A tracing system may divide trace objectives across multiple instances of an application, then deploy the objectives to be traced. The results of the various objectives may be aggregated into a detailed tracing representation of the application. The trace objectives may define specific functions, processes, memory objects, events, input parameters, or other subsets of tracing data that may be collected. The objectives may be deployed on separate instances of an application that may be running on different devices. In some cases, the objectives may be deployed at different time intervals. The trace objectives may be lightweight, relatively non-intrusive tracing workloads that, when results are aggregated, may provide a holistic view of an application's performance.