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InfluxDB vs Papertrail

InfluxDB logo

InfluxDB

Software

Purpose-built time series database for metrics and events

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Papertrail logo

Papertrail

Software

Cloud-Hosted Log Management

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: InfluxDB high-cardinality data causes memory pressure and performance degradation; Papertrail log Observability starts at $5.00 per GB per month
  • They diverge on capability: InfluxDB covers Time-series Storage, Papertrail covers Log aggregation.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which InfluxDB and Papertrail actually diverge.

Attributes where InfluxDB and Papertrail differ
AttributeInfluxDBPapertrail
Pricing modelUnknownsubscription
PlatformsCloud, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS, Google Cloud, AzureWeb, Api
Founded20122011

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 InfluxDB

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

Only in Papertrail

  • Log aggregation
  • Real-time tail
  • Saved searches
  • System alerts
  • 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 Papertrail
  • IoT datanot Papertrail
  • Financial datanot Papertrail
  • Log analyticsnot Papertrail
  • Observabilitynot Papertrail

Papertrail

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

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

InfluxDB

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

Papertrail

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

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 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 InfluxDB or Papertrail better?
Neither clearly leads. InfluxDB 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, InfluxDB or Papertrail?
InfluxDB starts at Free and Papertrail at Free.
Does InfluxDB or Papertrail run on more platforms?
InfluxDB runs on Cloud, Docker, Linux, macOS, Windows, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure. Papertrail 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 Papertrail is typically brought in for.
What can InfluxDB do that Papertrail cannot?
InfluxDB covers Time-series Storage, Flux Query Language, High Write Throughput, Data Compression. Papertrail covers Log aggregation, Real-time tail, Saved searches, System alerts. 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
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
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
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
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