Elastic Observability vs Elastic Stack comparison

Elastic Observability and Elastic Stack are both solutions in the Log Management category. Elastic Observability is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.7, while Elastic Stack is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.9. Elastic Observability holds a 1.2% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Elastic Stack’s 4.0% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Elastic Observability users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Elastic Stack users who would recommend it.

Elastic Observability

Read 29 Elastic Observability reviews

8,436 Views
2,025 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Elastic Stack

Read 18 Elastic Stack reviews

5,607 Views
5,607 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Elastic Observability

Elastic Stack

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Elastic Observability and Elastic Stack are tools for managing and analyzing data, competing in data management and analytics. Elastic Observability holds the advantage in deployment simplicity and customer support, while Elastic Stack is stronger in features and overall performance.

Features: Elastic Observability offers advanced monitoring and alerting, seamless integration for anomaly detection, and system performance tracking. Elastic Stack includes comprehensive data visualization, robust search functionalities, and extensive indexing capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Elastic Observability could improve in dashboard customization, intuitive data correlation, and expand its analysis tools. Elastic Stack users suggest better memory usage efficiency, simplified configuration, and more out-of-the-box configurations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Elastic Observability is easier to deploy with strong support services aiding setup and issue resolution. Elastic Stack requires more detailed configurations but offers flexible deployment options beneficial for complex infrastructures. Elastic Observability leads in customer service responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Elastic Observability has favorable setup costs and offers a good return on investment through resource efficiency and problem detection. Elastic Stack, though more costly initially, justifies the expense with extensive features and proven data management impact, promising significant long-term ROI for larger operations.

To learn more, read our detailed Elastic Observability vs. Elastic Stack Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. Elastic Stack

December 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Elastic Observability

Ranking in Log Management

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (6th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (9th), Container Monitoring (4th), Cloud Monitoring Software (7th)

Elastic Stack

Ranking in Log Management

10th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Elastic Observability is 1.2%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Elastic Stack is 4.0%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Elastic Stack	4.0%
Elastic Observability	1.2%
Other	94.8%

Log Management

Featured Reviews

Mohammed-Abdelalim

Assistant Vice President at QualityKiosk Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Has provided powerful customization for unique monitoring needs but needs more out-of-the-box capabilities

In my opinion, the best features of Elastic Observability are their flexibility to integrate with other existing systems and the ability to build a unified monitoring tool that can integrate with existing ones and end-to-end user journeys which require a lot of customizations. The greatest feature in Elastic is the ability to customize. This is similar to my comments about customizable dashboards in Elastic because it's visible to the analyst. However, it's very great. Customizing these dashboards can meet the customer's specific use cases and specific stories that they have in their environment, their special environment that doesn't look like other environments. The dashboarding in Elastic is highly customizable to the level of logos. If the customer wants his company logo in the dashboard, it can be done.

Read full review

Lakshmi Bodepu

Senior Consultant at Skillfield

Offers robust out-of-the-box integrations and streamlines logging processes effortlessly

There are improvements needed for Elastic Stack. It is mostly based on Lucene, and the heart of Elastic Stack is Lucene, which has some limitations. Anything built on top of Lucene often feels an add-on, and that includes vector databases. Elastic Stack can store vector embeddings as well and perform AI and machine learning tasks out of the box without excessive configuration. The main improvements involve increasing speed and compression capabilities; I have seen databases that claim to achieve significantly better compression. While Elastic Stack can manage vast amounts of data, if the mapping is not specified correctly, the indexing time can be slow, especially with many events per second. Improper mapping usually means that every document received gets indexed for all fields, which is not desired. Elastic consultants typically optimize this, but out of the box, as data volume increases, scaling becomes necessary. They are working on these improvements in new versions.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Elastic Observability is the text search."

"For full stack observability, Elastic is the best tool compared with any other tool ."

"The most valued feature of Elastic is its log analytics capabilities."

"It is a powerful tool that allows users to collect and transform logs as needed, enabling flexible visualization and analysis."

"We can view and connect different sources to the dashboard using it."

"I recommend Elastic Observability for its completeness of vision and wide ecosystem."

"Good design and easy to use once implemented."

"The solution has been stable in our usage."

More Elastic Observability pros

"The machine learning capabilities are valuable."

"The only beneficial aspect of Elastic Stack is that it's open source."

"The biggest strength of Elastic Stack is its brilliant archiving capabilities."

"The solution's technical support is good...Elastic Stack offers good value for value for money based on the product's features and what they offer."

"Prior to the latest updates, data lake management was a standout feature. The hybrid capability for on-premise and cloud integration was also crucial. Now, with Elastic Defense, the agent simplifies security monitoring, making it a key asset."

"The detection rules in Elastic Stack are the most valuable feature. The search capabilities are excellent and fast. As we collect logs from workstations and devices, the detection rules run on top of the logs and detect any suspicious activity, raising alerts accordingly. Integration with Elastic Stack depends on the specific integration. Elastic provides some bridging integrations that make it easy, but require custom integration. Most integrations are simple, but customization can be challenging because we need to do some parsing. There's something called Elastic Common Schema, and we need to parse the source logs to match this schema, which can be a bit challenging."

"We can group a lot of alarms into one automation alarm supervision. The alarm supervision allows us to put the alarm under the same. It's quite helpful for us. We used that to suppress our alarms. Elastic already provides the agent. It is easy to integrate Elastic Stack with other devices and vendors."

"The tool's most powerful aspect is its search engine capability. It's a highly effective and powerful solution for searching. We use it in professional and student projects at universities, and it delivers promising results."

More Elastic Stack pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement regarding its APM capabilities."

"In the future, Elastic APM needs a portfolio iTool. They can provide an easy way to develop the custom UI for Kibana."

"Elastic Observability is an excellent product for monitoring and visibility, but it lacks predictive analytics. Most solutions are aligned with the AIOps requirements, but this piece is missing in Elastic and should be included."

"The interface could be improved."

"There's a steep learning curve if you've never used this solution before."

"Elastic Observability needs to improve the retrieval of logs and metrics from all the instances."

"The tool's scalability involves a more complex implementation process. It requires careful calculations to determine the number of nodes needed, the specifications of each node, and the configuration of hot, warm, and cold zones for data storage. Additionally, managing log retention policies adds further complexity. The solution's pricing also needs to be cheaper."

"More web features could be added to the product."

More Elastic Observability cons

"Improvements are needed in the solution in areas like SOAR and TIP, where there are certain shortcomings."

"The solution is expensive, particularly the training and certification. If customers want to increase their use of Elastic Stack, they should consider reducing the cost of certification and training."

"Elastic Stack should be more simplified with ready-to-use widgets."

"I would rate the technical support by Elastic as five or six out of ten. They should improve their response time and first-level support, particularly knowledge, which is very important for using Elasticsearch."

"While Elastic Stack can manage vast amounts of data, if the mapping is not specified correctly, the indexing time can be slow, especially with many events per second."

"The tool's pricing can be improved."

"It should facilitate easier manual integration."

"It lacks a clear NDR (Network Detection and Response) feature. If Elastic could enhance this aspect, it would significantly boost its capabilities."

More Elastic Stack cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are two types: cloud and SaaS. They charge based on data ingestion, ingest rate, hard retention, and warm retention. I believe it costs around $25,000 annually to ingest 30GB of data daily. That is the SaaS version. There is also a self-managed license where the customer manages their own infrastructure on-prem. In such cases, there are three license tiers that respectively cost $5,000 annually per node, $7,000 per node, and $12,500 per node."

"We will buy a premium license after POC."

"The product’s pricing needs improvement."

"Elastic Observability's pricing could be better for small-scale users."

"Users have to pay for some features, like the alerts on different channels, because they are unavailable in different source versions."

"One needs to pay for the licenses, and it is an annual subscription model right now."

"So far, there are just the standard licensing fees. Several of the components are embedded in the license or are even open source. They're even free depending on what you use, which makes it even more appealing to someone that is discussing pricing of the solution."

"Since we are a huge company, Elastic Observability is an affordable solution for us."

More Elastic Observability pricing and cost advice

"Ultimately, the pricing depends upon the capacity planning that the enterprise architect does."

"It depends on the specifics, but generally, Elastic is economical for certain use cases."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"If I compare Elastic Stack to the other products in the market, I would say that the tool is available at a competitive price."

"The product is expensive."

"I used the open-source version of Elastic Stack, because of which I did not have to pay anything."

"I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"We are using the open-source community version of the product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	16

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	6

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Elastic Observability?

Elastic Observability significantly improves incident response time by providing quick access to logs and data across various sources. For instance, searching for specific keywords in logs spanning...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Elastic Observability?

The problem is their licensing model, which is a bit confusing. Many customers struggle to understand their total cost of ownership because Elastic licensing is not dependent on easy, quantifiable ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Elastic Observability?

After careful consideration about areas for improvement in Elastic Observability, aspects such as pricing, customization, implementation, and scalability could be improved. As a user of the system,...

See all answers

What do you like most about Elastic Stack?

The tool is huge, and it performs brilliantly. I tested it for malware, and within two weeks of launching, the product alerted me about a network intrusion. This was a tough test for it, but it per...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Elastic Stack?

My experience with Elastic Stack pricing indicates that it is node-based. While I do not have complete pricing details, they are available online. If I choose Elastic Cloud, it includes licensing a...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Elastic Stack?

I would like to improve Elastic Stack by addressing the current big problem we face with importing logs and log files, such as syslogs. To import these log files, we need to design the ingest pipel...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 8% of the time

Dynatrace vs Elastic Observability

Compared 7% of the time

New Relic vs Elastic Observability

Compared 7% of the time

Grafana vs Elastic Observability

Compared 7% of the time

Zabbix vs Elastic Observability

Compared 6% of the time

More Elastic Observability Competitors

Wazuh vs Elastic Stack

Compared 41% of the time

Security Onion vs Elastic Stack

Compared 12% of the time

Grafana Loki vs Elastic Stack

Compared 7% of the time

Dynatrace vs Elastic Stack

Compared 6% of the time

Cribl vs Elastic Stack

Compared 5% of the time

More Elastic Stack Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability

January 2026

Download Elastic Observability product report

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Stack

January 2026

Download Elastic Stack product report

Overview

Elastic Observability offers a comprehensive suite for log analytics, application performance monitoring, and machine learning. It integrates seamlessly with platforms like Teams and Slack, enhancing data visualization and scalability for real-time insights.

Elastic Observability is designed to support production environments with features like logging, data collection, and infrastructure tracking. Centralized logging and powerful search functionalities make incident response and performance tracking efficient. Elastic APM and Kibana facilitate detailed data visualization, promoting rapid troubleshooting and effective system performance analysis. Integrated services and extensive connectivity options enhance its role in business and technical decision-making by providing actionable data insights.

What are the most important features of Elastic Observability?

Centralized Logging: Streamlines the collection, analysis, and storage of log data.
Powerful Search: Provides robust search capabilities for quick access to relevant information.
Scalability: Supports growing data needs across diverse environments.
Real-time Telemetry: Ensures up-to-date insights and monitoring.
Platform Integration: Seamlessly connects with services like Teams and Slack.
Data Visualization: Enhances visibility with Elastic APM and Kibana.

What benefits and ROI should users explore in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers significant savings through efficient data management.
Rapid Incident Response: Minimizes downtime with quick troubleshooting tools.
Comprehensive Insights: Supports better business decisions with detailed data analysis.
Performance Tracking: Enables assessment of system effectiveness and improvements.

Elastic Observability is employed across industries for critical operations, such as in finance for transaction monitoring, in healthcare for secure data management, and in technology for optimizing application performance. Its data-driven approach aids efficient event tracing, supporting diverse industry requirements.

Elastic

Elastic Stack is a comprehensive tool for log management, observability, indexing, and security, widely adopted for managing logs, alert creation, SIEM, SOC, and threat analysis. It integrates with CloudStrike and Endpoint Security, enhancing search capabilities and Application Performance Monitoring.

Elastic Stack offers powerful solutions for logging, data storage, and visualization with Kibana. It allows MSSPs to efficiently manage security and assists companies with data analysis. It's known for its easy implementation, scalability, real-time monitoring, and extensive integrations. The open-source nature and community support add significant value, making it a popular choice across industries. While highly capable, there is a need for enhancement in dashboard implementation, data integration, and certain advanced features. Licensing, compatibility, and cost-related improvements can further elevate its efficacy.

What are the key features of Elastic Stack?

Powerful Search Capabilities: Offers robust, efficient searching across vast datasets
Scalability: Easily handles large volumes of data
Anomaly Detection: Identifies irregular patterns in data
Machine Learning: Enhances data analysis with intelligent insights
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides up-to-date monitoring of applications and systems
Extensive Integration: Supports diverse tools and solutions

What benefits should users consider?

Ease of Implementation: Quick setup and integration into existing systems
Robust Security: Comprehensive monitoring and analysis capabilities
Community Support: Ongoing improvements and guidance from a dedicated community
Hybrid Deployment: Flexibility in using both cloud and on-premise solutions

In healthcare, Elastic Stack enhances database search capabilities, aiding in patient record management and data retrieval. Managed Security Service Providers use it for comprehensive security management, integrating it with tools like firewalls and authentication systems. Companies benefit from its application in Application Performance Monitoring and its flexibility in adapting to hybrid environments.

Elastic

Sample Customers

PSCU, Entel, VITAS, Mimecast, Barrett Steel, Butterfield Bank

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. Elastic Stack

December 2025

Free Report: Elastic Observability vs. Elastic Stack

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