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Software · head to head

Kibana vs ELK Stack

Kibana logo

Kibana

Software

Visualize Your Elasticsearch Data

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ELK Stack logo

ELK Stack

Software

Open Source Search and Log Analytics

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Kibana requires Elasticsearch; it is a front end for data held there rather than a standalone analytics tool; ELK Stack the free Basic self managed subscription excludes machine learning, alerting, single sign on via SAML or OpenID Connect, LDAP and Active Directory authentication, field and document level security, searchable snapshots and cross cluster replication
  • They diverge on capability: Kibana covers Dashboard creation, ELK Stack covers Full-text search.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kibana and ELK Stack actually diverge.

Attributes where Kibana and ELK Stack differ
AttributeKibanaELK Stack

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown), founded (2011).

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 Kibana

  • Dashboard creation
  • Log discovery
  • Alerting

Only in ELK Stack

  • Full-text search
  • Log aggregation
  • Time-series analytics

Both cover

  • Data visualization
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support
  • Api support

What people use each for

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

Kibana

  • Querying and visualising data held in Elasticsearchnot ELK Stack
  • Dashboards over log and metric datanot ELK Stack
  • Anomaly detection with machine learning jobsnot ELK Stack
  • Geospatial analysis on indexed location datanot ELK Stack
  • Alerting on query thresholdsnot ELK Stack

ELK Stack

  • Centralised log search and analytics over Elasticsearchnot Kibana
  • Dashboards and visualisation of machine data in Kibananot Kibana
  • Self managing a search and observability cluster on your own hardwarenot Kibana

Where each one falls short

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

Kibana

  • Requires Elasticsearch; it is a front end for data held there rather than a standalone analytics tool
  • Self-managed means running and scaling the Elastic stack yourself
  • Cost is not Kibana's own; it follows whichever Elastic deployment sits underneath

ELK Stack

  • The free Basic self managed subscription excludes machine learning, alerting, single sign on via SAML or OpenID Connect, LDAP and Active Directory authentication, field and document level security, searchable snapshots and cross cluster replication
  • Cross cluster operations require the same subscription tier on every cluster involved
  • The 99.95 percent monthly uptime SLA applies only to the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers
  • Three deployment models are priced on three different bases: resource based for Cloud Hosted, usage based for Serverless and licence based on nodes and RAM for self managed
  • Elastic Cloud Serverless does not yet support traffic filtering, cross project search or bring your own key
  • The pricing page publishes no rate for any tier

Pricing, plan by plan

Kibana

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Data visualization
    • Dashboard creation
    • Log discovery

ELK Stack

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Full-text search
    • Data visualization
    • Log aggregation

Which should you pick?

Choose Kibana if

  • You need dashboard creation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want log discovery.
Kibana review

Choose ELK Stack if

  • You need full-text search.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want log aggregation.
ELK Stack review

Questions people ask

Is Kibana or ELK Stack better?
Neither clearly leads. Kibana starts at Free and ELK Stack at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kibana or ELK Stack?
Kibana starts at Free and ELK Stack at Free.
Does Kibana or ELK Stack run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Kibana for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Kibana best used for?
Kibana is most often used for querying and visualising data held in elasticsearch, dashboards over log and metric data, anomaly detection with machine learning jobs, geospatial analysis on indexed location data. Of those, querying and visualising data held in elasticsearch and dashboards over log and metric data are not what ELK Stack is typically brought in for.
What can Kibana do that ELK Stack cannot?
Kibana covers Dashboard creation, Log discovery, Alerting. ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Log aggregation, Time-series analytics. Both handle Data visualization, API, Webhooks, REST.
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