Log Management · head to head
Fluent Bit vs Stackdriver
Stackdriver
Log Management
Google Cloud Operations - Monitoring and Logging
- 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; Stackdriver stackdriver is now branded Google Cloud Observability and cloud.google.com/stackdriver redirects to the Observability product page
- They diverge on capability: Fluent Bit covers Log collection, Stackdriver covers Log management.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Fluent Bit and Stackdriver actually diverge.
| Attribute | Fluent Bit | Stackdriver |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | usage-based |
| Founded | 2015 | 2006 |
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 Stackdriver
- Log management
- Metrics collection
- Real-time monitoring
- Error reporting
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 Stackdriver
- Kubernetes node level log collection with a small memory footprintnot Stackdriver
- Filtering and enriching telemetry before shipping it to a backendnot Stackdriver
Stackdriver
- Centralised logging, metrics and traces for workloads running on Google Cloudnot Fluent Bit
- Alerting and uptime checks on cloud servicesnot Fluent Bit
- Running managed Prometheus-compatible monitoring at scalenot 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
Stackdriver
- Stackdriver is now branded Google Cloud Observability and cloud.google.com/stackdriver redirects to the Observability product page
- Cloud Logging charges $0.50 per GiB ingested, with only the first 50 GiB per project per month free
- Logs kept beyond 30 days cost an extra $0.01 per GiB per month on top of the ingestion charge
- Monitoring metric ingestion starts at $0.2580 per MiB, with only the first 150 MiB per billing account free
- Alerting policies are billed at $0.35 per month for each metric reference in the policy
- Uptime checks cost $0.30 per 1,000 executions and synthetic monitors $1.20 per 1,000 executions, with only 100 synthetic executions per billing account free
- Monitoring read API calls cost $0.50 per million time series returned beyond the first million per billing account
- Log volume is measured before indexing on the actual size of log entries, so verbose logging directly drives cost
Pricing, plan by plan
Fluent Bit
Free- FreeFree
- Log collection
- Lightweight processing
- Data parsing
Stackdriver
Free- FreeFree
- Log management
- Metrics collection
- Real-time monitoring
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 Stackdriver if
- You need log management.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want metrics collection.
Questions people ask
- Is Fluent Bit or Stackdriver better?
- Neither clearly leads. Fluent Bit starts at Free and Stackdriver at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Fluent Bit or Stackdriver?
- Fluent Bit starts at Free and Stackdriver at Free.
- Does Fluent Bit or Stackdriver 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 Stackdriver is typically brought in for.
- What can Fluent Bit do that Stackdriver cannot?
- Fluent Bit covers Log collection, Lightweight processing, Data parsing, Event filtering. Stackdriver covers Log management, Metrics collection, Real-time monitoring, Error reporting. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.