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Software · head to head

ELK Stack vs Prometheus

ELK Stack logo

ELK Stack

Software

Open Source Search and Log Analytics

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: 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; Prometheus not suitable for per-request billing as collected data lacks 100% accuracy
  • They diverge on capability: ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where ELK Stack and Prometheus differ
AttributeELK StackPrometheus
PlatformsWeb, ApiLinux, macOS, Windows
Founded20112015

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), 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 ELK Stack

  • Full-text search
  • Data visualization
  • Log aggregation
  • Time-series analytics
  • 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.

ELK Stack

  • Centralised log search and analytics over Elasticsearchnot Prometheus
  • Dashboards and visualisation of machine data in Kibananot Prometheus
  • Self managing a search and observability cluster on your own hardwarenot Prometheus

Prometheus

  • Cloud-native monitoring and alertingnot ELK Stack
  • Time-series metrics collectionnot ELK Stack
  • Infrastructure monitoringnot 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

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

ELK Stack

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

Prometheus

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Prometheus review.

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.
ELK Stack 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 ELK Stack or Prometheus better?
Neither clearly leads. ELK Stack 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, ELK Stack or Prometheus?
ELK Stack starts at Free and Prometheus at Free.
Does ELK Stack or Prometheus run on more platforms?
ELK Stack runs on Web, Api. Prometheus runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
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 Prometheus is typically brought in for.
What can ELK Stack do that Prometheus cannot?
ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Data visualization, Log aggregation, Time-series analytics. Prometheus covers Multi-dimensional Data Model, PromQL Query Language, Pull-based Collection, Service Discovery.
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