Hello! This is 
id:RyuGoo, sub-director of the Mackerel team. From today, we will release the OpenTelemetry-compatible metrics (labeled metrics) that we have been releasing as a public beta as an official version. Here we introduce the development policy for Mackerel's OpenTelemetry support in the future.
In addition, this is a reminder about the announcement at 1 October 2024, but we have updated our pricing structure from today. Please check again.
- OpenTelemetry-compatible metrics function is officially released
- Mackerel's future support for OpenTelemetry
- Notice of changes to the pricing structure
- For users of our sales partners or users via our sales partner's services
OpenTelemetry-compatible metrics function is officially released
As we announced in the announcement at 26 August 2024, Mackerel will evolve into an observability platform based on OpenTelemetry, as a "an easy-to-start and deeply rich observability platform".
From today (1st November 2024), we release the official version of the 'Metric Explorer' function, which posts OpenTelemetry-compatible metrics and allows you to explore these metrics to understand and grasp the status of your system.
What is OpenTelemetry-compatible metric?
OpenTelemetry is a vendor-independent standard for observability. Metrics of OpenTelemetry have the following advantages:
- You can collect metrics from many tools and services that support OpenTelemetry
- You can post metrics that allow for exploratory behaviour by attaching metadata (labels) to the metrics
- In Mackerel, you can post and use metrics flexibly without being restricted to the unit of hosts
In Mackerel, metrics that conform to the OpenTelemetry standard are called "labeled metrics". For more information on the background and thinking behind labeled metrics, please see the following article (in Japanese).
How to submit labeled metrics?
To submit labeled metrics to Mackerel, you can either instrument your application or service with the OpenTelemetry SDK, or use the OpenTelemetry Collector's Receivers. For more information, please see the following help page.
New ways of using labeled metrics
First, we will introduce how to use labeled metrics in the 'Metric Explorer'. The Metric Explorer is a function that searches for and visualises labeled metrics. You can search for metrics based on the label information attached to them, and display the results in a graph, while repeating trial and error on the screen. You can also apply functions such as irate and max to the displayed graph, or add it to a monitoring rule.
By using the Metric Explorer, you can narrow down the metrics that have a specific label or do not have a specific label, and check their status, or you can check the status while changing the values of labels with different values (e.g. HTTP status codes), etc., so you can use the metrics you find while exploring them to help with your investigation.
There is also a 'Query Graph' function for displaying labeled metrics as graphs on the custom dashboard. There is also an article (in Japanese) that introduces an example of reproducing system metrics by posting labeled metrics, so please take a look at that too.
Usage fees for labeled metrics
From today, there will be a charge of 11 yen (including tax) per metric per month for the use of labeled metrics. You can check how many metrics you are sending per day on the Usage tab of the Organization page.
Mackerel's future support for OpenTelemetry
Mackerel will continue to develop and support OpenTelemetry's 'traces' and 'logs' in the future.
As for 'traces', Vaxila is currently being released as a trial version, but we are working hard to release the official version in the first half of 2025. We are planning to release the 'log management function' in 2026.
We will continue to expand the range of supported environments based on OpenTelemetry, and we will continue to provide a unique Mackerel observability experience that is easy to introduce and easy to spread throughout the team.
Notice of changes to the pricing structure
*This English translation is for reference purposes only (original text).
In order to introduce a metric that is not bound by the unit of 'host' and to enable the use of more flexible metrics, we have updated the pricing structure from today (1st November 2024). As a reminder, please see below for details of the changes.
Changes
- A new pricing unit called "Metric" will be introduced, and the free Service Metric quota will be abolished
- The price of "Standard Host" will be increased
- A "Minimum Usage Fee" will be introduced
For a detailed explanation of the pricing system, please refer to How usage fees are calculated (starting November 1st, 2024).
Price Table
| Product Name | Usage until October 31, 2024 | Usage from November 1, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Host | 1,833 JPY (tax included) per Standard Host/month |
2,180 JPY (tax included) per Standard Host/month |
| Micro Host (no change) | 660 JPY (tax included) per Micro Host/month |
660 JPY (tax included) per Micro Host/month |
| Metric (newly introduced) | 11 JPY (tax included) per Metric/month |
Price conversions for each feature
| Item | Usage until October 31, 2024 | Usage from November 1, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Host Metric Count | If exceeded 200 metrics included in a Standard Host, cost of one Standard Host per every additional 200 metrics applies. | If exceeded 200 metrics included in a Standard Host, cost of 11 JPY (tax included)/metric applies. |
| Micro Host Metric Count | If exceeded 30 metrics included in a Micro Host, cost of one Micro Host per every additional 30 metrics applies. | If exceeded 30 metrics included in a Micro Host, cost of 11 JPY (tax included)/metric applies. |
| Service Metric Count | If there is at least one Standard Host registered, up to 200 metrics per organization are free. Cost of one Standard Host per every additional 200 metrics applies. |
Metric count conversion for service metrics discontinued, 11 JPY (tax included)/metric applies. |
| External URL Monitors Count | Up to 20 URLs free per organization if at least one Standard Host is registered. Cost of one Standard Host per every additional 20 URLs applies. |
Up to 20 URLs included in the minimum fee per organization. Cost of one Standard Host per every additional 20 URLs applies. |
| Machine Learning Anomaly Detection (no change) |
Cost of one Standard Host for every five hosts included in a role with Anomaly Detection for rolls applies. | Cost of one Standard Host for every five hosts included in a role with Anomaly Detection for rolls applies. |
For users of our sales partners or users via our sales partner's services
- For customers who have been contacted by us directly, the old prcing structure) will be applied (up to and including use in October 2025 at the latest). The timing of the transition to the pricing structure described on this page will differ for each customer.
- For users of our sales partners or users via our sales partner's services, the old prcing structure) will be applied (up to and including use in October 2025 at the latest). The timing of the transition to the pricing structure described on this page will differ for each sales partner.
