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Elastic Observability vs Grafana Loki comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Elastic Observability
Ranking in Log Management
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (7th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (8th), Container Monitoring (4th), Cloud Monitoring Software (7th)
Grafana Loki
Ranking in Log Management
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Elastic Observability is 1.6%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Grafana Loki is 8.2%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Adelina Craciun - PeerSpot reviewer
Customization enables tailored monitoring and alerting across departments
The possibility to customize it has been quite useful. Whatever the other departments want to dream up, we implement. Whatever they want to monitor, the granularity of it, the changes in the threshold, and the anomalies that they want reported all require some development. So far, every single request has been fulfilled.
CarlosPimentel - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient log filtering enhances quick network troubleshooting
We use Grafana Loki for various verticals including manufacturing, finance, health, and aerospatial sectors. It primarily helps in monitoring security and access to devices. Grafana dashboards are used to track access success and failure and audit commands issued on devices Loki significantly…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We use AppDynamics and Elastic. The reason why we're using Elastic APM is because of the license count. It's very favorable compared to AppDynamics. It's inexpensive; it's economical."
"It is scalable and supports multitenancy, which is beneficial for MSPs."
"Good design and easy to use once implemented."
"The price is very less expensive compared to the other solutions."
"It is a powerful tool that allows users to collect and transform logs as needed, enabling flexible visualization and analysis."
"It is very stable, and I would rate it ten out of ten based on my interaction with it."
"For full stack observability, Elastic is the best tool compared with any other tool ."
"I recommend Elastic Observability for its completeness of vision and wide ecosystem."
"There are new features like that pilot code and things like that for profiling."
"The most valuable part of Loki is the ability to filter logs by keywords and devices."
"I appreciate the capability to process logs from microservices and seamlessly integrate them into Grafana."
"We are using Grafana Loki as a database for real-time metrics."
"The best feature of Grafana Loki is that it integrates well with our other tool."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the tool's GUI. The solution's GUI is very user-friendly."
"Grafana agent is very lightweight and does not cost significant resources of our cluster."
"Grafana Loki is easy to monitor and detect errors."
 

Cons

"The solution would be better if it was capable of more automation, especially in a monitoring capacity or for the response to abnormalities."
"Elastic Observability is an excellent product for monitoring and visibility, but it lacks predictive analytics. Most solutions are aligned with the AIOps requirements, but this piece is missing in Elastic and should be included."
"There is room for improvement regarding its APM capabilities."
"Simplifying the parsing of logs and manual efforts would also be beneficial."
"The tool's scalability involves a more complex implementation process. It requires careful calculations to determine the number of nodes needed, the specifications of each node, and the configuration of hot, warm, and cold zones for data storage. Additionally, managing log retention policies adds further complexity. The solution's pricing also needs to be cheaper."
"In the future, Elastic APM needs a portfolio iTool. They can provide an easy way to develop the custom UI for Kibana."
"Elastic Observability’s price could be improved."
"They need more skills in the market. There are not enough skills in the market. It is not pervasive enough on the market, in my opinion. In other words, there isn't a big enough user base."
"We encountered certain limitations when it came to alerting, particularly when dealing with specific data sources."
"My main concern is the recommended production-grade setup. They suggest using tools like Tanka or Jsonnet. They should simplify the process to increase adoption."
"The platform's stability needs improvement."
"It would be beneficial if Loki could directly access Windows Server logs or events directly from the servers."
"The Docker container partition feature needs improvement as they do not reuse the space and goes into a pending state."
"The correlation of requests is not simple in Grafana Loki and can be improved."
"Enhancing speed could be a game-changer, and while it might vary depending on the application, it's a factor worth exploring."
"The solution's scalability depends on the team managing the Grafana instance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Elastic Observability's pricing could be better for small-scale users."
"The product is not that cheap."
"The price of Elastic Observability is expensive."
"We have been using the open-source version."
"One needs to pay for the licenses, and it is an annual subscription model right now."
"Elastic Observability is cheaper than other similar solutions, such as Dynatrace. Its license calculation is based on various factors like data volume and physical infrastructure, particularly related to RAM capacity."
"We will buy a premium license after POC."
"Since we are a huge company, Elastic Observability is an affordable solution for us."
"You can use the free version of Grafana Loki on-premises."
"The pricing structure varies based on the number of users; there might be specific taxes to pay for it."
"The cost is less than other paid services like CloudWatch."
"Grafana Loki is a free, open-source solution."
"My company doesn't need to pay for the licensing cost of the solution."
"The solution is open source."
"Grafana Loki is an open-source solution."
"I use the open-source version of the product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Elastic Observability?
Elastic Observability significantly improves incident response time by providing quick access to logs and data across various sources. For instance, searching for specific keywords in logs spanning...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Elastic Observability?
Elastic Observability is cost-efficient and provides all features in the enterprise license without asset-based licensing. However, sizing and licensing information could be clearer.
What needs improvement with Elastic Observability?
Of course, maintenance is necessary, as with any software, requiring updates with the latest features and security enhancements. It lacked some capabilities when handling on-prem devices, like netw...
What do you like most about Grafana Loki?
We are using Grafana Loki as a database for real-time metrics.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Grafana Loki?
We use the open-source version of Loki. The cloud version is competitively priced compared to other market solutions.
What needs improvement with Grafana Loki?
It would be beneficial if Loki could directly access Windows Server logs or events directly from the servers.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PSCU, Entel, VITAS, Mimecast, Barrett Steel, Butterfield Bank
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Elastic Observability vs. Grafana Loki and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,651 professionals have used our research since 2012.