diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d0be48b..661750d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ The tracing flags are used by `cmd.NewTracer` to create a new open telemetry `tr
 
 #### FlagTracingExporter: *--tracing.exporter, $TRACING_EXPORTER*
 
-This flag sets the exporter to send spans to. The available options are `zipkin`, `otlphttp` and `otlpgrpc`.
+This flag sets the exporter to send spans to. The available options are `otlphttp` and `otlpgrpc`.
 
 Example: `--tracing.exporter=otlphttp`
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 7a7b03b..226c4ca 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ require (
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel v1.39.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracegrpc v1.39.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracehttp v1.39.0
-	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/zipkin v1.39.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk v1.39.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace v1.39.0
 )
@@ -38,7 +37,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.14 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20 // indirect
 	github.com/munnerz/goautoneg v0.0.0-20191010083416-a7dc8b61c822 // indirect
-	github.com/openzipkin/zipkin-go v0.4.3 // indirect
 	github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/prometheus/client_golang v1.23.2 // indirect
 	github.com/prometheus/client_model v0.6.2 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 7ad2617..e6863a9 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -57,8 +57,6 @@ github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20 h1:xfD0iDuEKnDkl03q4limB+vH+GxLEtL/jb4xVJSWWE
 github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20/go.mod h1:W+V8PltTTMOvKvAeJH7IuucS94S2C6jfK/D7dTCTo3Y=
 github.com/munnerz/goautoneg v0.0.0-20191010083416-a7dc8b61c822 h1:C3w9PqII01/Oq1c1nUAm88MOHcQC9l5mIlSMApZMrHA=
 github.com/munnerz/goautoneg v0.0.0-20191010083416-a7dc8b61c822/go.mod h1:+n7T8mK8HuQTcFwEeznm/DIxMOiR9yIdICNftLE1DvQ=
-github.com/openzipkin/zipkin-go v0.4.3 h1:9EGwpqkgnwdEIJ+Od7QVSEIH+ocmm5nPat0G7sjsSdg=
-github.com/openzipkin/zipkin-go v0.4.3/go.mod h1:M9wCJZFWCo2RiY+o1eBCEMe0Dp2S5LDHcMZmk3RmK7c=
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 h1:4DBwDE0NGyQoBHbLQYPwSUPoCMWR5BEzIk/f1lZbAQM=
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0/go.mod h1:iKH77koFhYxTK1pcRnkKkqfTogsbg7gZNVY4sRDYZ/4=
 github.com/prometheus/client_golang v1.23.2 h1:Je96obch5RDVy3FDMndoUsjAhG5Edi49h0RJWRi/o0o=
@@ -98,8 +96,6 @@ go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracegrpc v1.39.0 h1:in9O8
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracegrpc v1.39.0/go.mod h1:Rp0EXBm5tfnv0WL+ARyO/PHBEaEAT8UUHQ6AGJcSq6c=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracehttp v1.39.0 h1:Ckwye2FpXkYgiHX7fyVrN1uA/UYd9ounqqTuSNAv0k4=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracehttp v1.39.0/go.mod h1:teIFJh5pW2y+AN7riv6IBPX2DuesS3HgP39mwOspKwU=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/zipkin v1.39.0 h1:zas8I6MeDWD5rxJmkXcCPRnpvNtZHkENiTkX/eJlycg=
-go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/zipkin v1.39.0/go.mod h1:SmFF1H2pTNFFvD4NqRanxPP8W+8KjTgFJhJQi3C6Co0=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.21.0/go.mod h1:o1p3CA8nNHW8j5yuQLdc1eeqEaPfzug24uvsyIEJRWM=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.39.0 h1:d1UzonvEZriVfpNKEVmHXbdf909uGTOQjA0HF0Ls5Q0=
 go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.39.0/go.mod h1:jrZSWL33sD7bBxg1xjrqyDjnuzTUB0x1nBERXd7Ftcs=
diff --git a/trace.go b/trace.go
index a64e05b..1bf9118 100644
--- a/trace.go
+++ b/trace.go
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import (
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/attribute"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracegrpc"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracehttp"
-	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/zipkin"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/resource"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/trace"
 	semconv "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/semconv/v1.24.0"
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ var TracingFlags = Flags{
 	&cli.StringFlag{
 		Name:     FlagTracingExporter,
 		Category: CategoryTracing,
-		Usage:    "The tracing backend. Supported: 'zipkin', 'otlphttp', 'otlpgrpc'.",
+		Usage:    "The tracing backend. Supported: 'otlphttp', 'otlpgrpc'.",
 		Sources:  cli.EnvVars(strcase.ToSNAKE(FlagTracingExporter)),
 	},
 	&cli.StringFlag{
@@ -109,8 +108,6 @@ func createExporter(ctx context.Context, cmd *cli.Command) (trace.SpanExporter,
 	switch backend {
 	case "":
 		return nil, nil //nolint:nilnil
-	case "zipkin":
-		return zipkin.New(endpoint)
 	case "otlphttp":
 		opts := []otlptracehttp.Option{otlptracehttp.WithEndpoint(endpoint), otlptracehttp.WithHeaders(cmd.StringMap(FlagTracingHeaders))}
 		if cmd.Bool(FlagTracingEndpointInsecure) {
diff --git a/trace_test.go b/trace_test.go
index 08e2301..cb35d44 100644
--- a/trace_test.go
+++ b/trace_test.go
@@ -25,14 +25,6 @@ func TestNewTracer(t *testing.T) {
 			args:    []string{},
 			wantErr: assert.NoError,
 		},
-		{
-			name: "zipkin",
-			args: []string{
-				"--tracing.exporter=zipkin",
-				"--tracing.endpoint=http://localhost:1234/api/v2",
-			},
-			wantErr: assert.NoError,
-		},
 		{
 			name: "otelhttp",
 			args: []string{
@@ -52,7 +44,7 @@ func TestNewTracer(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name: "with tags",
 			args: []string{
-				"--tracing.exporter=zipkin",
+				"--tracing.exporter=otlphttp",
 				"--tracing.endpoint=http://localhost:1234/api/v2",
 				"--tracing.ratio=1",
 				"--tracing.tags=cluster=test",