Grafana Labs Releases Tempo 3.1 With New Features
The update introduces security enhancements, Azure Event Hubs support, and improved query performance for tracing.
Updated on Oct. 15, 2026 in Cybersecurity
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Grafana Labs has officially launched Tempo 3.1, bringing significant upgrades to its distributed tracing architecture. This release includes support for Azure Event Hubs and critical security additions to the Kafka client.
Why it matters
Tempo 3.1 addresses connectivity gaps by adding TLS support for brokers requiring encryption, while also reducing operational costs through rack-aware fetching. These updates streamline trace management and performance for large-scale infrastructure.
Tempo 3.1 features the integration of vParquet5 as the default block format and adds a new POST /api/v2/traces/diff endpoint for trace comparisons. The update also enables rack-aware fetching through KIP-392 to minimize cross-zone data transfer costs.
The players
Grafana Labs
Grafana Labs is a technology company that develops open-source software for monitoring, logging, and data visualization.
The details
The software now allows users to perform trace redaction by utilizing TraceQL queries to filter resource and span attributes. Additionally, an experimental query-time hint has been introduced to correct metrics for sampled data based on OpenTelemetry probability sampling rules.
Timeline
Tempo 3.0 was published in June 2026.
Tempo 3.1 was released on October 15, 2026.
The Tech Race
Tempo 3.1 builds upon the Kafka-compatible architecture established in version 3.0, further distancing the platform from legacy ingester-based models. By adopting standardized protocols like KIP-392, the tool positions itself to better compete in cloud-native monitoring environments.
System administrators can expect faster execution times for metrics queries, which may lead to improved dashboard responsiveness. Developers using Azure Event Hubs will now benefit from native support, simplifying their backend integration workflows.
The takeaway
Users should prioritize implementing the new TLS and SASL mechanisms to ensure their Kafka clients remain secure in encrypted environments. Teams managing multi-zone deployments should also evaluate the rack-aware fetching feature to potentially lower their cloud data transfer bills.
Further reading
For more on the latest trends in securing observability tools, visit our Cybersecurity section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by InfoQ.
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