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Elastic Observability vs InfluxDB comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Elastic Observability
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
9th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (8th), Log Management (13th), Container Monitoring (4th), Cloud Monitoring Software (7th)
InfluxDB
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
51st
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Non-Relational Databases (5th), Open Source Databases (11th), Network Monitoring Software (61st), NoSQL Databases (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Elastic Observability is 4.3%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of InfluxDB is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Infrastructure Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Subramani K - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 27, 2022
The user interface framework lets us do custom development when needed.
So Elastic is basically clusters, right? Basically three, we can go with the basic cluster is a three note cluster. So the implementation is quite simple. It's not very complex. So we have to architect the solution in such a way that we have the right number of replicas and right number of charts and all those to hold the data. So basically we have to architect based on the data ingestion, how much data we are going to ingest in the cluster. So this setup is pretty simple, but we have to have the right inputs, right decisions in place before we even implement it.
PedroCampos - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 25, 2022
A powerful, lightweight time series database with a simple query language and easy setup
Influx has TICK Stack, which contains multiple services and multiple products that work together. InfluxDB is just a time series database, and it works really well. I haven't yet had the time to look into the new stack based on Influx 2.0, but currently, as a time series database, InfluxDB is working the way it is supposed to work. In terms of features that I would like to see or have, in the community version, some features are not available. I would like to have clustering and authentication in the community version. I would also like to have high availability features, such as replication, active-active, etc. If they can put an extra plugin or service on top of it, it would be something interesting. I am not sure if they have high availability to make it data center-aware for clustering. For example, I am not sure whether you can have it at different locations with big clusters that are location-aware. Even in their documentation or presentation, they talk too little about high availability and extended clusters with different locations. They might already have it in the newer versions. We have Influx 1.8 in our production in the stage and internal workloads environments. The other products in their ecosystem, such as Chronograf, can be improved. Chronograf is a dashboarding or visualization layer product, and that, for sure, can be improved.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We can view and connect different sources to the dashboard using it."
"The Elastic User Interface framework lets us do custom development when needed. You need to have some Javascript knowledge. We need that knowledge to develop new custom tests."
"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 over a month from multiple data sources can be completed within seconds."
"Machine learning is the most valuable feature of this solution."
"Its diverse set of features available on the cloud is of significant importance."
"It's easy to deploy, and it's very flexible."
"Elastic team communicated well with us, so we decided to give it a try."
"The solution is open-source and helps with back-end logging. It is also easy to handle."
"The solution is very powerful."
"The most valuable features of InfluxDB are the documentation and performance, and the good plugins metrics in the ecosystem."
"The platform operates very quickly. It is easy to configure, connect, and query and integrates seamlessly with Grafana."
"InfluxDB's best feature is that it's a cloud offering. Other good features include its time-series DB, fast time-bulk queries, and window operations."
"The most valuable features are aggregating the data and integration with Graphana for monitoring."
"The user interface is well-designed and easy to use. It provides a clear overview of the data, making it simple to understand the information at hand."
"InfluxDB is a database where you can insert data. However, it would be best if you had different components for alerting, data sending, and visualization. You need to install tools to collect data from servers. It must be installed on Windows or Linux servers. During installation, ensure that the configuration file is correct to prevent issues. Once data is collected, it can be sent to InfluxDB. For visualization, you can use open-source tools like Grafana."
"In our case, it started with a necessity to fill the gap that we had in monitoring. We had very reactive monitoring without trend analysis and without some advanced features. We were able to implement them by using a time series database. We are able to have all the data from applications, logs, and systems, and we can use a simple query language to correlate all the data and make things happen, especially with monitoring. We could more proactively monitor our systems and our players' trends."
 

Cons

"I am familiar with Azure Monitor, which I find more user-friendly compared to Elastic, which is a very technical tool."
"Elastic Observability’s price could be improved."
"The auto-discovery isn't nearly as good. That's a big portion of it. When you drop the agent onto the JVM and you're trying to figure things out, having to go through and manually do all that is cumbersome."
"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."
"The solution needs to use more AI. Once the product onboards AI, users would more effectively be able to track endpoints for specific messages."
"More web features could be added to the product."
"Elastic Observability needs to have better standardization, logging, and schema."
"If we had some pre-defined templates for observability that we could start using right away after deploying it – instead of having to build or to change some of the dashboards – that would be helpful."
"In terms of features that I would like to see or have, in the community version, some features are not available. I would like to have clustering and authentication in the community version."
"The error logging capability can be improved because the logs are not very informative."
"InfluxDB is generally stable, but we've encountered issues with the configuration file in our ticket stack. For instance, a mistake in one of the metrics out of a hundred KPIs can disrupt data collection for all KPIs. This happens because the agent stops working if there's an issue with any configuration part. To address this, it is essential to ensure that all configurations are part of the agent's EXE file when provided. This makes it easier to package the agent for server installation and ensures all KPIs are available from the server. Additionally, the agent cannot encrypt and decrypt passwords for authentication, which can be problematic when monitoring URLs or requiring authentication tokens. This requires additional scripting and can prolong service restart times."
"InfluxDB can improve by including new metrics on other technologies. They had some changes recently to pool data from endpoints but the functionality is not good enough in the industry."
"The solution's UI can be more user-friendly."
"I've tried both on-premises and cloud-based deployments, and each has its limitations."
"InfluxDB cannot be used for high-cardinality data. It's also difficult and time-consuming to write queries, and there are some issues with bulk API."
"The solution doesn't have much of a user interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have been using the open-source version."
"The product is not that cheap."
"We will buy a premium license after POC."
"Pricing is one of those situations where the more you use it, the more you pay."
"Since we are a huge company, Elastic Observability is an affordable solution for us."
"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."
"Elastic Observability's pricing could be better for small-scale users."
"The product’s pricing needs improvement."
"We are using the open-source version of InfluxDB."
"The tool is an open-source product."
"InfluxDB is open-source, but there are additional costs for scaling."
"InfluxDB recently increased its price. It is very expensive now."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
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 needs improvement with Elastic Observability?
I don't know how Elastic can improve. The integration feature I am using is very easy to implement.
What do you like most about InfluxDB?
InfluxDB is a database where you can insert data. However, it would be best if you had different components for alerting, data sending, and visualization. You need to install tools to collect data ...
What needs improvement with InfluxDB?
InfluxDB is generally stable, but we've encountered issues with the configuration file in our ticket stack. For instance, a mistake in one of the metrics out of a hundred KPIs can disrupt data coll...
What is your primary use case for InfluxDB?
I use the solution to store and manage data from various sensors in a production environment. I have developed a system where data from these sensors is communicated through an OPC UA receiver and ...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PSCU, Entel, VITAS, Mimecast, Barrett Steel, Butterfield Bank
ebay, AXA, Mozilla, DiDi, LeTV, Siminars, Cognito, ProcessOut, Recommend, CATS, Smarsh, Row 44, Clustree, Bleemeo
Find out what your peers are saying about Elastic Observability vs. InfluxDB and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.