![Jaeger performance monitoring Image](https://res.cloudinary.com/dh2nt6hgh/image/upload/v1761668504/images_rhvqll.png "Jaegar Self Hosted on Railway platform)

Deploy and Host Managed Jaeger Service with one click on Railway

Jaeger is a free, open-source distributed tracing system available on GitHub, originally created by Uber Technologies. It’s used for monitoring and troubleshooting complex microservices-based architectures. In simpler words, Jaeger helps you see how data travels through your system - from one service to another - making it easier to detect bottlenecks, errors, and performance issues. With a powerful community on the Jaeger GitHub repository, developers and DevOps teams use it to gain full visibility into their distributed systems and ensure better performance and reliability.

About Hosting Jaeger on Railway (Self Hosting Jaeger on Railway)

Self-hosting Jaeger allows you to keep your observability data under your complete control, without relying on third-party vendors. By hosting Jaeger yourself, you can collect traces, spans, and performance metrics from your applications and analyze them in real-time.

Why Deploy Managed Jaeger Service on Railway

Deploying a managed Jaeger service on Railway eliminates all the complexities involved in traditional infrastructure management. With Railway, you can focus entirely on observability and system performance while it takes care of setup, scaling, and updates. It’s the best of both worlds - the control of open-source Jaeger and the convenience of a fully managed cloud platform.

Railway vs Linode

On Linode, users must handle OS-level security updates, networking, and data persistence. Railway automates all of this, letting you deploy Jaeger in seconds without touching a single config file. It’s ideal for teams that value time and simplicity.

Railway vs Vultr

Vultr involves manual deployments, complex disk management, and performance optimization. Railway streamlines Jaeger hosting by handling all background tasks automatically, ensuring smooth operation and effortless scaling as your trace data grows.

Railway vs AWS Lightsail

While AWS Lightsail offers flexibility, it introduces networking complexities and requires manual scaling. Railway removes these hurdles, providing instant Jaeger hosting with built-in scaling, monitoring, and automatic maintenance.

Railway vs Hetzner

Hetzner is great for pricing but expects deep server management expertise. With Railway, all that heavy lifting - updates, scaling, backups - is automated. You just deploy Jaeger, connect your microservices, and start tracing.

Common Use Cases

Here are 5 common use cases for Jaeger:

Microservice Performance Monitoring: Track latency, requests, and bottlenecks across services.
Root Cause Analysis: Identify the exact service or function causing delays or errors.
Service Dependency Visualization: Visualize service interactions and dependencies in real time.
Performance Optimization: Detect slow endpoints and optimize them for faster response times.
Error Tracking: Pinpoint the precise point of failure within complex transaction flows.

Dependencies for Jaeger hosted on Railway

To host Jaeger on Railway, you need a few key components:

A Jaeger backend (collector, query, and agent services)
A database (commonly Elasticsearch, Cassandra, or Badger) to store trace data
A frontend UI to visualize and analyze traces

Deployment Dependencies for Managed Jaeger Service

A managed Jaeger service handles all these components automatically. Railway provisions the required database, sets up networking, and runs Jaeger services in secure environments without manual intervention.

Implementation Details for Jaeger (Distributed Tracing Platform)

When deploying Jaeger on Railway, you’ll set up environment variables such as SPAN_STORAGE_TYPE, JAEGER_AGENT_HOST, and JAEGER_COLLECTOR_ZIPKIN_HTTP_PORT. Railway takes care of provisioning storage backends and configuring network access.

How does Jaeger look against other observability and tracing tools

Jaeger vs Zipkin

Both are open-source tracing systems, but Jaeger supports more backends, provides better scalability, and includes an advanced UI for visualizing complex traces. Zipkin is simpler and lighter but less flexible for large-scale microservices.

Jaeger vs OpenTelemetry Collector

Jaeger focuses specifically on distributed tracing, while OpenTelemetry handles metrics, logs, and traces. However, Jaeger integrates seamlessly with OpenTelemetry as a backend for trace visualization.

Jaeger vs Grafana Tempo

Tempo is optimized for high-scale environments using object storage. Jaeger, on the other hand, offers better trace search capabilities, richer UI visualization, and broader support for various databases.

Jaeger vs Honeycomb

Honeycomb is a commercial SaaS observability tool. Jaeger offers similar tracing visibility but is open-source and free to self-host, making it cost-effective for developers and startups.

Jaeger vs Datadog APM

Datadog provides a paid APM solution with integrated dashboards. Jaeger provides a similar experience for free, with flexibility to customize storage, scale, and configuration when self-hosted.

How to use Jaeger

To use Jaeger, instrument your microservices using OpenTelemetry or Jaeger client libraries. Once deployed, Jaeger collects trace data and displays it in an interactive dashboard. You can search by trace ID, operation, or tag to understand performance bottlenecks and dependencies.

Deploy Jaeger on Railway.
Configure your services to export traces to the Jaeger collector.
Open the Jaeger web UI to explore traces in real time.

How to self host Jaeger on other VPS

Clone the Repository

Download Jaeger from GitHub using https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger.git.

Install Dependencies

Ensure your VPS has Docker or Kubernetes, along with Elasticsearch or Cassandra for storage.

Configure Environment Variables

Set environment variables like SPAN_STORAGE_TYPE, COLLECTOR_ZIPKIN_HTTP_PORT, and QUERY_BASE_PATH to configure your Jaeger backend.

Start the Jaeger Application

Run Jaeger with Docker Compose or Kubernetes manifests using docker-compose up -d or equivalent commands.

Access the Jaeger Dashboard

Visit http://:16686 in your browser to access the Jaeger UI, visualize traces, and start analyzing performance.

Or skip all this - and Deploy Now with Railway in a single click!

Features of Jaeger

Distributed tracing for microservice-based architectures
Root cause analysis and latency tracking
Real-time visualization of service dependencies
Integration with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, and Grafana
Storage backend support (Elasticsearch, Cassandra, Kafka, Badger)

Official Pricing of Jaeger

Jaeger is completely free and open-source, with no licensing costs. You can host it on your own servers or deploy it easily using managed platforms like Railway. The only costs incurred are for the infrastructure you use - storage, compute, and network resources.

Monthly Cost of Self Hosting Jaeger on Railway

Hosting Jaeger on Railway typically costs between $5–$15 per month, depending on your trace data volume and the chosen storage backend. This includes compute, storage, and data transfer costs - making it far more affordable than commercial observability platforms.

Self Hosting Jaeger vs Commercial Tracing Tools

Self-hosting Jaeger provides complete data control, zero vendor lock-in, and cost savings, while commercial platforms like Datadog, New Relic, or Honeycomb offer managed services but at a premium. With Railway’s managed environment, you get the best of both worlds - cost efficiency and zero setup hassles.

System Requirements for Hosting Jaeger

Minimum 2 vCPUs and 2GB RAM (recommended 4GB for production)
Persistent storage (Elasticsearch or Cassandra)
Docker runtime or container orchestration tool
Stable internet connection

FAQs

What is Jaeger?

Jaeger is an open-source distributed tracing system used to monitor and troubleshoot complex microservice environments.

How do I self host Jaeger?

You can self-host Jaeger by deploying it on your own VPS or using Railway for a one-click managed deployment.

What are the main features of Jaeger?

It provides distributed tracing, service dependency visualization, root cause analysis, and integration with observability tools like Grafana and Prometheus.

How do I deploy Jaeger on Railway?

Simply select the Jaeger template on Railway, set your environment variables, and Railway will automatically deploy and scale it for you.

What are the dependencies for Jaeger hosting?

You need a compatible database (like Elasticsearch or Cassandra), the Jaeger backend, and optionally, Docker or Kubernetes for container management.

What are the common use cases for Jaeger?

Jaeger is commonly used for debugging distributed systems, performance monitoring, visualizing service dependencies, and identifying bottlenecks in microservices.

How does Jaeger deployment on Railway compare to other VPS providers?

Railway automates scaling, monitoring, and backups, while other VPS providers require manual setup and maintenance.

What’s the difference between self-hosted Jaeger and SaaS tools like Datadog or Honeycomb?

Self-hosted Jaeger is free and fully customizable, while SaaS tools charge a subscription fee for managed hosting and additional features.

How much does it cost to self host Jaeger on Railway?

It typically costs around $5–$15 per month depending on usage, making it one of the most cost-effective tracing solutions available.