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Elastic APM vs Prometheus

Elastic APM logo

Elastic APM

Software

Application Performance Monitoring from Elastic

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Prometheus logo

Prometheus

Software

Open source monitoring and alerting toolkit for cloud native environments

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; Prometheus not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
  • They diverge on capability: Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Elastic APM and Prometheus differ
AttributeElastic APMPrometheus
PlatformsWeb, ApiLinux, macOS, Windows
Founded20112015

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 Elastic APM

  • Performance monitoring
  • Error tracking
  • Transaction tracing
  • Custom metrics
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support

Only in Prometheus

  • Multi-dimensional Data Model
  • PromQL Query Language
  • Pull-based Collection
  • Service Discovery
  • Alerting Rules
  • Federation
  • Local Storage
  • Grafana

What people use each for

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

Elastic APM

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

Prometheus

  • Cloud-native monitoring and alertingnot Elastic APM
  • Time-series metrics collectionnot Elastic APM
  • Infrastructure monitoringnot 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

Prometheus

  • Not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
  • Hard limit on scrape body size; large responses cause scrape failure
  • Per-scrape sample limit enforced; exceeding limit marks targets as failed
  • Not designed for long-term durable storage; optimised for metrics collection

Pricing, plan by plan

Elastic APM

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

Prometheus

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Prometheus review.

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 Prometheus if

  • You need multi-dimensional data model.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want promql query language.
Prometheus review

Questions people ask

Is Elastic APM or Prometheus better?
Neither clearly leads. Elastic APM starts at Free and Prometheus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Elastic APM or Prometheus?
Elastic APM starts at Free and Prometheus at Free.
Does Elastic APM or Prometheus run on more platforms?
Elastic APM runs on Web, Api. Prometheus runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
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 Prometheus is typically brought in for.
What can Elastic APM do that Prometheus cannot?
Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Error tracking, Transaction tracing, Custom metrics. Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model, PromQL Query Language, Pull-based Collection, Service Discovery.
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