Spanly vs Temporal AI

Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and ratings

Analysis reviewed Live tool data as of 2026-10-19
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At a glance

DimensionSpanlyTemporal AI
PurposeMCP-native observabilityDurable execution for AI workflows
Target UsersMCP server teamsAI agent & microservices teams
Pricing ModelFreemium (pay per request)Freemium (usage-based billing)
Open SourceYes (SDK/CLI, Apache 2.0)Yes (core, MIT license)
Key DifferentiatorReal-time MCP request tracingAutomatic state capture & retries
Latest News HighlightAgentjacking warning (June 2026)Usage-based billing & custom roles (June 2026)

Choose Spanly if you already have an APM and need deep MCP-specific tracing with low overhead; it's purpose-built for MCP servers. Choose Temporal if you need to build reliable, long-running AI agent workflows with automatic retries and state persistence, even without MCP. For teams doing both, they complement each other.

Try SpanlyTry Temporal AI
Spanly
Spanly

Spanly traces every MCP JSON-RPC packet, scans live tool calls for agent exploits, and canary-tests patches on real sessions.

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Temporal AI
Temporal AI

Durable execution platform that keeps AI agents and long-running workflows alive through crashes, retries, and abandoned sessions.

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Pricing
Freemium
Freemium
Plans
$0/mo
$82.50/mo billed annually at $990
$415.83/mo billed annually at $4,990
Custom
$0 ($150 credits for 90 days)
Starting at $50 per million actions
Greater of $500/mo or 10% of usage
Custom
Popularity
2 views
7.5k views
Skill Level
Advanced
Advanced
API Available
Platforms
WebCLIAPI
WebAPI
Categories
🔌 MCP Servers & Agent Tooling📡 LLM Observability & Evals
🕸️ Agent Frameworks & Orchestration⚙️ Developer Infrastructure
Features
Real-time MCP tracing with full JSON-RPC request and response capture
Packet-based metering: every request, response, and notification is one packet
P50/P95/P99 latency broken out per server, client, prompt, resource, and tool
CLI wrapper (spanly run) for zero-code-change instrumentation over stdio or HTTP
CLI reverse proxy (spanly proxy) in front of an already-running MCP server
TypeScript SDK with one-line Express/HTTP middleware (@spanly/sdk)
Python ASGI middleware for 3.10+ (spanly package)
Docker sidecar deployment path
MCP Gateway on a Spanly subdomain or your own domain (Business)
OpenTelemetry ingestion of MCP spans plus export back to your APM
132+ security scanners for prompt injection, tool poisoning, secrets, and schema issues
Live traffic screening of production tool calls, severity-ranked per tool
Patch workflow: draft a fix, canary or A/B test on live sessions, apply until upstream ships
Health monitors that inventory tools, prompts, and resources and alert on downtime
Client conformance monitoring across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, Windsurf, Copilot, and Zed
Durable execution captures Workflow state at every step with no checkpointing or recovery code
Native SDKs for Go, Java, Python, TypeScript, .NET, PHP, Ruby, and Rust
Activities retry automatically with backoff, four timeout classes, and heartbeating
Signals, Queries, and Updates read and mutate running Workflows mid-flight
Workflow Streams for real-time interactivity with running executions
Durable AI agents via OpenAI Agents SDK and Google ADK running LLM and tool calls as Activities
Standalone Activities as a durable job-queue pattern, GA across six SDKs (2026-09-15)
Serverless Workers for Google Cloud Run, public preview (2026-10-05)
Serverless Workers for AWS Bedrock AgentCore, pre-release (2026-09-18)
Native Task Queue priority and fair distribution without a custom queueing layer
Durable Timers that sleep for months; cron Schedules with backfill and Continue-As-New
Saga pattern via compensating transactions that read like try/catch
Worker Versioning pins Workflows to a version so deploys don't corrupt in-flight runs
Cloud UI Strict Session Mode: 15-minute inactivity timeout, 12-hour max session (GA)
Replay tests validate against real histories; time-skipping tests fast-forward long timers in CI
Integrations
Datadog
Sentry
New Relic
OpenTelemetry
Slack
GitHub
Discord
OpenAI Agents SDK
Google ADK
AWS Lambda
Google Cloud Run
Amazon Bedrock AgentCore
Kubernetes
GitHub Actions
GCP Marketplace
Azure

What real users say: Spanly vs Temporal AI

Not marketing copy and not our opinion — a structured sweep of public discussion (reviews, forums, communities and video comments), showing what people praise and what they complain about for each tool.

Spanly

23 mentions across 3 sources · 40% positive — mixed (weighted across 3 sources)

Hacker News, YouTube, Product Hunt

What users praise

  • • Captures every JSON-RPC message, so p95 latency spikes come with an actual cause attached
  • • Zero-code CLI wrapper (npx spanly run) lowers adoption friction for existing MCP servers
  • • Tool-level and argument-level visibility is the exact blind spot HTTP APMs leave
  • • Per-client conformance across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windurf, Copilot, and Zed is genuinely useful

What frustrates them

  • • No independent production reports — all community signal traces back to founder-led launches
  • • Single founder means support, security response, and roadmap ride on one person
  • • Per-packet billing punishes chatty MCP servers; every notification counts
  • • No documented payload-level redaction for prompts and arguments, only headers

Researched Sep 30, 2026

Temporal AI

No verifiable community signal. We scanned public discussion on Oct 14, 2026 and found posts matching the name “Temporal AI”, but could not establish that they are about this product rather than something else sharing its name. Rather than publish a score built on the wrong subject, we publish none.

Who should pick which

  • MCP server operator
    Pick: Spanly

    Spanly provides real-time MCP request tracing, error capture, and performance metrics specifically for MCP servers. It integrates with existing APMs and supports EU/US data residency.

  • AI agent developer (reliability)
    Pick: Temporal AI

    Temporal's durable execution ensures AI agents survive crashes and retries, with automatic state capture and human-in-the-loop via signals. It works with OpenAI Agents SDK and Google ADK.

  • Platform team needing both
    Pick: Spanly

    Teams running MCP servers in production need MCP-native observability. Spanly complements Temporal by monitoring MCP server health and tracing tool calls.

  • Microservices orchestrator
    Pick: Temporal AI

    Temporal handles long-running multi-step workflows with Saga compensating transactions, automatic retries, and full visibility. It's overkill for simple cron jobs but ideal for complex orchestration.

  • Compliance officer (EU AI Act)
    Pick: Spanly

    Spanly's 2026-06-04 article provides a practical checklist for logging MCP tool calls under EU AI Act traceability requirements, and the platform supports EU data residency.

Frequently Asked Questions

Spanly vs Temporal AI: which should you choose?

Choose Spanly if you already have an APM and need deep MCP-specific tracing with low overhead; it's purpose-built for MCP servers. Choose Temporal if you need to build reliable, long-running AI agent workflows with automatic retries and state persistence, even without MCP. For teams doing both, they complement each other.

Can Spanly be used without MCP?

No, Spanly is specifically designed for MCP servers and only captures MCP JSON-RPC messages.

Can Temporal replace Spanly for MCP monitoring?

No, Temporal is a workflow engine, not an observability tool. It doesn't capture JSON-RPC payloads or provide per-tool metrics.

Do both tools offer open-source options?

Yes, Spanly's SDK and CLI are open source (Apache 2.0), and Temporal's core is open source (MIT). Both can be self-hosted.

Which is cheaper for a small team?

Spanly's free tier (100K requests) is generous. Temporal Cloud's free tier is limited; self-hosted Temporal is free but requires infrastructure.

Can I integrate Spanly with Temporal?

Yes, you could instrument a Temporal worker that calls MCP tools. Spanly would capture the MCP requests, while Temporal tracks the workflow.

Does Spanly support alerting?

Yes, up to 100 alert rules on the Business plan, with Slack/PagerDuty routing.

Does Temporal support human-in-the-loop?

Yes, via signals and pause/resume, allowing human approval before proceeding.

What's the latest pricing change?

Temporal introduced usage-based billing (Billable Actions) in June 2026 for better cost transparency. Spanly's pricing remains per-request tiers.

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Explore each tool further

Spanly
View Spanly reviewSpanly alternatives
Temporal AI
View Temporal AI reviewTemporal AI alternatives

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Last reviewed: July 2, 2026