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Comparison · Infra & APIs

OpenStatus vs Clair

A side-by-side editorial comparison of OpenStatus and Clair — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

OpenStatus vs Clair: at a glance

FeatureOpenStatusClair
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score5.02.5
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesuptime-monitoring, heartbeat-monitoring, status-pages, incident-managementcontainer-security, vulnerability-scanning, sbom, red-hat
Last editorial update3d ago8h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is OpenStatus?

OpenStatus adds heartbeat monitors for cron jobs that fail without a sound.

OpenStatus can now watch cron jobs, backups and workers through heartbeat monitors: a job pings a unique URL, and OpenStatus alerts when the pings stop or report a failure. Status pages can also show uptime bars and timestamps in their own time zone rather than UTC. These follow per-resource API scopes, MCP setup tools and October's incident-management work.

Read the full OpenStatus trajectory →

What is Clair?

Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.

Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.

Read the full Clair trajectory →

OpenStatus vs Clair: editorial side-by-side

O
OpenStatus
INFRA · APIS
5.0

OpenStatus adds heartbeat monitors for cron jobs that fail without a sound.

◆ Current state

OpenStatus can now watch cron jobs, backups and workers through heartbeat monitors: a job pings a unique URL, and OpenStatus alerts when the pings stop or report a failure. Status pages can also show uptime bars and timestamps in their own time zone rather than UTC. These follow per-resource API scopes, MCP setup tools and October's incident-management work.

◆ Where it's heading

OpenStatus is widening from checking endpoints from the outside to catching background work that fails silently, while finishing off its incident and status-page flow.

◆ Prediction

Heartbeat monitors will probably be wired into the incident flow and MCP tools next, as earlier monitor and incident features were.

C
Clair
INFRA · APIS
2.5

Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.

◆ Current state

Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.

◆ Where it's heading

Since 4.8 Clair has moved from Red Hat's older OVAL data to VEX, and each release follows Red Hat's security data more closely. 4.10 adds SBOMs as an input, so Clair can match what an image's own manifest declares, not only what it finds on disk.

◆ Prediction

More 4.10 release candidates and then a final are likely; the long gap between releases suggests that could take weeks.

Alternatives to OpenStatus and Clair

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either OpenStatus or Clair.

See all OpenStatus alternatives → · See all Clair alternatives →

Recent activity from OpenStatus and Clair

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 13h agoClairClair 4.10 RC reads CycloneDX SBOMs for Java matching
  2. 7d agoOpenStatusStatus Page Time Zone
  3. 8d agoOpenStatusHeartbeat monitors
  4. 9d agoOpenStatusScopes per resource and MCP setup tools
  5. 1mo agoOpenStatusIncident management
  6. 1mo agoOpenStatusMaintenance updates
  7. 1mo agoOpenStatusStatus report timeline
  8. 11mo agoClairClair 4.9 moves CVSS data to NVD's 2.0 feeds
  9. 2y agoClairClair 4.8 replaces Red Hat OVAL data with VEX
  10. 2y agoClairClair 4.7.4 changes the default layer download location
  11. 2y agoClairClair 4.7.3 requires TLS 1.2 or newer
  12. 3y agoClairClair 4.7.2 drops the retired CRDA source

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between OpenStatus and Clair?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. OpenStatus is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is OpenStatus better than Clair?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. OpenStatus is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to OpenStatus?

Top OpenStatus alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "OpenStatus alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/openstatus for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Clair?

Top Clair alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Clair alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clair for the full list with editorial commentary on each.