Comparison — vendor pages read 2026-11-11
Observability Unified vs HyperDX
HyperDX, part of ClickHouse's ClickStack, links session replay with logs and traces, and is available as HyperDX Cloud, as MIT open source, or as ClickStack.
Observability Unified is a self-hosted platform that connects traces, logs, replay, profiles, and AI agent activity through shared IDs, and gives AI agents evidence with citations through MCP. Each row below says Yes, Partial, or No for both products and links to the page that supports it.
Where Observability Unified differs
- MCP write tools off unless enabled. Writes register only with OBS_MCP_ENABLE_WRITES=true
- MCP results link to source records. Evidence bundles with citations; dashboard deep links when OBS_DASHBOARD_URL is set
- Agent tool calls alongside app traces. Agent Action Graph links tool calls to traces
- Compacted evidence for AI agents. CCR bundles collapse repeated logs to exemplars within a token budget; refs expand them
- Records what an agent's tool call changed. Before, after, and diff values your app attaches to a tool call, stored as sent
- Production traces become eval cases. Save as eval case from a trace or run; candidate runs compared step by step (HTTP API)
- Compare releases and flag variants. Error-rate lift per version and flag variant, normalized for traffic share
- Shared-dependency contention vs code regression. Shared-degradation verdicts separate contention from the new version
- Root cause states its level of proof. Proof tier from unverified locus to counterfactual verified, kept apart from link certainty
- Fix verified by re-running the failing case. Same eval input fails on the baseline and passes on the candidate
- Remediation behind approval or a policy gate. Approval queue or single-use grant; your runner executes; a watchdog checks recovery
- Matches new incidents to past ones. Prior findings matched by fingerprint appear in incident evidence bundles
- AI / LLM observability. AI calls, agent runs, evals
- CPU profile from a trace. When profiling is enabled and samples carry the trace ID
- Points out gaps in your instrumentation. Flags spans with unexplained self-time in the waterfall and in get_trace
Where HyperDX offers more
- Write your own queries over telemetry. Lucene and SQL search, plus raw SQL charts
- Vendor-hosted cloud service. HyperDX Cloud, or ClickStack in ClickHouse Cloud (beta)
- Built-in single sign-on. SAML on the Enterprise plan
Capability by capability
Investigating with AI agents
| Capability | Observability Unified | HyperDX |
|---|---|---|
| First-party MCP server | Yes Local stdio server, @obsunified/mcp-server our docs | Yes ClickStack open source, BYOC, and managed ClickHouse Observability clickhouse.com |
| MCP write tools off unless enabled | Yes Writes register only with OBS_MCP_ENABLE_WRITES=true our docs | Partial Write tools on once connected, with a per-user key clickhouse.com |
| MCP results link to source records | Yes Evidence bundles with citations; dashboard deep links when OBS_DASHBOARD_URL is set our docs | Not stated Not stated in the MCP docs clickhouse.com |
| Agent tool calls alongside app traces | Yes Agent Action Graph links tool calls to traces our docs | Partial OpenTelemetry LLM SDK guides hyperdx.io |
| Compacted evidence for AI agents | Yes CCR bundles collapse repeated logs to exemplars within a token budget; refs expand them our docs | Partial MCP log patterns and response trimming; pattern drill-down not yet released github.com |
| Agent skills for coding agents | Yes Instrument and investigate skills, released as .skill bundles our docs | Yes ClickHouse Agent Skills include a ClickStack OTel collector setup skill github.com |
Observing your own AI agents
| Capability | Observability Unified | HyperDX |
|---|---|---|
| Records what an agent's tool call changed | Yes Before, after, and diff values your app attaches to a tool call, stored as sent our docs | Partial Blog guide traces agent tool calls with input and output clickhouse.com |
| MCP calls recorded with trace context | Yes MCP spans join the action graph; an optional allow-listed envelope records the context our docs | Yes Blog guides trace MCP client and server calls with OpenTelemetry clickhouse.com |
| Production traces become eval cases | Yes Save as eval case from a trace or run; candidate runs compared step by step (HTTP API) our docs | Not marketed† Not found in the ClickStack docs read clickhouse.com |
Change-aware investigation and remediation
| Capability | Observability Unified | HyperDX |
|---|---|---|
| Compare releases and flag variants | Yes Error-rate lift per version and flag variant, normalized for traffic share our docs | Partial Release markers from service.version clickhouse.com |
| Shared-dependency contention vs code regression | Yes Shared-degradation verdicts separate contention from the new version our docs | Partial Event Deltas and service maps clickhouse.com |
| Root cause states its level of proof | Yes Proof tier from unverified locus to counterfactual verified, kept apart from link certainty our docs | Partial AI Notebooks summarize conclusions (beta) clickhouse.com |
| Fix verified by re-running the failing case | Yes Same eval input fails on the baseline and passes on the candidate our docs | Not marketed† Not in the ClickStack docs we read clickhouse.com |
| Remediation behind approval or a policy gate | Yes Approval queue or single-use grant; your runner executes; a watchdog checks recovery our docs | Not marketed† Not in the ClickStack docs we read clickhouse.com |
| Matches new incidents to past ones | Yes Prior findings matched by fingerprint appear in incident evidence bundles our docs | Partial Saved AI Notebooks (beta) and event patterns clickhouse.com |
Signals
| Capability | Observability Unified | HyperDX |
|---|---|---|
| Distributed tracing (OTLP) | Yes OTLP over HTTP; front gRPC with a Collector our docs | Yes OTLP over HTTP and gRPC hyperdx.io |
| Structured logs | Yes Trace-correlated our docs | Yes ClickHouse-backed, with live tail and patterns github.com |
| AI / LLM observability | Yes AI calls, agent runs, evals our docs | Partial OpenTelemetry LLM SDK guides hyperdx.io |
| Session replay | Yes rrweb, browser DOM only our docs | Yes Linked to logs and traces hyperdx.io |
| Browser click linked to its backend trace | Yes x-obs-interaction links a click to its trace, logs, and replay (browser SDK or header) our docs | Yes Session replay links to backend traces clickhouse.com |
| CPU profile from a trace | Yes When profiling is enabled and samples carry the trace ID our docs | Not marketed† No profiling product in the ClickStack docs clickhouse.com |
| One ID chain from user to agent action | Yes user_id → session_id → interaction_id → trace_id → span_id → action_id our docs | Yes Session replay links to backend traces; LLM view filters by user (beta) clickhouse.com |
| Write your own queries over telemetry | Partial Search and filters; no query language or SQL editor our docs | Yes Lucene and SQL search, plus raw SQL charts clickhouse.com |
| Points out gaps in your instrumentation | Yes Flags spans with unexplained self-time in the waterfall and in get_trace our docs | Partial Instrument-with-AI prompt and onboarding checklist clickhouse.com |
Deployment and access
| Capability | Observability Unified | HyperDX |
|---|---|---|
| Run the full platform yourself | Yes Docker image, Node + Postgres/S3, or Cloudflare our docs | Yes ClickStack open source clickhouse.com |
| Vendor-hosted cloud service | No Self-hosted only our docs | Yes HyperDX Cloud, or ClickStack in ClickHouse Cloud (beta) hyperdx.io |
| Built-in single sign-on | No Front it with Cloudflare Access or oauth2-proxy our docs | Yes SAML on the Enterprise plan hyperdx.io |
Choosing between them
Choose HyperDX if you want an open-source, ClickHouse-backed stack with session replay linked to logs and traces.
Choose Observability Unified if you want AI agents and engineers to investigate the same production evidence, with the telemetry kept on infrastructure you run. It is early-stage software suited to single-team deployments; the documented trade-offs include no built-in SSO, OTLP over HTTP only, and browser-only session replay.
How these cells were checked
Yes and Partial cells cite the vendor's own docs, pricing, product page, or official repository. No is used only where the cited page says so. Not marketed† means we read the vendor's product pages and found no such capability; it is an inference, not a vendor statement. Not stated means the vendor's docs do not say either way.
Rows for MCP write defaults, MCP links, agent tool calls, CPU profiles, self-hosting, and SSO were read on 2026-11-10 (ledger with excerpts). Rows for release and flag comparison, proof of cause, fix verification, gated remediation, click to trace, and dependency contention were read on 2026-11-11 (ledger with excerpts). Rows for compacted evidence for agents, agent skills, one ID chain, and instrumentation gaps were read on 2026-11-11 (ledger with excerpts). Rows for tool-call side effects, MCP call recording, production traces to eval cases, incident memory, and ad-hoc queries were read on 2026-11-11 (ledger with excerpts). The MCP server row was read on 2026-11-10 (ledger), and the remaining rows on 2026-10-13 (ledger). Vendors change their products often; if a cell is out of date, send a correction. The full comparison covers all nine vendors with excerpts.