Log Management · head to head
Loggly vs Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor
Log Management
Azure's Monitoring and Diagnostics Service
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Loggly the free Lite plan caps ingest at 200 MB per day with 7 day retention; Azure Monitor billed per GB ingested across three separate log plans, Auxiliary, Basic and Analytics, so the plan chosen changes the rate as much as the volume does
- They diverge on capability: Loggly covers Log aggregation, Azure Monitor covers Log collection.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Loggly and Azure Monitor actually diverge.
| Attribute | Loggly | Azure Monitor |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 | 2010 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (usage-based), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Log Management).
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 Loggly
- Log aggregation
- Real-time search
- Alert management
Only in Azure Monitor
- Log collection
- Metrics collection
- Alerts and notifications
Both cover
- Custom dashboards
- API
- Webhooks
- REST
- Web support
- Api support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Loggly
- Cloud-hosted log aggregation for small and mid-sized engineering teamsnot Azure Monitor
- Alerting on log patterns via email, webhook, PagerDuty or Slacknot Azure Monitor
- Log analysis alongside SolarWinds infrastructure and application monitoringnot Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor
- Collecting logs and metrics from Azure resourcesnot Loggly
- Alerting on metric thresholds and log queriesnot Loggly
- Application performance monitoring through Application Insightsnot Loggly
- Long-term log retention for compliancenot Loggly
- Querying operational data with KQLnot Loggly
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Loggly
- The free Lite plan caps ingest at 200 MB per day with 7 day retention
- API access and archiving to Amazon S3 start on the Pro plan at $159 per month billed annually
- Federated identity management is an Enterprise feature, starting at $279 per month billed annually
- The Standard plan at $79 per month is limited to 1 GB per day and 3 source groups
- Maximum retention is 90 days and only on Enterprise; Standard is fixed at 15 days
Azure Monitor
- Billed per GB ingested across three separate log plans, Auxiliary, Basic and Analytics, so the plan chosen changes the rate as much as the volume does
- Only the first 5 GB a month of Analytics logs is free per billing account
- Retention beyond the base period is charged per GB per month, up to 2 years interactive and 12 years long term
- Log queries and search jobs are billed per GB scanned, so investigating an incident costs money
- Alert rules are billed per time series for metrics and by execution frequency for logs
- The pricing page shows placeholders rather than rates until a region and currency are chosen
Pricing, plan by plan
Loggly
Free- FreeFree
- Log aggregation
- Real-time search
- Custom dashboards
Azure Monitor
Free- FreeFree
- Log collection
- Metrics collection
- Alerts and notifications
Which should you pick?
Choose Loggly if
- You need log aggregation.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want real-time search.
Choose Azure Monitor if
- You need log collection.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want metrics collection.
Questions people ask
- Is Loggly or Azure Monitor better?
- Neither clearly leads. Loggly starts at Free and Azure Monitor at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Loggly or Azure Monitor?
- Loggly starts at Free and Azure Monitor at Free.
- Does Loggly or Azure Monitor run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Loggly for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Loggly best used for?
- Loggly is most often used for cloud-hosted log aggregation for small and mid-sized engineering teams, alerting on log patterns via email, webhook, pagerduty or slack, log analysis alongside solarwinds infrastructure and application monitoring. Of those, cloud-hosted log aggregation for small and mid-sized engineering teams and alerting on log patterns via email, webhook, pagerduty or slack are not what Azure Monitor is typically brought in for.
- What can Loggly do that Azure Monitor cannot?
- Loggly covers Log aggregation, Real-time search, Alert management. Azure Monitor covers Log collection, Metrics collection, Alerts and notifications. Both handle Custom dashboards, API, Webhooks, REST.