Is InfluxDB or Loki better?

Neither clearly leads. InfluxDB starts at Free and Loki at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, InfluxDB or Loki?

InfluxDB starts at Free and Loki at Free.

Does InfluxDB or Loki run on more platforms?

InfluxDB runs on Cloud, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure. Loki runs on Web, Api.

Can I use InfluxDB for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is InfluxDB best used for?

InfluxDB is most often used for monitoring, iot data, financial data, log analytics. Of those, monitoring and iot data are not what Loki is typically brought in for.

What can InfluxDB do that Loki cannot?

InfluxDB covers Time-series Storage, Flux Query Language, High Write Throughput, Data Compression. Loki covers Log aggregation, Label-based indexing, Real-time log streaming, LogQL query language. Both handle Web support.

Logging · head to head

InfluxDB vs Loki

InfluxDB

Logging

Purpose-built time series database for metrics and events

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Loki

Logging

Like Prometheus but for Logs

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: InfluxDB high-cardinality data causes memory pressure and performance degradation; Loki the Grafana Cloud free tier caps log ingestion at 50 GB a month with 14 day retention
They diverge on capability: InfluxDB covers Time-series Storage, Loki covers Log aggregation.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which InfluxDB and Loki actually diverge.

Attributes where InfluxDB and Loki differ
Attribute	InfluxDB	Loki
Pricing model	Unknown	open-source
Platforms	Cloud, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure	Web, Api
Founded	2012	2014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Logging).

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 InfluxDB

Time-series Storage
Flux Query Language
High Write Throughput
Data Compression
Retention Policies
Continuous Queries
Built-in Dashboards
Telegraf

Only in Loki

Log aggregation
Label-based indexing
Real-time log streaming
LogQL query language
API
Webhooks
REST
Api support

Both cover

Web support

What people use each for

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

InfluxDB

Monitoringnot Loki
IoT datanot Loki
Financial datanot Loki
Log analyticsnot Loki
Observabilitynot Loki

Loki

Aggregating application and infrastructure logs with label based indexingnot InfluxDB
Querying logs alongside metrics in Grafananot InfluxDB

Where each one falls short

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

InfluxDB

High-cardinality data causes memory pressure and performance degradation
No support for joins or transactions like relational databases
Queries limited to 72-hour window in InfluxDB 3 OSS Core
Clustering and authentication features absent from community version

Loki

The Grafana Cloud free tier caps log ingestion at 50 GB a month with 14 day retention
Paid log pricing is split across three separate meters, at $0.050 per GB processed, $0.400 per GB written and $0.100 per GB retained
Retaining logs is billed separately from ingesting them, so keeping data costs on an ongoing basis rather than once
The Pro plan carries a $19 a month platform fee before any usage charges

Pricing, plan by plan

InfluxDB

Free

Cloud Serverless FreeFree
- 5 MB writes per 5 minutes
- 300 MB queries per 5 minutes
- 30 day retention
Cloud Serverless Usage-Based$undefined/mo
- 0.0025 USD per MB ingested
- 0.012 USD per 100 queries
- 0.002 USD per GB-hour storage

Loki

Free

FreeFree
- Log aggregation
- Label-based indexing
- Real-time log streaming

Which should you pick?

Choose InfluxDB if

You need time-series storage.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Cloud, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure.
You also want flux query language.

InfluxDB review

Choose Loki if

You need log aggregation.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Api.
You also want label-based indexing.

Loki review

Questions people ask

Is InfluxDB or Loki better?: Neither clearly leads. InfluxDB starts at Free and Loki at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, InfluxDB or Loki?: InfluxDB starts at Free and Loki at Free.
Does InfluxDB or Loki run on more platforms?: InfluxDB runs on Cloud, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure. Loki runs on Web, Api.
Can I use InfluxDB for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is InfluxDB best used for?: InfluxDB is most often used for monitoring, iot data, financial data, log analytics. Of those, monitoring and iot data are not what Loki is typically brought in for.
What can InfluxDB do that Loki cannot?: InfluxDB covers Time-series Storage, Flux Query Language, High Write Throughput, Data Compression. Loki covers Log aggregation, Label-based indexing, Real-time log streaming, LogQL query language. Both handle Web support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

InfluxDB: Is there a free tier and what are the limits?

InfluxDB 3 Core OSS is free forever for local development and prototyping. Cloud Serverless free tier includes 5 MB writes per 5 minutes, 300 MB queries per 5 minutes, 30 day retention, and 2 databases.

Source

Loki: What does it cost to use Grafana Loki?

Loki is open source and free under the AGPLv3 license for self-hosted deployments. Grafana's managed Cloud Logs service includes a free tier up to 50GB of logs at no cost.

Source

InfluxDB: Can I self-host InfluxDB?

Yes, InfluxDB 3 Core is fully open source and can be self-hosted with no license required. InfluxDB 3 Enterprise is self-managed and includes a 30-day free trial.

Source

Loki: Are there paid options for Loki beyond the free tier?

Yes. Grafana Cloud Logs offers paid tiers for teams and enterprises, and Enterprise Logs provides self-managed options with expert support for organizations with data localization or privacy requirements.

Source

InfluxDB: What are the series cardinality limitations?

InfluxDB is sensitive to high-cardinality data. High cardinality increases RAM usage and can trigger out-of-memory errors, making it unsuitable for some workloads with many unique tag combinations.

Source

Loki: What license does open source Loki use?

Loki is released under the AGPLv3 license, which requires you to share modifications and publish your source code if you deploy modifications publicly.

Source

InfluxDB: Does InfluxDB support SQL queries?

InfluxDB has limited SQL support. Full SQL is available in InfluxDB 3, but earlier versions support only specific SQL commands and use InfluxQL as the primary query language.

Source

InfluxDB: Can I export my data from InfluxDB?

Yes, data can be exported from InfluxDB using query results. However, the process and supported formats depend on the version and deployment type you are using.

Source

InfluxDB vs Loki

InfluxDB

Loki

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in InfluxDB

Only in Loki

Both cover

What people use each for

InfluxDB

Loki

Where each one falls short

InfluxDB

Loki

Pricing, plan by plan

InfluxDB

Loki

Which should you pick?

Choose InfluxDB if

Choose Loki if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on InfluxDB

More on Loki

Keep looking

Other head to heads