Log Management · head to head
Rollbar vs Filebeat
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Rollbar the free plan allows 5,000 occurrences a month with 30 day retention; 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: Rollbar covers Error tracking, Filebeat covers File tailing.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Rollbar and Filebeat actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Rollbar
- Error tracking
- Real-time alerts
- Error grouping
- Source maps
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.
Rollbar
- Tracking application errors and exceptions across deploymentsnot Filebeat
- Grouping and alerting on production error occurrencesnot Filebeat
Filebeat
- Log monitoringnot Rollbar
- Application performancenot Rollbar
- Security analyticsnot Rollbar
- Troubleshootingnot Rollbar
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Rollbar
- The free plan allows 5,000 occurrences a month with 30 day retention
- Retention is a paid ladder rather than a setting, at up to 90 days on Essentials and up to 180 on Advanced
- Advanced alerting, the RQL analytics query language and SCIM provisioning are excluded from the free plan
- Enterprise requires a $4M annual plan minimum
- No price is published for Essentials or Advanced, so only the free tier has a visible cost
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
Rollbar
Free- FreeFree
- Error tracking
- Real-time alerts
- Error grouping
Filebeat
Free- FreeFree
- File tailing
- Log forwarding
- Event parsing
Which should you pick?
Choose Rollbar if
- You need error tracking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want real-time alerts.
Choose Filebeat if
- You need file tailing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want log forwarding.
Questions people ask
- Is Rollbar or Filebeat better?
- Neither clearly leads. Rollbar 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, Rollbar or Filebeat?
- Rollbar starts at Free and Filebeat at Free.
- Does Rollbar or Filebeat run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Rollbar for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Rollbar best used for?
- Rollbar is most often used for tracking application errors and exceptions across deployments, grouping and alerting on production error occurrences. Of those, tracking application errors and exceptions across deployments and grouping and alerting on production error occurrences are not what Filebeat is typically brought in for.
- What can Rollbar do that Filebeat cannot?
- Rollbar covers Error tracking, Real-time alerts, Error grouping, Source maps. Filebeat covers File tailing, Log forwarding, Event parsing, Input harvesting. Both handle API, Webhooks, REST, Web support.