Why Some Roles Care About Open Source & Why Others Don't: 4th Annual Observability Survey | Grafana

Grafana

May 13, 2026

Note: We're happy to share that since the recording of this video, OpenTelemetry *has* graduated from the CNCF!

SREs, developers, and CTOs say open source is essential to observability. Engineering managers and directors? Not so much. Grafana's 4th annual observability survey — 1,363 responses — reveals a split inside the same orgs that's worth a conversation.

Myrle Krantz walks through what the data shows: 77% of respondents see open source as at least somewhat important, but that number varies sharply by role and region (Europeans value it more than North Americans, in part driven by digital sovereignty). The video unpacks why executives, individual contributors, and observability vendors each have different reasons to care — from vendor exit strategies and negotiation leverage, to hiring, customization, and skill portability. It also covers the state of OpenTelemetry and Prometheus adoption: Prometheus is still roughly twice as production-mature as OpenTelemetry, though 74% of teams are using OTel more than last year. Plus: the ongoing compatibility work between OTel and Prometheus, OpenTelemetry's blocked CNCF graduation, and how AI-generated contributions are accelerating both projects.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

0:58 Open Source Importance: 77%

2:04 Regional and Role Differences

3:00 Why Executives Care

4:54 Why Developers Care

5:46 Vendor Contributions

6:46 OpenTelemetry's Appeal

7:45 Production Adoption Compared

9:46 OTel and Prometheus Compatibility

10:43 AI Meets Open Source

Links/resources:
Learn about the Observability Survey: https://grafana.com/observability-survey/
Interact with the data: https://play.grafana.org/d/ros4dc5/fourth-annual-observability-survey
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