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Software · head to head

Elastic vs Loki

E

Elastic

Software

Search AI powered by Elasticsearch

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Loki logo

Loki

Software

Like Prometheus but for Logs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Loki 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; Loki the Grafana Cloud free tier caps log ingestion at 50 GB a month with 14 day retention

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Elastic and Loki actually diverge.

Attributes where Elastic and Loki differ
AttributeElasticLoki
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelUnknownopen-source
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Api
FoundedUnknown2014

Identical on both: 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

Nothing recorded that Loki does not also cover.

Only in Loki

  • Log aggregation
  • Label-based indexing
  • Real-time log streaming
  • LogQL query language
  • 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.

Loki

  • Aggregating application and infrastructure logs with label based indexingnot Elastic
  • Querying logs alongside metrics in Grafananot 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

Loki

  • The Grafana Cloud free tier caps log ingestion at 50 GB a month with 14 day retention
  • Paid log pricing is split across three separate meters, at $0.050 per GB processed, $0.400 per GB written and $0.100 per GB retained
  • Retaining logs is billed separately from ingesting them, so keeping data costs on an ongoing basis rather than once
  • The Pro plan carries a $19 a month platform fee before any usage charges

Pricing, plan by plan

Elastic

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Elastic review.

Loki

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Log aggregation
    • Label-based indexing
    • Real-time log streaming

Which should you pick?

Choose Elastic if

Nothing in the data separates Elastic from Loki on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Elastic review

Choose Loki if

  • You need log aggregation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want label-based indexing.
Loki review

Questions people ask

Is Elastic or Loki better?
Neither clearly leads. Elastic starts at On request and Loki at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Elastic or Loki?
Loki has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Elastic and Free for Loki.
Does Elastic or Loki run on more platforms?
Elastic runs on Web. Loki runs on Web, Api.
Can I use Loki for free?
Yes. Loki has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Elastic starts at On request.
What can Elastic do that Loki cannot?
Loki covers Log aggregation, Label-based indexing, Real-time log streaming, LogQL query language.
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Related pages

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