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Log Management · head to head

Filebeat vs ELK Stack

Filebeat logo

Filebeat

Log Management

Lightweight Shipper for Logs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ELK Stack logo

ELK Stack

Log Management

Open Source Search and Log Analytics

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Filebeat filebeat ships only as part of the Elastic Stack and has no standalone commercial license; using it in production requires deploying Elasticsearch and typically Kibana alongside it.; 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
  • They diverge on capability: Filebeat covers File tailing, ELK Stack covers Full-text search.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Filebeat and ELK Stack differ
AttributeFilebeatELK Stack

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Log Management), 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 Filebeat

  • File tailing
  • Log forwarding
  • Event parsing
  • Input harvesting

Only in ELK Stack

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

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.

Filebeat

  • Log monitoringnot ELK Stack
  • Application performancenot ELK Stack
  • Security analyticsnot ELK Stack
  • Troubleshootingnot ELK Stack

ELK Stack

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

Where each one falls short

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

Filebeat

  • Filebeat ships only as part of the Elastic Stack and has no standalone commercial license; using it in production requires deploying Elasticsearch and typically Kibana alongside it.

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

Pricing, plan by plan

Filebeat

Free
  • FreeFree
    • File tailing
    • Log forwarding
    • Event parsing

ELK Stack

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Filebeat if

  • You need file tailing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want log forwarding.
Filebeat review

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

Questions people ask

Is Filebeat or ELK Stack better?
Neither clearly leads. Filebeat starts at Free and ELK Stack at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Filebeat or ELK Stack?
Filebeat starts at Free and ELK Stack at Free.
Does Filebeat or ELK Stack run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Filebeat for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Filebeat best used for?
Filebeat is most often used for log monitoring, application performance, security analytics, troubleshooting. Of those, log monitoring and application performance are not what ELK Stack is typically brought in for.
What can Filebeat do that ELK Stack cannot?
Filebeat covers File tailing, Log forwarding, Event parsing, Input harvesting. ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Data visualization, Log aggregation, Time-series analytics. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
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