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Software · head to head

ELK Stack vs Kibana

ELK Stack logo

ELK Stack

Software

Open Source Search and Log Analytics

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Kibana logo

Kibana

Software

Visualize Your Elasticsearch Data

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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; Kibana requires Elasticsearch; it is a front end for data held there rather than a standalone analytics tool
  • They diverge on capability: ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Kibana covers Dashboard creation.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ELK Stack and Kibana actually diverge.

Attributes where ELK Stack and Kibana differ
AttributeELK StackKibana

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown), founded (2011).

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
  • Log aggregation
  • Time-series analytics

Only in Kibana

  • Dashboard creation
  • Log discovery
  • Alerting

Both cover

  • Data visualization
  • 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 Kibana
  • Dashboards and visualisation of machine data in Kibananot Kibana
  • Self managing a search and observability cluster on your own hardwarenot Kibana

Kibana

  • Querying and visualising data held in Elasticsearchnot ELK Stack
  • Dashboards over log and metric datanot ELK Stack
  • Anomaly detection with machine learning jobsnot ELK Stack
  • Geospatial analysis on indexed location datanot ELK Stack
  • Alerting on query thresholdsnot 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

Kibana

  • Requires Elasticsearch; it is a front end for data held there rather than a standalone analytics tool
  • Self-managed means running and scaling the Elastic stack yourself
  • Cost is not Kibana's own; it follows whichever Elastic deployment sits underneath

Pricing, plan by plan

ELK Stack

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Full-text search
    • Data visualization
    • Log aggregation

Kibana

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Data visualization
    • Dashboard creation
    • Log discovery

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 log aggregation.
ELK Stack review

Choose Kibana if

  • You need dashboard creation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want log discovery.
Kibana review

Questions people ask

Is ELK Stack or Kibana better?
Neither clearly leads. ELK Stack starts at Free and Kibana at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ELK Stack or Kibana?
ELK Stack starts at Free and Kibana at Free.
Does ELK Stack or Kibana 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 Kibana is typically brought in for.
What can ELK Stack do that Kibana cannot?
ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Log aggregation, Time-series analytics. Kibana covers Dashboard creation, Log discovery, Alerting. Both handle Data visualization, API, Webhooks, REST.
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