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Log Management · head to head

Fluent Bit vs Papertrail

Fluent Bit logo

Fluent Bit

Log Management

Fast and Lightweight Log Processor

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Papertrail logo

Papertrail

Log Management

Cloud-Hosted Log Management

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; Papertrail log Observability starts at $5.00 per GB per month
  • They diverge on capability: Fluent Bit covers Log collection, Papertrail covers Log aggregation.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fluent Bit and Papertrail actually diverge.

Attributes where Fluent Bit and Papertrail differ
AttributeFluent BitPapertrail
Pricing modelopen-sourcesubscription
Founded20152011

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Papertrail

  • Log aggregation
  • Real-time tail
  • Saved searches
  • System alerts

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 Papertrail
  • Kubernetes node level log collection with a small memory footprintnot Papertrail
  • Filtering and enriching telemetry before shipping it to a backendnot Papertrail

Papertrail

  • Aggregating syslog and application logs from many hosts into one searchable streamnot Fluent Bit
  • Tail-and-search style troubleshooting during incidentsnot Fluent Bit
  • Long-term log archiving to Amazon S3 for later analysisnot 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

Papertrail

  • Log Observability starts at $5.00 per GB per month
  • Usage beyond the plan volume is billed at a 30% higher price per GB and is capped at 200% extra
  • Transferred volume is measured as message length plus 50 bytes of metadata per message, so metadata counts against the quota

Pricing, plan by plan

Fluent Bit

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

Papertrail

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Log aggregation
    • Real-time tail
    • Saved searches

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 Papertrail if

  • You need log aggregation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want real-time tail.
Papertrail review

Questions people ask

Is Fluent Bit or Papertrail better?
Neither clearly leads. Fluent Bit starts at Free and Papertrail at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fluent Bit or Papertrail?
Fluent Bit starts at Free and Papertrail at Free.
Does Fluent Bit or Papertrail 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 Papertrail is typically brought in for.
What can Fluent Bit do that Papertrail cannot?
Fluent Bit covers Log collection, Lightweight processing, Data parsing, Event filtering. Papertrail covers Log aggregation, Real-time tail, Saved searches, System alerts. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
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