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Software · head to head

Papertrail vs ELK Stack

Papertrail logo

Papertrail

Software

Cloud-Hosted Log Management

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: Papertrail log Observability starts at $5.00 per GB per month; 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: Papertrail covers Real-time tail, ELK Stack covers Full-text search.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Papertrail and ELK Stack differ
AttributePapertrailELK Stack
Pricing modelsubscriptionopen-source

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Papertrail

  • Real-time tail
  • Saved searches
  • System alerts

Only in ELK Stack

  • Full-text search
  • Data visualization
  • Time-series analytics

Both cover

  • Log aggregation
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support
  • Api support

What people use each for

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

Papertrail

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

ELK Stack

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

Where each one falls short

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

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

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

Papertrail

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

ELK Stack

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Papertrail if

  • You need real-time tail.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want saved searches.
Papertrail review

Choose ELK Stack if

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

Questions people ask

Is Papertrail or ELK Stack better?
Neither clearly leads. Papertrail 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, Papertrail or ELK Stack?
Papertrail starts at Free and ELK Stack at Free.
Does Papertrail 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 Papertrail for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Papertrail best used for?
Papertrail is most often used for aggregating syslog and application logs from many hosts into one searchable stream, tail-and-search style troubleshooting during incidents, long-term log archiving to amazon s3 for later analysis. Of those, aggregating syslog and application logs from many hosts into one searchable stream and tail-and-search style troubleshooting during incidents are not what ELK Stack is typically brought in for.
What can Papertrail do that ELK Stack cannot?
Papertrail covers Real-time tail, Saved searches, System alerts. ELK Stack covers Full-text search, Data visualization, Time-series analytics. Both handle Log aggregation, API, Webhooks, REST.
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