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Fluent Bit vs ELK Stack

Fluent Bit logo

Fluent Bit

Software

Fast and Lightweight Log Processor

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ELK Stack logo

ELK Stack

Software

Open Source Search and Log Analytics

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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; 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: Fluent Bit covers Log collection, ELK Stack covers Full-text search.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fluent Bit and ELK Stack actually diverge.

Attributes where Fluent Bit and ELK Stack differ
AttributeFluent BitELK Stack
Founded20152011

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), 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 Fluent Bit

  • Log collection
  • Lightweight processing
  • Data parsing
  • Event filtering

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.

Fluent Bit

  • Lightweight log and metric forwarding from containers and edge devicesnot ELK Stack
  • Kubernetes node level log collection with a small memory footprintnot ELK Stack
  • Filtering and enriching telemetry before shipping it to a backendnot ELK Stack

ELK Stack

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

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

Fluent Bit

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Log collection
    • Lightweight processing
    • Data parsing

ELK Stack

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

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.
Fluent Bit 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 Fluent Bit or ELK Stack better?
Neither clearly leads. Fluent Bit 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, Fluent Bit or ELK Stack?
Fluent Bit starts at Free and ELK Stack at Free.
Does Fluent Bit 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 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 ELK Stack is typically brought in for.
What can Fluent Bit do that ELK Stack cannot?
Fluent Bit covers Log collection, Lightweight processing, Data parsing, Event filtering. ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Data visualization, Log aggregation, Time-series analytics. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
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