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Logging · head to head

Grafana Loki vs PagerDuty

Grafana Loki logo

Grafana Loki

Logging

Log Aggregation for Grafana Stack

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PagerDuty logo

PagerDuty

Technology

Real-time operations for real-time business

From
$21/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Grafana Loki has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Grafana Loki grafana Cloud Logs Pro plan includes only 30-day retention; retention beyond 30 days requires Enterprise plan with minimum $25,000 annual commitment; PagerDuty aIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • They diverge on capability: Grafana Loki covers Log aggregation, PagerDuty covers Incident response.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Grafana Loki and PagerDuty actually diverge.

Attributes where Grafana Loki and PagerDuty differ
AttributeGrafana LokiPagerDuty
Starting priceFree$21/month
Pricing modelfreemiumUnknown
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsSelf-hosted (open source), Managed (Grafana Cloud Logs), Enterprise (self-managed with support)Web, Ios, Android, Api
CategoryLoggingTechnology
Founded20142009

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Grafana Loki

  • Log aggregation
  • Label-based indexing
  • LogQL language
  • Cost-effective
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support

Only in PagerDuty

  • Incident response
  • On-call management
  • Alert grouping
  • Escalation policies
  • Mobile incident management
  • Postmortems
  • Status pages
  • Event intelligence

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Grafana Loki

  • Cost-sensitive organisations deploying Kubernetes and Prometheus ecosystemsnot PagerDuty
  • Teams needing index-free log aggregation for high-volume environmentsnot PagerDuty

PagerDuty

  • Incident managementnot Grafana Loki
  • On-call schedulingnot Grafana Loki
  • Real-time alertingnot Grafana Loki
  • Service reliabilitynot Grafana Loki
  • Digital operationsnot Grafana Loki

Where each one falls short

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

Grafana Loki

  • Grafana Cloud Logs Pro plan includes only 30-day retention; retention beyond 30 days requires Enterprise plan with minimum $25,000 annual commitment
  • Open-source version requires self-hosting all infrastructure including storage and scaling

PagerDuty

  • AIOps, status pages, and live call routing are expensive add-ons not included in base plans, significantly increasing total cost
  • Complex escalation policies require workarounds for scheduling patterns beyond basic weekly rotations
  • 5-user minimum requirement forces costs even for small teams, with forced Business tier upgrades adding $12,000+ annually for larger teams

Pricing, plan by plan

Grafana Loki

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Grafana Loki review.

PagerDuty

$21/month

No published plan breakdown. See the PagerDuty review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Grafana Loki if

  • You need log aggregation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Self-hosted (open source), Managed (Grafana Cloud Logs), Enterprise (self-managed with support).
  • You also want label-based indexing.
Grafana Loki review

Choose PagerDuty if

  • You need incident response.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want on-call management.
PagerDuty review

Questions people ask

Is Grafana Loki or PagerDuty better?
Neither clearly leads. Grafana Loki starts at Free and PagerDuty at $21/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Grafana Loki or PagerDuty?
Grafana Loki has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Grafana Loki and $21/month for PagerDuty.
Does Grafana Loki or PagerDuty run on more platforms?
Grafana Loki runs on Self-hosted (open source), Managed (Grafana Cloud Logs), Enterprise (self-managed with support). PagerDuty runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
Can I use Grafana Loki for free?
Yes. Grafana Loki has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. PagerDuty starts at $21/month.
What is Grafana Loki best used for?
Grafana Loki is most often used for cost-sensitive organisations deploying kubernetes and prometheus ecosystems, teams needing index-free log aggregation for high-volume environments. Of those, cost-sensitive organisations deploying kubernetes and prometheus ecosystems and teams needing index-free log aggregation for high-volume environments are not what PagerDuty is typically brought in for.
What can Grafana Loki do that PagerDuty cannot?
Grafana Loki covers Log aggregation, Label-based indexing, LogQL language, Cost-effective. PagerDuty covers Incident response, On-call management, Alert grouping, Escalation policies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Grafana Loki: Is there a free tier for Grafana Cloud?

Yes, Grafana Cloud has a Free Forever plan at no cost with no registration required. The free tier is suitable for personal projects and early-stage startups.

Source
PagerDuty: What is the minimum cost to use PagerDuty?

PagerDuty requires a minimum of 5 users per account. The Professional plan starts at $21 per user per month ($105/month minimum), with annual billing providing 16% discount.

Source
Grafana Loki: How long is data retained in Grafana's free plan?

The free tier retains metrics, logs, traces, and profiles for 14 days.

Source
PagerDuty: What integrations does PagerDuty support?

PagerDuty integrates with 750+ monitoring, ticketing, and collaboration tools including Datadog, Slack, Jira, ServiceNow, New Relic, and Nagios.

Source
Grafana Loki: What is the minimum cost for Grafana Enterprise?

Grafana Enterprise has a minimum annual commitment of 25,000 dollars.

Source
PagerDuty: How much does AIOps cost in PagerDuty?

AIOps Intelligence is sold separately as an add-on starting at $699 per month, and is not included in any of the base plans.

Source
Grafana Loki: Do I need a credit card to use Grafana's free tier?

No, Grafana Cloud's Free Forever plan requires no credit card to get started.

Source
Grafana Loki: How is Grafana Cloud billed?

Grafana Cloud Pro starts at 19 dollars per month with usage-based charges on top. Billing is monthly based on your consumption. Grafana offers automatic volume discounts based on your spending.

Source
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