Is Kibana or Rootly better?

Neither clearly leads. Kibana starts at Free and Rootly at $20/user-month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Kibana or Rootly?

Kibana has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kibana and $20/user-month for Rootly.

Does Kibana or Rootly run on more platforms?

Kibana runs on Web, Api. Rootly runs on Web, Mobile, Slack, Microsoft Teams.

Can I use Kibana for free?

Yes. Kibana has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Rootly starts at $20/user-month.

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 Rootly is typically brought in for.

What can Kibana do that Rootly cannot?

Kibana covers Data visualization, Dashboard creation, Log discovery, Alerting. Rootly covers AI SRE automation, Alert routing, On-call management, Incident response.

Logging · head to head

Kibana vs Rootly

Kibana

Logging

Visualize Your Elasticsearch Data

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Rootly

Logging

AI-native incident management with automation, on-call, and root cause analysis

From: $20/user-month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Kibana has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Kibana requires Elasticsearch; it is a front end for data held there rather than a standalone analytics tool; Rootly pricing higher than some competitors for basic features
They diverge on capability: Kibana covers Data visualization, Rootly covers AI SRE automation.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kibana and Rootly actually diverge.

Attributes where Kibana and Rootly differ
Attribute	Kibana	Rootly
Starting price	Free	$20/user-month
Pricing model	open-source	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web, Api	Web, Mobile, Slack, Microsoft Teams
Founded	2011	2020

Identical on both: 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 Kibana

Data visualization
Dashboard creation
Log discovery
Alerting
API
Webhooks
REST
Web support

Only in Rootly

AI SRE automation
Alert routing
On-call management
Incident response
Call routing
AI meeting bot
Status pages

What people use each for

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

Kibana

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

Rootly

Automate on-call and incident response workflowsnot Kibana
Run root cause analysis with AI assistancenot Kibana
Track and improve Mean Time to Mitigation (MTTR)not Kibana
Coordinate response across distributed teamsnot Kibana
Learn from post-incident retrospectivesnot 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

Rootly

Pricing higher than some competitors for basic features
AI SRE features require separate contact-sales engagement
Learning curve for advanced automation features
Per-user pricing increases costs as team grows

Pricing, plan by plan

Kibana

Free

FreeFree
- Data visualization
- Dashboard creation
- Log discovery

Rootly

$20/user-month

Incident Response Essentials$20/user-month
- Response with Slack integration
- @Rootly AI Chat
- AI Similar Incidents detection
Incident Response Enterprise$undefined/custom
- All Essentials features
- Custom forms and incident types
- Private incidents
On-Call Essentials$20/user-month
- Alert grouping and routing
- Live call routing (1 phone number)
- Schedules and escalation policies
On-Call Enterprise$undefined/custom
- All Essentials features
- 5 phone numbers for call routing
- Unlimited schedules

Which should you pick?

Choose Kibana if

You need data visualization.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Api.
You also want dashboard creation.

Kibana review

Choose Rootly if

You need ai sre automation.
You work on Web, Mobile, Slack, Microsoft Teams.
You also want alert routing.

Rootly review

Questions people ask

Is Kibana or Rootly better?: Neither clearly leads. Kibana starts at Free and Rootly at $20/user-month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kibana or Rootly?: Kibana has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kibana and $20/user-month for Rootly.
Does Kibana or Rootly run on more platforms?: Kibana runs on Web, Api. Rootly runs on Web, Mobile, Slack, Microsoft Teams.
Can I use Kibana for free?: Yes. Kibana has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Rootly starts at $20/user-month.
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 Rootly is typically brought in for.
What can Kibana do that Rootly cannot?: Kibana covers Data visualization, Dashboard creation, Log discovery, Alerting. Rootly covers AI SRE automation, Alert routing, On-call management, Incident response.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kibana: Is Kibana available for free?

Kibana is offered with a free trial across all deployment models (Elastic Cloud Serverless, Hosted, and self-managed). Kibana is a component of the Elastic product suite and is not priced separately.

Source

Rootly: How much does Rootly cost?

Rootly charges $20/user/month for both Incident Response and On-Call Essentials plans. Enterprise plans require contacting sales. Startups under 100 employees with less than $50M raised get up to 50% discount.

Source

Kibana: How is Kibana priced?

Kibana pricing is bundled with Elasticsearch or other Elastic products. Pricing varies by deployment model: Elastic Cloud Serverless uses usage-based pricing, Hosted uses resource-based pricing, and self-managed is free to download.

Source

Rootly: What is Rootly AI SRE?

AI SRE is an advanced feature that provides automated root cause analysis, alert correlation with system changes, impact analysis, and remediation suggestions. Pricing requires contact with sales.

Source

Rootly: Does Rootly integrate with Slack?

Yes, Rootly natively integrates with Slack for incident response workflows, allowing teams to manage incidents directly in Slack.

Source

Rootly: Are there discounts for small companies?

Yes, startups under 100 employees or less than 25 employees can get special pricing up to 50% discount. Contact Rootly sales for details.

Source

Kibana vs Rootly

Kibana

Rootly

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Kibana

Only in Rootly

What people use each for

Kibana

Rootly

Where each one falls short

Kibana

Rootly

Pricing, plan by plan

Kibana

Rootly

Which should you pick?

Choose Kibana if

Choose Rootly if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Kibana

More on Rootly

Keep looking

Other head to heads