Log Management · head to head
Elastic vs Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor
Log Management
Azure's Monitoring and Diagnostics Service
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Azure Monitor has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Elastic the 99.95% monthly uptime SLA is only offered on the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers of Hosted deployments, not on lower tiers, per elastic.co, August 2026; 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
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Elastic and Azure Monitor actually diverge.
| Attribute | Elastic | Azure Monitor |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | On request | Free |
| Pricing model | Unknown | usage-based |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Web | Web, Api |
| Founded | Unknown | 2010 |
Identical on both: 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
Nothing recorded that Azure Monitor does not also cover.
Only in Azure Monitor
- Log collection
- Metrics collection
- Alerts and notifications
- Custom dashboards
- API
- Webhooks
- REST
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Elastic
No use cases recorded yet. See the Elastic review.
Azure Monitor
- Collecting logs and metrics from Azure resourcesnot Elastic
- Alerting on metric thresholds and log queriesnot Elastic
- Application performance monitoring through Application Insightsnot Elastic
- Long-term log retention for compliancenot Elastic
- Querying operational data with KQLnot Elastic
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Elastic
- The 99.95% monthly uptime SLA is only offered on the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers of Hosted deployments, not on lower tiers, per elastic.co, August 2026
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
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Elastic review.
Azure Monitor
Free- FreeFree
- Log collection
- Metrics collection
- Alerts and notifications
Which should you pick?
Choose Elastic if
Nothing in the data separates Elastic from Azure Monitor on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.
Choose Azure Monitor if
- You need log collection.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want metrics collection.
Questions people ask
- Is Elastic or Azure Monitor better?
- Neither clearly leads. Elastic starts at On request and Azure Monitor at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Elastic or Azure Monitor?
- Azure Monitor has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Elastic and Free for Azure Monitor.
- Does Elastic or Azure Monitor run on more platforms?
- Elastic runs on Web. Azure Monitor runs on Web, Api.
- Can I use Azure Monitor for free?
- Yes. Azure Monitor has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Elastic starts at On request.
- What can Elastic do that Azure Monitor cannot?
- Azure Monitor covers Log collection, Metrics collection, Alerts and notifications, Custom dashboards.