- ClickHouse excels in observability at large scales (e.g., 10TB/day) while maintaining consistency and performance, unlike other tools like Elastic, LGTM, and Datadog that struggle.
- Observability built on columnar storage represents a fundamental improvement over the traditional three pillars model, offering better handling of high cardinality data and scalability.
- Many newer observability vendors use columnar storage but market themselves as cheaper alternatives to Datadog without highlighting the architectural advantages, obscuring innovation.
- The author argues that the value in observability comes from unified data (like traces or structured logs) rather than segmented pillars, which is threatened by Datadog's business model.
- ClickHouse's willingness to align with 'Observability 2.0' contrasts with other vendors, as they focus on solving customer problems rather than just competing on price.