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Software · head to head

Culture Amp vs Elasticsearch

Culture Amp logo

Culture Amp

Software

Build a better workplace with employee experience data

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Elasticsearch logo

Elasticsearch

Software

The heart of the Elastic Stack for search and analytics

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Elasticsearch has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Culture Amp no price is published, and cost depends on employee count, product chosen and service tier; Elasticsearch eventual consistency model with 1-second default refresh interval, not suitable for real-time transactional requirements
  • They diverge on capability: Culture Amp covers Employee engagement surveys, Elasticsearch covers Full-text Search.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Culture Amp and Elasticsearch actually diverge.

Attributes where Culture Amp and Elasticsearch differ
AttributeCulture AmpElasticsearch
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiLinux, Windows, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes
Founded20092010

Identical on both: 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 Culture Amp

  • Employee engagement surveys
  • Pulse surveys
  • Performance management
  • Goal tracking
  • 360-degree feedback
  • Analytics & insights
  • Action planning
  • Manager effectiveness

Only in Elasticsearch

  • Full-text Search
  • Real-time Analytics
  • Distributed Architecture
  • RESTful API
  • Schema-free JSON
  • Aggregations
  • Machine Learning
  • Kibana

What people use each for

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

Culture Amp

  • Employee engagement surveys and analysisnot Elasticsearch
  • Performance reviews and development planning across an organisationnot Elasticsearch

Elasticsearch

  • Real-time applicationsnot Culture Amp
  • Content managementnot Culture Amp
  • User profilesnot Culture Amp
  • Mobile backendsnot Culture Amp
  • Cachingnot Culture Amp

Where each one falls short

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

Culture Amp

  • No price is published, and cost depends on employee count, product chosen and service tier
  • All products are billed annually
  • Support level is banded by organisation size, with additional support starting at 200 employees and enterprise treatment at 1,000, so smaller customers get less for the same product

Elasticsearch

  • Eventual consistency model with 1-second default refresh interval, not suitable for real-time transactional requirements
  • No support for ACID transactions or rollbacks; updates delete and re-insert documents
  • JVM-dependent architecture requires careful memory management and monitoring to prevent garbage collection issues at scale

Pricing, plan by plan

Culture Amp

On request
  • Engage$undefined/month
    • Engagement surveys
    • Pulse surveys
    • Action planning
  • Perform$undefined/month
    • Goal tracking
    • Performance reviews
    • 1-on-1 meetings
  • Develop$undefined/month
    • Skills development
    • Career paths
    • Learning integrations

Elasticsearch

Free
  • Self-ManagedFree
    • Open source
    • Self-hosted
  • Elasticsearch Cloud$16.4/month
    • Managed service
    • 14-day free trial

Which should you pick?

Choose Culture Amp if

  • You need employee engagement surveys.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want pulse surveys.
Culture Amp review

Choose Elasticsearch if

  • You need full-text search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want real-time analytics.
Elasticsearch review

Questions people ask

Is Culture Amp or Elasticsearch better?
Neither clearly leads. Culture Amp starts at On request and Elasticsearch at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Culture Amp or Elasticsearch?
Elasticsearch has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Culture Amp and Free for Elasticsearch.
Does Culture Amp or Elasticsearch run on more platforms?
Culture Amp runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Elasticsearch runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes.
Can I use Elasticsearch for free?
Yes. Elasticsearch has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Culture Amp starts at On request.
What is Culture Amp best used for?
Culture Amp is most often used for employee engagement surveys and analysis, performance reviews and development planning across an organisation. Of those, employee engagement surveys and analysis and performance reviews and development planning across an organisation are not what Elasticsearch is typically brought in for.
What can Culture Amp do that Elasticsearch cannot?
Culture Amp covers Employee engagement surveys, Pulse surveys, Performance management, Goal tracking. Elasticsearch covers Full-text Search, Real-time Analytics, Distributed Architecture, RESTful API.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Elasticsearch: Is Elasticsearch free?

Yes, Elasticsearch can be deployed as free and open-source software for self-managed installations. Elastic Cloud managed service starts at $16.40 per month, with a free 14-day trial available.

Source
Elasticsearch: Can I use Elasticsearch without Kibana?

Yes, Elasticsearch is a search engine independent of Kibana. Kibana is a visualization and analytics tool that works with Elasticsearch but is optional. You can use the Elasticsearch API directly for searching.

Source
Elasticsearch: Does Elasticsearch support real-time indexing?

Elasticsearch indexes data with a refresh interval, typically 1 second. Data becomes searchable after the refresh cycle, making it near-real-time but not instantaneous. This can be configured but impacts performance.

Source
Elasticsearch: What are Elasticsearch's scaling limitations?

Elasticsearch requires careful operational management at scale, including shard balancing, heap sizing, and monitoring. Large clusters can suffer from garbage collection issues and become expensive to operate.

Source
Elasticsearch: Does Elasticsearch support transactions and rollbacks?

No, Elasticsearch does not support ACID transactions or rollbacks. Updates are expensive operations that delete and re-insert documents, making it unsuitable for transactional workloads.

Source
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