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Software · head to head

Elasticsearch Service vs Prometheus

Elasticsearch Service logo

Elasticsearch Service

Software

Managed Elasticsearch Cloud Service

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: Elasticsearch Service the 99.95 percent monthly uptime SLA applies only to the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers; Prometheus not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
  • They diverge on capability: Elasticsearch Service covers Full-text search, Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Elasticsearch Service and Prometheus actually diverge.

Attributes where Elasticsearch Service and Prometheus differ
AttributeElasticsearch ServicePrometheus
Pricing modelusage-basedopen-source
PlatformsWeb, ApiLinux, macOS, Windows
Founded20112015

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Elasticsearch Service

  • Full-text search
  • Scalability
  • High availability
  • Security
  • 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.

Elasticsearch Service

  • Managed Elasticsearch without running the clusternot Prometheus
  • Log and observability data storage and searchnot Prometheus
  • Full-text search behind an applicationnot Prometheus
  • Deployments needing a specific cloud region across AWS, Azure or GCPnot Prometheus

Prometheus

  • Cloud-native monitoring and alertingnot Elasticsearch Service
  • Time-series metrics collectionnot Elasticsearch Service
  • Infrastructure monitoringnot Elasticsearch Service

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Elasticsearch Service

  • The 99.95 percent monthly uptime SLA applies only to the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers
  • Serverless does not yet support traffic filtering, cross-project search or bring-your-own-key encryption
  • Serverless runs on AWS, GCP and Azure only, against 60 regions for the hosted option
  • Per-unit prices are not published; hosted is resource-based and serverless usage-based

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

Elasticsearch Service

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Full-text search
    • Scalability
    • High availability

Prometheus

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Prometheus review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Elasticsearch Service if

  • You need full-text search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want scalability.
Elasticsearch Service 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 Elasticsearch Service or Prometheus better?
Neither clearly leads. Elasticsearch Service 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, Elasticsearch Service or Prometheus?
Elasticsearch Service starts at Free and Prometheus at Free.
Does Elasticsearch Service or Prometheus run on more platforms?
Elasticsearch Service runs on Web, Api. Prometheus runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Elasticsearch Service for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Elasticsearch Service best used for?
Elasticsearch Service is most often used for managed elasticsearch without running the cluster, log and observability data storage and search, full-text search behind an application, deployments needing a specific cloud region across aws, azure or gcp. Of those, managed elasticsearch without running the cluster and log and observability data storage and search are not what Prometheus is typically brought in for.
What can Elasticsearch Service do that Prometheus cannot?
Elasticsearch Service covers Full-text search, Scalability, High availability, Security. Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model, PromQL Query Language, Pull-based Collection, Service Discovery.
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