Who is each tool for?
El
Elasticsearch (ELK)
Organizations needing powerful full-text search and log analytics
Gr
Grafana Mimir
Teams needing horizontally scalable Prometheus storage
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 Mimir
Pros
- Unlimited horizontal scalability
- 100% PromQL compatible
- Multi-tenant architecture
- Cost-effective long-term storage
Cons
- Complex to self-host at scale
- Requires Kubernetes expertise
- Steeper learning curve than SaaS options
Feature Comparison
Feature
El
Elasticsearch (ELK)Gr
Grafana MimirAPM
6
4
Log Management
9.5
3
Infrastructure Monitoring
7.5
9
Alerting
7.5
8
Integrations
8.5
8.5
Ease of Use
6.5
6.5
Support
8
7.5
Value for Money
8
9.5
Overall Score
8.8
8.7
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 Mimir
Free / Cloud from $49/mo
Pricing varies by data volume and features. Contact Grafana Mimir for a custom quote.
Our Verdict
Both Elasticsearch (ELK) and Grafana Mimir are excellent observability platforms. Elasticsearch (ELK) edges ahead with a score of 8.8/10, particularly excelling in APM and Log Management.
