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Loki vs Elastic APM

Loki logo

Loki

Software

Like Prometheus but for Logs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Elastic APM logo

Elastic APM

Software

Application Performance Monitoring from Elastic

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Loki the Grafana Cloud free tier caps log ingestion at 50 GB a month with 14 day retention; Elastic APM pricing is not published on the product page; cost follows the underlying Elastic deployment rather than being quoted per host or per service
  • They diverge on capability: Loki covers Log aggregation, Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Loki and Elastic APM actually diverge.

Attributes where Loki and Elastic APM differ
AttributeLokiElastic APM
Founded20142011

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (open-source), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), 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 Loki

  • Log aggregation
  • Label-based indexing
  • Real-time log streaming
  • LogQL query language

Only in Elastic APM

  • Performance monitoring
  • Error tracking
  • Transaction tracing
  • Custom metrics

Both cover

  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support
  • Api support

What people use each for

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

Loki

  • Aggregating application and infrastructure logs with label based indexingnot Elastic APM
  • Querying logs alongside metrics in Grafananot Elastic APM

Elastic APM

  • Distributed tracing across microservicesnot Loki
  • Auto-instrumenting Java, .NET, Python, Go, Node.js, Ruby, PHP and C++ servicesnot Loki
  • OpenTelemetry-native collection through the Elastic distributionsnot Loki
  • Correlating latency and errors with machine learningnot Loki
  • Monitoring LLM calls alongside application tracesnot Loki

Where each one falls short

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

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

Elastic APM

  • Pricing is not published on the product page; cost follows the underlying Elastic deployment rather than being quoted per host or per service
  • Self-managed deployment means running and scaling Elasticsearch yourself
  • Serverless does not carry every capability the hosted option does

Pricing, plan by plan

Loki

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

Elastic APM

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Performance monitoring
    • Error tracking
    • Transaction tracing

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Elastic APM if

  • You need performance monitoring.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want error tracking.
Elastic APM review

Questions people ask

Is Loki or Elastic APM better?
Neither clearly leads. Loki starts at Free and Elastic APM at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Loki or Elastic APM?
Loki starts at Free and Elastic APM at Free.
Does Loki or Elastic APM run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Loki for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Loki best used for?
Loki is most often used for aggregating application and infrastructure logs with label based indexing, querying logs alongside metrics in grafana. Of those, aggregating application and infrastructure logs with label based indexing and querying logs alongside metrics in grafana are not what Elastic APM is typically brought in for.
What can Loki do that Elastic APM cannot?
Loki covers Log aggregation, Label-based indexing, Real-time log streaming, LogQL query language. Elastic APM covers Performance monitoring, Error tracking, Transaction tracing, Custom metrics. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
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