Softwr

Network & Connectivity · head to head

Consul vs Elastic Stack

Consul logo

Consul

Network & Connectivity

Service discovery, networking, and security

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Elastic Stack logo

Elastic Stack

Log Management

Search, Observability, and Security Solutions

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Consul has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Consul namespaces, admin partitions and other multi tenancy controls are Consul Enterprise only; Elastic Stack self-managed deployment requires licensing based on node count and RAM usage
  • They diverge on capability: Consul covers Service discovery, Elastic Stack covers Full-text search.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Consul and Elastic Stack actually diverge.

Attributes where Consul and Elastic Stack differ
AttributeConsulElastic Stack
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelopen-sourcesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, CloudCloud-hosted, Self-managed, Docker, Kubernetes (ECK)
CategoryNetwork & ConnectivityLog Management
Founded20142011

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Consul

  • Service discovery
  • Health checking
  • Key/value store
  • Multi-datacenter
  • DNS interface
  • Service mesh
  • Load balancing
  • Configuration management

Only in Elastic Stack

  • Full-text search
  • Log analytics
  • Security monitoring
  • Alerting
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Consul

  • Service discovery and health checking across dynamic infrastructurenot Elastic Stack
  • Running a service mesh with mutual TLS between servicesnot Elastic Stack
  • Distributed key value configuration storage for applicationsnot Elastic Stack

Elastic Stack

  • Distributed search and analytics engine for production-scale workloadsnot Consul
  • Full-text search and vector search with approximate nearest neighbour supportnot Consul
  • Security event tracking with field-level and document-level access controlnot Consul
  • Machine learning capabilities including anomaly detection and forecastingnot Consul

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Consul

  • Namespaces, admin partitions and other multi tenancy controls are Consul Enterprise only
  • Audit logging, OIDC authentication and FIPS 140-2 builds require Consul Enterprise, so compliance driven deployments cannot use the free edition
  • Automated backups, redundancy zones, read replicas and automated server upgrades are Enterprise only
  • Long Term Support releases are Enterprise only, so community users must upgrade to stay supported
  • Service mesh and advanced traffic management sit in the Premium Enterprise tier above Standard Enterprise
  • HashiCorp does not publish a Consul rate on its pricing page, which lists per resource prices for Terraform instead

Elastic Stack

  • Self-managed deployment requires licensing based on node count and RAM usage
  • Serverless option has pending features including traffic filtering and bring-your-own-key encryption
  • Hosted deployment requires custom resource configuration for cluster management
  • Pricing models differ significantly across Hosted, Serverless, and Self-managed options

Pricing, plan by plan

Consul

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Service discovery
    • Health checking
    • KV store

Elastic Stack

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Elastic Stack review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Consul if

  • You need service discovery.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud.
  • You also want health checking.
Consul review

Choose Elastic Stack if

  • You need full-text search.
  • You work on Cloud-hosted, Self-managed, Docker, Kubernetes (ECK).
  • You also want log analytics.
Elastic Stack review

Questions people ask

Is Consul or Elastic Stack better?
Neither clearly leads. Consul starts at Free and Elastic Stack at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Consul or Elastic Stack?
Consul has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Consul and On request for Elastic Stack.
Does Consul or Elastic Stack run on more platforms?
Consul runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud. Elastic Stack runs on Cloud-hosted, Self-managed, Docker, Kubernetes (ECK).
Can I use Consul for free?
Yes. Consul has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Elastic Stack starts at On request.
What is Consul best used for?
Consul is most often used for service discovery and health checking across dynamic infrastructure, running a service mesh with mutual tls between services, distributed key value configuration storage for applications. Of those, service discovery and health checking across dynamic infrastructure and running a service mesh with mutual tls between services are not what Elastic Stack is typically brought in for.
What can Consul do that Elastic Stack cannot?
Consul covers Service discovery, Health checking, Key/value store, Multi-datacenter. Elastic Stack covers Full-text search, Log analytics, Security monitoring, Alerting.
ShareXLinkedInRedditWhatsAppEmail

Related pages

More on Consul

More on Elastic Stack

Keep looking

Other head to heads