Log Management · head to head
Elastic APM vs Stackdriver
Elastic APM
Log Management
Application Performance Monitoring from Elastic
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Stackdriver
Log Management
Google Cloud Operations - Monitoring and Logging
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
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; Stackdriver stackdriver is now branded Google Cloud Observability and cloud.google.com/stackdriver redirects to the Observability product page
- They diverge on capability: Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Stackdriver covers Log management.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Elastic APM and Stackdriver actually diverge.
| Attribute | Elastic APM | Stackdriver |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | usage-based |
| Founded | 2011 | 2006 |
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 Stackdriver
- Log management
- Metrics collection
- Real-time monitoring
- Error reporting
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 Stackdriver
- Auto-instrumenting Java, .NET, Python, Go, Node.js, Ruby, PHP and C++ servicesnot Stackdriver
- OpenTelemetry-native collection through the Elastic distributionsnot Stackdriver
- Correlating latency and errors with machine learningnot Stackdriver
- Monitoring LLM calls alongside application tracesnot Stackdriver
Stackdriver
- Centralised logging, metrics and traces for workloads running on Google Cloudnot Elastic APM
- Alerting and uptime checks on cloud servicesnot Elastic APM
- Running managed Prometheus-compatible monitoring at scalenot 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
Stackdriver
- Stackdriver is now branded Google Cloud Observability and cloud.google.com/stackdriver redirects to the Observability product page
- Cloud Logging charges $0.50 per GiB ingested, with only the first 50 GiB per project per month free
- Logs kept beyond 30 days cost an extra $0.01 per GiB per month on top of the ingestion charge
- Monitoring metric ingestion starts at $0.2580 per MiB, with only the first 150 MiB per billing account free
- Alerting policies are billed at $0.35 per month for each metric reference in the policy
- Uptime checks cost $0.30 per 1,000 executions and synthetic monitors $1.20 per 1,000 executions, with only 100 synthetic executions per billing account free
- Monitoring read API calls cost $0.50 per million time series returned beyond the first million per billing account
- Log volume is measured before indexing on the actual size of log entries, so verbose logging directly drives cost
Pricing, plan by plan
Elastic APM
Free- FreeFree
- Performance monitoring
- Error tracking
- Transaction tracing
Stackdriver
Free- FreeFree
- Log management
- Metrics collection
- Real-time monitoring
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.
Choose Stackdriver if
- You need log management.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want metrics collection.
Questions people ask
- Is Elastic APM or Stackdriver better?
- Neither clearly leads. Elastic APM starts at Free and Stackdriver at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Elastic APM or Stackdriver?
- Elastic APM starts at Free and Stackdriver at Free.
- Does Elastic APM or Stackdriver 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 Stackdriver is typically brought in for.
- What can Elastic APM do that Stackdriver cannot?
- Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Error tracking, Transaction tracing, Custom metrics. Stackdriver covers Log management, Metrics collection, Real-time monitoring, Error reporting. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.