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Log Management · head to head

Elastic APM vs Azure Monitor

Elastic APM logo

Elastic APM

Log Management

Application Performance Monitoring from Elastic

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Azure Monitor logo

Azure Monitor

Log Management

Azure's Monitoring and Diagnostics Service

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Elastic APM pricing is not published on the product page; cost follows the underlying Elastic deployment rather than being quoted per host or per service; Azure Monitor billed per GB ingested across three separate log plans, Auxiliary, Basic and Analytics, so the plan chosen changes the rate as much as the volume does
  • They diverge on capability: Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Azure Monitor covers Log collection.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Elastic APM and Azure Monitor actually diverge.

Attributes where Elastic APM and Azure Monitor differ
AttributeElastic APMAzure Monitor
Pricing modelopen-sourceusage-based
Founded20112010

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Log Management).

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 Elastic APM

  • Performance monitoring
  • Error tracking
  • Transaction tracing
  • Custom metrics

Only in Azure Monitor

  • Log collection
  • Metrics collection
  • Alerts and notifications
  • Custom dashboards

Both cover

  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support
  • Api support

What people use each for

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

Elastic APM

  • Distributed tracing across microservicesnot Azure Monitor
  • Auto-instrumenting Java, .NET, Python, Go, Node.js, Ruby, PHP and C++ servicesnot Azure Monitor
  • OpenTelemetry-native collection through the Elastic distributionsnot Azure Monitor
  • Correlating latency and errors with machine learningnot Azure Monitor
  • Monitoring LLM calls alongside application tracesnot Azure Monitor

Azure Monitor

  • Collecting logs and metrics from Azure resourcesnot Elastic APM
  • Alerting on metric thresholds and log queriesnot Elastic APM
  • Application performance monitoring through Application Insightsnot Elastic APM
  • Long-term log retention for compliancenot Elastic APM
  • Querying operational data with KQLnot Elastic APM

Where each one falls short

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

Elastic APM

  • Pricing is not published on the product page; cost follows the underlying Elastic deployment rather than being quoted per host or per service
  • Self-managed deployment means running and scaling Elasticsearch yourself
  • Serverless does not carry every capability the hosted option does

Azure Monitor

  • Billed per GB ingested across three separate log plans, Auxiliary, Basic and Analytics, so the plan chosen changes the rate as much as the volume does
  • Only the first 5 GB a month of Analytics logs is free per billing account
  • Retention beyond the base period is charged per GB per month, up to 2 years interactive and 12 years long term
  • Log queries and search jobs are billed per GB scanned, so investigating an incident costs money
  • Alert rules are billed per time series for metrics and by execution frequency for logs
  • The pricing page shows placeholders rather than rates until a region and currency are chosen

Pricing, plan by plan

Elastic APM

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Performance monitoring
    • Error tracking
    • Transaction tracing

Azure Monitor

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Log collection
    • Metrics collection
    • Alerts and notifications

Which should you pick?

Choose Elastic APM if

  • You need performance monitoring.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want error tracking.
Elastic APM review

Choose Azure Monitor if

  • You need log collection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want metrics collection.
Azure Monitor review

Questions people ask

Is Elastic APM or Azure Monitor better?
Neither clearly leads. Elastic APM starts at Free and Azure Monitor at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Elastic APM or Azure Monitor?
Elastic APM starts at Free and Azure Monitor at Free.
Does Elastic APM or Azure Monitor run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Elastic APM for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Elastic APM best used for?
Elastic APM is most often used for distributed tracing across microservices, auto-instrumenting java, .net, python, go, node.js, ruby, php and c++ services, opentelemetry-native collection through the elastic distributions, correlating latency and errors with machine learning. Of those, distributed tracing across microservices and auto-instrumenting java, .net, python, go, node.js, ruby, php and c++ services are not what Azure Monitor is typically brought in for.
What can Elastic APM do that Azure Monitor cannot?
Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Error tracking, Transaction tracing, Custom metrics. Azure Monitor covers Log collection, Metrics collection, Alerts and notifications, Custom dashboards. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
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