ELK Stack
8.3#10 in log management softwareFree planFree planAPILinuxmacOSSelf-hosted
VisitELK Stack vs Grafana Cloud Application Observability
Grafana Cloud Application Observability
8.9#2 in log management softwareFrom $0.03 a monthFree planAndroidiOSWebAPI
VisitWhat both publish
| Fact | ELK Stack | Grafana Cloud Application Observability |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Elastic offers over 300 turn-key integrations for Search, Security, Observability, and cloud providers including AWS, Azure, and GCP. | Grafana Cloud connection tiles support Java, .NET, Beyla, Grafana Alloy, OTLP, and the upstream OpenTelemetry Collector. |
| Pricing model | Hosted tiers start at monthly prices; Serverless charges by usage. | New customers from February 13, 2026 pay $0.025 per host hour plus $0.50 per 1,000 active metric series and $0.50 per GB for traces, logs, and profiles. |
| Purpose | The Elastic Stack combines Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and Logstash to take data from any source and format for search, analysis, and visualization. | Grafana Cloud Application Observability provides out-of-the-box application monitoring and uses OpenTelemetry and Prometheus data to support root-cause analysis. |
ELK Stack plans
- Basic—
- Logs EssentialsPriced on request
- Complete$0.09 a month
- Standard$99 a month
- Gold$114 a month
- Platinum$131 a month
Grafana Cloud Application Observability plans
- FreeFree
- Pro$0.03 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
Pick ELK Stack if…
The Elastic Stack suits teams that need search, analytics, visualization, centralized logging, monitoring, or security analytics. Its hosted and self-managed deployment options support different infrastructure choices.
Pick Grafana Cloud Application Observability if…
It suits software engineers who need to detect anomalies, investigate causes, and address application problems. Teams using OpenTelemetry or Prometheus can use its listed compatibility and Alloy pipelines.