Who is each tool for?
El
Elasticsearch (ELK)
Organizations needing powerful full-text search and log analytics
Gr
Grafana Loki
Teams wanting cost-effective log aggregation with Grafana
Pros and Cons
El
Elasticsearch (ELK)
Pros
- Powerful full-text search
- Highly scalable architecture
- Rich ecosystem (ELK Stack)
- Flexible schema and queries
Cons
- Resource-intensive operation
- Complex cluster management
- Licensing changes caused concerns
Gr
Grafana Loki
Pros
- Cost-effective (indexes labels only)
- Native Grafana integration
- Prometheus-like label system
- Easy to operate
Cons
- No full-text indexing
- Query performance depends on labels
- Less powerful search than Elasticsearch
Feature Comparison
Feature
El
Elasticsearch (ELK)Gr
Grafana LokiAPM
6
4
Log Management
9.5
8.5
Infrastructure Monitoring
7.5
7
Alerting
7.5
7.5
Integrations
8.5
8
Ease of Use
6.5
8
Support
8
7.5
Value for Money
8
9.5
Overall Score
8.8
8.5
Pricing
El
Elasticsearch (ELK)
Free / Cloud from $95/mo
Pricing varies by data volume and features. Contact Elasticsearch (ELK) for a custom quote.
Gr
Grafana Loki
Free / Cloud from $49/mo
Pricing varies by data volume and features. Contact Grafana Loki for a custom quote.
Our Verdict
Both Elasticsearch (ELK) and Grafana Loki are excellent observability platforms. Elasticsearch (ELK) edges ahead with a score of 8.8/10, particularly excelling in APM and Log Management.
