Log Management · head to head
Fluent Bit vs Elastic APM
Elastic APM
Log Management
Application Performance Monitoring from Elastic
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Fluent Bit fluent Bit ships over 100 built in plugins against more than 1,000 external plugins available for Fluentd, so fewer integrations exist out of the box; Elastic APM pricing is not published on the product page; cost follows the underlying Elastic deployment rather than being quoted per host or per service
- They diverge on capability: Fluent Bit covers Log collection, Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Fluent Bit and Elastic APM actually diverge.
| Attribute | Fluent Bit | Elastic APM |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 | 2011 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), 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 Fluent Bit
- Log collection
- Lightweight processing
- Data parsing
- Event filtering
Only in Elastic APM
- Performance monitoring
- Error tracking
- Transaction tracing
- Custom metrics
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.
Fluent Bit
- Lightweight log and metric forwarding from containers and edge devicesnot Elastic APM
- Kubernetes node level log collection with a small memory footprintnot Elastic APM
- Filtering and enriching telemetry before shipping it to a backendnot Elastic APM
Elastic APM
- Distributed tracing across microservicesnot Fluent Bit
- Auto-instrumenting Java, .NET, Python, Go, Node.js, Ruby, PHP and C++ servicesnot Fluent Bit
- OpenTelemetry-native collection through the Elastic distributionsnot Fluent Bit
- Correlating latency and errors with machine learningnot Fluent Bit
- Monitoring LLM calls alongside application tracesnot Fluent Bit
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Fluent Bit
- Fluent Bit ships over 100 built in plugins against more than 1,000 external plugins available for Fluentd, so fewer integrations exist out of the box
- It is written in C, so extending it beyond the built in plugins means writing C rather than Ruby
- Dependencies are zero only until a plugin requires one
Elastic APM
- Pricing is not published on the product page; cost follows the underlying Elastic deployment rather than being quoted per host or per service
- Self-managed deployment means running and scaling Elasticsearch yourself
- Serverless does not carry every capability the hosted option does
Pricing, plan by plan
Fluent Bit
Free- FreeFree
- Log collection
- Lightweight processing
- Data parsing
Elastic APM
Free- FreeFree
- Performance monitoring
- Error tracking
- Transaction tracing
Which should you pick?
Choose Fluent Bit if
- You need log collection.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want lightweight processing.
Choose Elastic APM if
- You need performance monitoring.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want error tracking.
Questions people ask
- Is Fluent Bit or Elastic APM better?
- Neither clearly leads. Fluent Bit starts at Free and Elastic APM at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Fluent Bit or Elastic APM?
- Fluent Bit starts at Free and Elastic APM at Free.
- Does Fluent Bit or Elastic APM run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Fluent Bit for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Fluent Bit best used for?
- Fluent Bit is most often used for lightweight log and metric forwarding from containers and edge devices, kubernetes node level log collection with a small memory footprint, filtering and enriching telemetry before shipping it to a backend. Of those, lightweight log and metric forwarding from containers and edge devices and kubernetes node level log collection with a small memory footprint are not what Elastic APM is typically brought in for.
- What can Fluent Bit do that Elastic APM cannot?
- Fluent Bit covers Log collection, Lightweight processing, Data parsing, Event filtering. Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Error tracking, Transaction tracing, Custom metrics. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.