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Elastic APM vs Kibana

Elastic APM logo

Elastic APM

Software

Application Performance Monitoring from Elastic

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Kibana logo

Kibana

Software

Visualize Your Elasticsearch Data

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; Kibana requires Elasticsearch; it is a front end for data held there rather than a standalone analytics tool
  • They diverge on capability: Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Kibana covers Data visualization.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Elastic APM and Kibana actually diverge.

Attributes where Elastic APM and Kibana differ
AttributeElastic APMKibana

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown), founded (2011).

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 Kibana

  • Data visualization
  • Dashboard creation
  • Log discovery
  • Alerting

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

Kibana

  • Querying and visualising data held in Elasticsearchnot Elastic APM
  • Dashboards over log and metric datanot Elastic APM
  • Anomaly detection with machine learning jobsnot Elastic APM
  • Geospatial analysis on indexed location datanot Elastic APM
  • Alerting on query thresholdsnot 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

Kibana

  • Requires Elasticsearch; it is a front end for data held there rather than a standalone analytics tool
  • Self-managed means running and scaling the Elastic stack yourself
  • Cost is not Kibana's own; it follows whichever Elastic deployment sits underneath

Pricing, plan by plan

Elastic APM

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

Kibana

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Data visualization
    • Dashboard creation
    • Log discovery

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 Kibana if

  • You need data visualization.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want dashboard creation.
Kibana review

Questions people ask

Is Elastic APM or Kibana better?
Neither clearly leads. Elastic APM starts at Free and Kibana at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Elastic APM or Kibana?
Elastic APM starts at Free and Kibana at Free.
Does Elastic APM or Kibana 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 Kibana is typically brought in for.
What can Elastic APM do that Kibana cannot?
Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Error tracking, Transaction tracing, Custom metrics. Kibana covers Data visualization, Dashboard creation, Log discovery, Alerting. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
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