Chronosphere
Chronosphere is a New York-based observability platform built for cloud-native infrastructure at scale.
Profile
Observability platform that helps engineering teams monitor and troubleshoot high-volume, distributed cloud-native applications at scale.
Chronosphere is a New York-based observability platform built for cloud-native infrastructure at scale. Founded in 2019 by Australian engineers Martin Mao (CEO) and Rob Skillington (CTO)—both veterans of Microsoft and Uber—the company emerged from the founders' work building M3, Uber's open-source metrics platform. The platform targets SRE, DevOps, and engineering teams managing Kubernetes and microservices environments.\n\nThe company raised ~$370 million across multiple funding rounds: $11M Series A (Greylock, 2019), $43.4M Series B (2021), and $173M + $115M in Series C tranches (2021–2023), reaching a $1.6B valuation by early 2023.
Chronosphere remained private until November 2025, when Palo Alto Networks announced a definitive agreement to acquire the company for $3.35 billion.\n\nBy late 2025, Chronosphere had reached $160 million+ in annual recurring revenue with triple-digit year-over-year growth, 145%+ net revenue retention, and 100% customer retention. Customers include DoorDash, Abnormal Security, and Astronomer, alongside a broader base of enterprise and AI-native organizations. The platform's core strength lies in managing high-cardinality, high-volume metric data generated by containerized systems.
Recent features include Differential Diagnosis (DDx) for distributed trace analysis, advanced SLO management, and an AI-Guided Troubleshooting capability launched in November 2025 with general availability planned for 2026.\n\nRecognition came via Gartner's 2025 Magic Quadrant for Observability Platforms, where Chronosphere was positioned as a Leader. However, 2025 also saw organizational turbulence: multiple rounds of layoffs occurred throughout the year—including one reduction affecting 50 employees—raising questions about operational efficiency and management execution. The acquisition by Palo Alto Networks, expected to close in H2 FY2026, positions Chronosphere as a core component of Palo Alto's AgentiX platform for autonomous remediation.
Who buys this
- SRE and DevOps teams at enterprises running Kubernetes and containerized microservices
- AI-native companies and large language model providers requiring real-time observability at petabyte scale
- Organizations seeking to reduce observability costs while maintaining comprehensive visibility across distributed systems
- Enterprise engineering teams managing high-cardinality metric data from complex infrastructure
Publicly disclosed clients
- DoorDash
- Abnormal Security
- Astronomer
Strengths and what to watch
Strengths
- Gartner Leader positioning in 2025 Magic Quadrant for Observability Platforms
- Founded by engineers with proven track record at Uber and Microsoft; built M3 observability platform operating at massive scale
- Strong growth: $160M+ ARR with triple-digit YoY growth, 145%+ net revenue retention, and 100% customer retention
Watch for
- Multiple 2025 layoffs (including one affecting 50 employees) signal operational challenges and management execution questions despite strong financial metrics
- Customer concentration risk among AI-native organizations and large language model providers
- Integration with Palo Alto Networks post-acquisition (expected H2 FY2026) may affect product roadmap independence and go-to-market positioning
Recent moves
Key Information
- Industry
- MGMT/Monitoring
- Founded
- 2019
- Headquarters
- New York
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Chronosphere?
Chronosphere is an observability platform designed for engineering teams managing high-volume, distributed cloud-native applications at scale. Founded in 2019 by former Uber and Microsoft engineers, it helps SRE, DevOps, and engineering teams monitor and troubleshoot Kubernetes and microservices environments with real-time visibility across complex infrastructure.
Who founded Chronosphere?
Martin Mao and Rob Skillington founded Chronosphere in 2019. Both are Australian engineers with extensive experience at Microsoft and Uber, where they worked on M3, Uber's open-source metrics platform. Mao serves as CEO while Skillington is the Chief Technology Officer, bringing proven expertise in building observability infrastructure at scale.
Who uses Chronosphere?
Chronosphere serves SRE, DevOps, and engineering teams at enterprises managing Kubernetes and containerized microservices. Notable customers include DoorDash, Abnormal Security, and Astronomer. The platform is especially popular among AI-native companies and large language model providers requiring real-time observability at petabyte scale while reducing operational costs.
How much revenue does Chronosphere make?
By late 2025, Chronosphere had reached $160 million in annual recurring revenue with triple-digit year-over-year growth. The company achieved 145% net revenue retention and maintained 100% customer retention, indicating strong product-market fit. These metrics contributed to its $1.6 billion valuation by early 2023 before being acquired by Palo Alto Networks.
What are Chronosphere's main features?
Chronosphere specializes in managing high-cardinality, high-volume metric data from containerized systems. Recent capabilities include Differential Diagnosis (DDx) for distributed trace analysis, advanced SLO management, and AI-Guided Troubleshooting launched in November 2025. These features enable engineering teams to reduce costs while maintaining comprehensive visibility and faster troubleshooting across complex distributed infrastructure.
Is Chronosphere being acquired?
Yes. In November 2025, Palo Alto Networks announced a definitive agreement to acquire Chronosphere for $3.35 billion. The acquisition is expected to close in H2 FY2026. Chronosphere will become a core component of Palo Alto's AgentiX platform for autonomous remediation, enhancing enterprise security and observability.
How Chronosphere compares
Direct head-to-head against 3 competitors. Picked by 7wData.
Chronosphere
- Positioning
- Observability platform that helps engineering teams monitor and troubleshoot high-volume, distributed cloud-native applications at scale.
- Customer segments
- SRE and DevOps teams at enterprises running Kubernetes and containerized microservices
- Strengths
- Gartner Leader positioning in 2025 Magic Quadrant for Observability Platforms
- Watch for
- Multiple 2025 layoffs (including one affecting 50 employees) signal operational challenges and management execution questions despite strong financial metrics
- Recent moves
- Chronosphere launches AI-Guided Troubleshooting with Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server integration
Datadog
- Positioning
- Cloud monitoring and security platform; 32,000 customers across DevOps, SRE, and security personas; targeting $4B+ revenue in 2026.
- Customer segments
- DevOps, SRE, and security teams at large enterprises; mid-market growing fast; 70% of ARR from customers above $100K spend.
- Strengths
- 83% of customers use two or more products; APM, logs, security, LLM monitoring, and GPU monitoring sold as one integrated surface.
- Watch for
- Multi-dimensional usage-based pricing consistently cited in customer reviews as generating surprise bills, driving cost-migration projects to alternatives.
- Recent moves
- Acquired Eppo, a feature flagging and experimentation platform, for approximately $220M in May 2025.
Grafana Labs
- Positioning
- Open-source observability stack plus managed cloud offering; $400M+ ARR; deployed at 70% of Fortune 50 organizations.
- Customer segments
- Platform engineering, SRE, and DevOps teams favoring open standards (OpenTelemetry, Prometheus); large enterprises and cost-sensitive mid-market buyers.
- Strengths
- Grafana, Loki, and Mimir are the dominant open-source observability components in Kubernetes environments; fully self-hostable with no proprietary lock-in.
- Watch for
- Self-hosted Mimir and Loki require significant operational expertise; Grafana Cloud costs scale unpredictably as data cardinality and volume grow.
- Recent moves
- Raised $250M Series E at $9B valuation, with GIC as lead investor, reported February 2026.
Dynatrace
- Positioning
- Full-stack observability platform repositioning as an operational control plane for enterprise AI and cloud environments; $1.97B ARR, publicly traded.
- Customer segments
- Large enterprises in financial services, public sector, and manufacturing requiring automated root cause analysis and full end-to-end stack visibility.
- Strengths
- Automated causal root cause analysis via Smartscape topology model; nine consecutive years as a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for observability.
- Watch for
- Dynatrace's own Perform 2026 event acknowledged POC success but enterprise rollout stalls; deployment complexity is a documented customer friction point.
- Recent moves
- Acquired DevCycle, a feature flagging platform built on the OpenFeature standard, in January 2026.
Sources
- chronosphere.io — Company overview, products, platform capabilities, Gartner Magic Quadrant positioning
- www.prnewswire.com — Series C-1 funding details, valuation, investor information, and metrics (NRR, retention)
- www.paloaltonetworks.com — Acquisition announcement, deal price ($3.35B), timeline, ARR metrics ($160M+), strategic rationale
- blog.pragmaticengineer.com — Founder background (Martin Mao and Rob Skillington), career history at Microsoft, Amazon, and Uber, M3 development
- www.globenewswire.com — Series A funding ($11M) in November 2019, founder background, Uber connection
- www.gartner.com — Gartner Magic Quadrant 2025 Leader positioning and customer ratings