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Software · head to head

Consul vs ELK Stack

Consul logo

Consul

Software

Service discovery, networking, and security

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ELK Stack logo

ELK Stack

Software

Open Source Search and Log Analytics

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Consul namespaces, admin partitions and other multi tenancy controls are Consul Enterprise only; ELK Stack the free Basic self managed subscription excludes machine learning, alerting, single sign on via SAML or OpenID Connect, LDAP and Active Directory authentication, field and document level security, searchable snapshots and cross cluster replication
  • They diverge on capability: Consul covers Service discovery, ELK Stack covers Full-text search.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Consul and ELK Stack differ
AttributeConsulELK Stack
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, CloudWeb, Api
Founded20142011

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

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 ELK Stack

  • Full-text search
  • Data visualization
  • Log aggregation
  • Time-series analytics
  • 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 ELK Stack
  • Running a service mesh with mutual TLS between servicesnot ELK Stack
  • Distributed key value configuration storage for applicationsnot ELK Stack

ELK Stack

  • Centralised log search and analytics over Elasticsearchnot Consul
  • Dashboards and visualisation of machine data in Kibananot Consul
  • Self managing a search and observability cluster on your own hardwarenot 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

ELK Stack

  • The free Basic self managed subscription excludes machine learning, alerting, single sign on via SAML or OpenID Connect, LDAP and Active Directory authentication, field and document level security, searchable snapshots and cross cluster replication
  • Cross cluster operations require the same subscription tier on every cluster involved
  • The 99.95 percent monthly uptime SLA applies only to the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers
  • Three deployment models are priced on three different bases: resource based for Cloud Hosted, usage based for Serverless and licence based on nodes and RAM for self managed
  • Elastic Cloud Serverless does not yet support traffic filtering, cross project search or bring your own key
  • The pricing page publishes no rate for any tier

Pricing, plan by plan

Consul

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

ELK Stack

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Full-text search
    • Data visualization
    • Log aggregation

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 ELK Stack if

  • You need full-text search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want data visualization.
ELK Stack review

Questions people ask

Is Consul or ELK Stack better?
Neither clearly leads. Consul starts at Free and ELK Stack at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Consul or ELK Stack?
Consul starts at Free and ELK Stack at Free.
Does Consul or ELK Stack run on more platforms?
Consul runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Cloud. ELK Stack runs on Web, Api.
Can I use Consul for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 ELK Stack is typically brought in for.
What can Consul do that ELK Stack cannot?
Consul covers Service discovery, Health checking, Key/value store, Multi-datacenter. ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Data visualization, Log aggregation, Time-series analytics.
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