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 is Elastic best used for?

Elastic is most often used for building ecommerce search experiences with vector databases and ai, monitoring application performance and resolving infrastructure issues at scale, investigating security incidents across distributed cloud infrastructure, analyzing customer support logs to identify recurring issues. Of those, building ecommerce search experiences with vector databases and ai and monitoring application performance and resolving infrastructure issues at scale are not what Loki is typically brought in for.

What can Elastic do that Loki cannot?

Loki covers Log aggregation, Label-based indexing, Real-time log streaming, LogQL query language.

Logging · head to head

Elastic vs Loki

Elastic

Logging

Search AI powered by Elasticsearch

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Loki

Logging

Like Prometheus but for Logs

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Loki has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Elastic no specific pricing amounts published on pricing page; customer must contact sales or start trial; Loki the Grafana Cloud free tier caps log ingestion at 50 GB a month with 14 day retention
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Elastic and Loki actually diverge.

Attributes where Elastic and Loki differ
Attribute	Elastic	Loki
Starting price	On request	Free
Pricing model	Unknown	open-source
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web	Web, Api
Founded	Unknown	2014

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Logging).

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

Building ecommerce search experiences with vector databases and AInot Loki
Monitoring application performance and resolving infrastructure issues at scalenot Loki
Investigating security incidents across distributed cloud infrastructurenot Loki
Analyzing customer support logs to identify recurring issuesnot Loki

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

No specific pricing amounts published on pricing page; customer must contact sales or start trial
Three deployment models (Cloud Hosted, Cloud Serverless, Self-managed) have different pricing structures

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 is Elastic best used for?: Elastic is most often used for building ecommerce search experiences with vector databases and ai, monitoring application performance and resolving infrastructure issues at scale, investigating security incidents across distributed cloud infrastructure, analyzing customer support logs to identify recurring issues. Of those, building ecommerce search experiences with vector databases and ai and monitoring application performance and resolving infrastructure issues at scale are not what Loki is typically brought in for.
What can Elastic do that Loki cannot?: Loki covers Log aggregation, Label-based indexing, Real-time log streaming, LogQL query language.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Elastic: What are Elastic's deployment pricing options?

Elastic offers three deployment models: Elastic Cloud Hosted (resource-based, pay-as-you-go or prepaid monthly), Elastic Cloud Serverless (usage-based on search/indexing consumption, pay-as-you-go or prepaid), and Self-managed (license-based on nodes and RAM). Actual dollar amounts are not published and require contacting sales or starting a free trial.

Source

Loki: What does it cost to use Grafana Loki?

Loki is open source and free under the AGPLv3 license for self-hosted deployments. Grafana's managed Cloud Logs service includes a free tier up to 50GB of logs at no cost.

Source

Elastic: Does Elastic Cloud Serverless have feature limitations?

Yes, Elastic Cloud Serverless deployments have 'Most solution and platform capabilities' with some upcoming features not yet available, including traffic filtering, cross-project search, and bring-your-own-key encryption.

Source

Loki: Are there paid options for Loki beyond the free tier?

Yes. Grafana Cloud Logs offers paid tiers for teams and enterprises, and Enterprise Logs provides self-managed options with expert support for organizations with data localization or privacy requirements.

Source

Elastic: How can you get Elastic pricing?

Elastic directs customers to start a free trial, contact sales for specific quotes, or visit dedicated pricing pages for individual products (Elasticsearch, Observability, Security).

Source

Loki: What license does open source Loki use?

Loki is released under the AGPLv3 license, which requires you to share modifications and publish your source code if you deploy modifications publicly.

Source

Elastic vs Loki

Elastic

Loki

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Elastic

Only in Loki

What people use each for

Elastic

Loki

Where each one falls short

Elastic

Loki

Pricing, plan by plan

Elastic

Loki

Which should you pick?

Choose Elastic if

Choose Loki if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Elastic

More on Loki

Keep looking

Other head to heads