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Log Management · head to head

Papertrail vs Filebeat

Papertrail logo

Papertrail

Log Management

Cloud-Hosted Log Management

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Filebeat logo

Filebeat

Log Management

Lightweight Shipper for Logs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Papertrail log Observability starts at $5.00 per GB per month; Filebeat filebeat ships only as part of the Elastic Stack and has no standalone commercial license; using it in production requires deploying Elasticsearch and typically Kibana alongside it.
  • They diverge on capability: Papertrail covers Log aggregation, Filebeat covers File tailing.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Papertrail and Filebeat actually diverge.

Attributes where Papertrail and Filebeat differ
AttributePapertrailFilebeat
Pricing modelsubscriptionopen-source

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Log Management), 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

  • Log aggregation
  • Real-time tail
  • Saved searches
  • System alerts

Only in Filebeat

  • File tailing
  • Log forwarding
  • Event parsing
  • Input harvesting

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.

Papertrail

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

Filebeat

  • Log monitoringnot Papertrail
  • Application performancenot Papertrail
  • Security analyticsnot Papertrail
  • Troubleshootingnot 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

Filebeat

  • Filebeat ships only as part of the Elastic Stack and has no standalone commercial license; using it in production requires deploying Elasticsearch and typically Kibana alongside it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Papertrail

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

Filebeat

Free
  • FreeFree
    • File tailing
    • Log forwarding
    • Event parsing

Which should you pick?

Choose Papertrail if

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

Choose Filebeat if

  • You need file tailing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want log forwarding.
Filebeat review

Questions people ask

Is Papertrail or Filebeat better?
Neither clearly leads. Papertrail starts at Free and Filebeat at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Papertrail or Filebeat?
Papertrail starts at Free and Filebeat at Free.
Does Papertrail or Filebeat 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 Filebeat is typically brought in for.
What can Papertrail do that Filebeat cannot?
Papertrail covers Log aggregation, Real-time tail, Saved searches, System alerts. Filebeat covers File tailing, Log forwarding, Event parsing, Input harvesting. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.
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