groundcover

High-Level Overview

groundcover is a cloud-native observability platform powered by eBPF, designed for modern production environments. It provides comprehensive monitoring including log management, infrastructure monitoring, and application performance monitoring (APM), enabling teams to capture full-fidelity telemetry without sampling, rate limits, or cost compromises.[1][2][3][4] Serving engineering teams at scale—such as those at BigBasket—groundcover solves the problem of expensive, restrictive SaaS observability by running in users' own VPCs with flat per-host pricing starting at $20/month, zero code changes, and unlimited data retention.[2][3][4] Its growth momentum is evident in positive user reviews praising cost reductions (e.g., halving expenses while expanding coverage), ease of deployment, and robust insights, positioning it as a strong alternative to incumbents like New Relic and Grafana Labs.[1][2][4]

Origin Story

Founded in 2021 in Tel Aviv, Israel, groundcover was co-founded by Shahar Azulay (CEO) and Yechezkel Rabinovich (CTO), who brought expertise in cloud-native technologies to challenge legacy observability tools.[1][3] The idea emerged from recognizing the limitations of SaaS-based solutions—high costs, data tradeoffs, and lack of control—in increasingly complex cloud-native stacks involving Kubernetes, microservices, and LLMs.[2][3] Early traction came from its eBPF-powered sensor, which deploys instantly for full-stack visibility without instrumentation, quickly gaining trust from production teams demanding more data and less hassle; the company now operates with a presence in California and is actively expanding its team.[3]

Core Differentiators

groundcover stands out in the crowded observability market through these key advantages:

• eBPF-Powered, Zero-Friction Deployment: Streams enriched logs, traces, and metrics across infra, apps, and LLMs with no code changes or heavy setup, delivering complete visibility out-of-the-box.[2][3][4]
• BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud) Model: Runs entirely in the user's VPC for superior security, data residency, and privacy, escaping SaaS limits like sampling and ingestion taxes.[2][3]
• Cost Predictability and Scale: Flat per-host pricing with no tiers, unlimited cardinality/retention, and minimal footprint—users report halving costs while achieving full prod/dev/test coverage.[2][4]
• All-Inclusive Experience: Intuitive UI, real-time analytics, automatic correlation of signals, and top-rated support; 77% of reviews highlight efficiency and ease over competitors.[4]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

groundcover rides the observability explosion in cloud-native ecosystems, where Kubernetes, serverless, and AI workloads generate massive telemetry that traditional SaaS tools (e.g., New Relic, Chronosphere) struggle to handle cost-effectively.[1][2] Its timing is ideal amid rising data sovereignty regulations, eBPF maturity, and DevOps demands for full-fidelity insights without vendor lock-in—market forces like exploding cloud costs (up to 30-50% from monitoring alone) favor its BYOC approach.[2][3] By enabling teams to own their data and scale infinitely, groundcover influences the ecosystem toward self-hosted, developer-centric tools, reducing reliance on bloated SaaS and accelerating innovation in high-scale environments like e-commerce and fintech.[1][4]

Quick Take & Future Outlook

groundcover is poised to capture share from SaaS giants as teams prioritize control and cost in an era of hyperscale AI and edge computing. Expect expansions into LLM-specific observability, deeper integrations with emerging stacks, and global growth via its Tel Aviv-California hubs, potentially drawing more venture backing. Trends like eBPF ubiquity and zero-trust architectures will amplify its edge, evolving it from challenger to category leader—owning observability starts here, freeing engineers to build without boundaries.[2][3]