# OpenTelemetry: how AI models rank it, September 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Named in 8 judge labels across 3 categories by 4 of 12 models. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/vendors/opentelemetry/

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application performance monitoring | 0% | 33 | 25% | 4 |
| Observability platforms | 0% | 20 | 0% | 3 |
| Infrastructure monitoring | 0% | 42 | 0% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "Grafana Tempo + OpenTelemetry (or SigNoz/OpenObserve) can be a very cost\u2011effective long\u2011term choice" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, APM)
- "The current industry trend favors OpenTelemetry for instrumentation (to avoid agent lock-in)" (Kimi K2, Infra monitoring)
- "Add OpenTelemetry for instrumentation (works with any stack)" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, Observability)
- "Vendor-neutral instrumentation standard" (Kimi K2, Observability)

## And against it

- ""Free Until Not Free" Reality... Operational Overhead" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, APM)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.