure the reliability of the system.

Kubernetes has become the standard for container orchestration, enabling organizations to deploy, scale, and manage containerized applications efficiently. However, the inherent complexity and dynamic nature of Kubernetes environments present significant challenges in maintaining visibility and control. Observability is crucial for several reasons: it allows teams to identify performance bottlenecks and optimize resource utilization, facilitates rapid identification and resolution of issues, minimizes downtime and service disruption, helps detect and respond to security threats, ensures compliance with regulatory requirements, and enables proactive management of the infrastructure, reducing operational overhead and improving overall efficiency.

Kubernetes observability is essential for various stakeholders within an organization, including: DevOps teams responsible for maintaining the health and performance of applications and infrastructure, developers for debugging and optimizing application code, site reliability engineers (SREs) for ensuring the reliability, availability, and performance of services, security teams for monitoring and responding to security incidents, and executives (CxOs) for ensuring that the IT infrastructure supports business objectives and delivers value.

Business Imperative
From a CxO perspective, Kubernetes observability is both a technical necessity and a strategic business imperative for today’s hyper-changing environments. Enhanced customer experience is a key benefit because ensuring the reliability and performance of applications directly contributes to better customer satisfaction, which is crucial for maintaining competitive advantage and customer loyalty. Observability also aids in cost management by optimizing resource utilization, leading to significant savings in cloud infrastructure and operational expenses. It creates agility and innovation by providing comprehensive visibility, enabling organizations to accelerate their development and deployment cycles, fostering innovation, and enabling faster time-to-market. Additionally, observability helps mitigate risks through proactive monitoring and alerting systems, identifying potential issues before they escalate, and ensuring service continuity. Lastly, the insights derived from observability data enable informed decision-making, which supports strategic planning and iterative operational improvements.

Sector Adoption Score
To help executives and decision-makers assess the potential impact and value of a Kubernetes observability solution deployment to the business, this GigaOm Key Criteria report provides a structured assessment of the sector across five factors: benefit, maturity, urgency, impact, and effort. By scoring each factor based on how strongly it compels or deters adoption of a Kubernetes observability solution, we provide an overall Sector Adoption Score (Figure 1) of 4.2 out of 5, with 5 indicating the strongest possible recommendation to adopt. This indicates that a Kubernetes observability solution is a credible candidate for deployment and worthy of thoughtful consideration.

The factors contributing to the Sector Adoption Score for Kubernetes observability are explained in more detail in the Sector Brief section that follows.

Figure 1. Sector Adoption Score for Kubernetes Observability

This is the first year that GigaOm has reported on the Kubernetes observability space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports.

This GigaOm Key Criteria report highlights the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) for selecting an effective Kubernetes observability solution. The companion GigaOm Radar report identifies vendors and products that excel in those decision criteria. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading Kubernetes observability offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.