Log Management · head to head
ELK Stack vs Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor
Log Management
Azure's Monitoring and Diagnostics Service
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: ELK Stack the free Basic self managed subscription excludes machine learning, alerting, single sign on via SAML or OpenID Connect, LDAP and Active Directory authentication, field and document level security, searchable snapshots and cross cluster replication; 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
- They diverge on capability: ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Azure Monitor covers Log collection.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which ELK Stack and Azure Monitor actually diverge.
| Attribute | ELK Stack | Azure Monitor |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | usage-based |
| Founded | 2011 | 2010 |
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 ELK Stack
- Full-text search
- Data visualization
- Log aggregation
- Time-series analytics
Only in Azure Monitor
- Log collection
- Metrics collection
- Alerts and notifications
- Custom dashboards
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.
ELK Stack
- Centralised log search and analytics over Elasticsearchnot Azure Monitor
- Dashboards and visualisation of machine data in Kibananot Azure Monitor
- Self managing a search and observability cluster on your own hardwarenot Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor
- Collecting logs and metrics from Azure resourcesnot ELK Stack
- Alerting on metric thresholds and log queriesnot ELK Stack
- Application performance monitoring through Application Insightsnot ELK Stack
- Long-term log retention for compliancenot ELK Stack
- Querying operational data with KQLnot ELK Stack
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
ELK Stack
- The free Basic self managed subscription excludes machine learning, alerting, single sign on via SAML or OpenID Connect, LDAP and Active Directory authentication, field and document level security, searchable snapshots and cross cluster replication
- Cross cluster operations require the same subscription tier on every cluster involved
- The 99.95 percent monthly uptime SLA applies only to the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers
- Three deployment models are priced on three different bases: resource based for Cloud Hosted, usage based for Serverless and licence based on nodes and RAM for self managed
- Elastic Cloud Serverless does not yet support traffic filtering, cross project search or bring your own key
- The pricing page publishes no rate for any tier
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
ELK Stack
Free- FreeFree
- Full-text search
- Data visualization
- Log aggregation
Azure Monitor
Free- FreeFree
- Log collection
- Metrics collection
- Alerts and notifications
Which should you pick?
Choose ELK Stack if
- You need full-text search.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want data visualization.
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 ELK Stack or Azure Monitor better?
- Neither clearly leads. ELK Stack starts at Free and Azure Monitor at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, ELK Stack or Azure Monitor?
- ELK Stack starts at Free and Azure Monitor at Free.
- Does ELK Stack or Azure Monitor run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use ELK Stack for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is ELK Stack best used for?
- ELK Stack is most often used for centralised log search and analytics over elasticsearch, dashboards and visualisation of machine data in kibana, self managing a search and observability cluster on your own hardware. Of those, centralised log search and analytics over elasticsearch and dashboards and visualisation of machine data in kibana are not what Azure Monitor is typically brought in for.
- What can ELK Stack do that Azure Monitor cannot?
- ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Data visualization, Log aggregation, Time-series analytics. Azure Monitor covers Log collection, Metrics collection, Alerts and notifications, Custom dashboards. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.