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It's a split decision.
Elasticsearch is a distributed search database with a RESTful HTTP API, full-text and vector search, and real-time analytics. Grafana is an observability platform that connects telemetry sources through OpenTelemetry, Prometheus and plugins. Choose Elasticsearch when your application needs to index and query data, including for AI retrieval. Choose Grafana when teams need dashboards, telemetry analysis and incident workflows. Their roles differ: Grafana can connect to data sources; Elasticsearch stores and searches data.
01Side by side
| Elasticsearch | Grafana | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Standard: $99/month; usage scales by RAM-hours, storage, zones | Pro: $19/month platform fee plus usage; Enterprise commit |
| Free tier | No free plan listed | Free; 14-day retention and stated monthly usage allowances |
| Open source and licence | Open source; exact licence not specified | Open source; exact licence not specified |
| Self-hosting | Self-hostable; cloud, on-premises and serverless | Grafana Cloud; Enterprise offers Bring Your Own Cloud |
| API and SDKs | RESTful HTTP API; SDK language details not published | OpenTelemetry and Prometheus integrations; SDK details not published |
| Integrations | Kibana, Logstash, Beats and Elastic Agent | Hundreds of plugins; OpenTelemetry and Prometheus |
| Deployment model | Cloud, on-premises or serverless | Grafana Cloud; Enterprise deployment options |
| Limits and scaling | Usage scales with RAM-hours, storage and availability zones | Usage charges vary by telemetry product and volume |
Elasticsearch Choose Elasticsearch if
- Choose Elasticsearch if you need a database for full-text or vector search.
- Choose Elasticsearch if your application needs RESTful HTTP access to indexed data.
- Choose Elasticsearch if you need cloud, on-premises or serverless deployment options.
Grafana Choose Grafana if
- Choose Grafana if you need a free tier with published telemetry allowances.
- Choose Grafana if you want to connect existing sources through open standards.
- Choose Grafana if you need dashboards and observability workflows in one platform.
02Pricing at real usage
Elastic Cloud Hosted Standard is listed at $99 per month. It includes 120 GB of storage and two availability zones, while usage scales by RAM-hours, storage and zones. Elastic lists no free plan or annual-billing price for this option.
Grafana Free costs $0 and includes 14-day retention for metrics, logs, traces, profiles and k6, plus 10,000 active metric series per month and 50 GB per month for logs, traces and profiles. Pro starts with a $19 monthly platform fee, then bills above included usage. For example, Pro logs cost $0.050 per GB processed, $0.400 per GB written and $0.100 per GB retained. Enterprise requires a $25,000 annual spend commit. Grafana's bill therefore depends on which products and telemetry volumes a team uses.
03API, SDKs and integration
Elasticsearch stores, indexes and queries structured and unstructured data through a RESTful HTTP API. Its listed stack integrations include Kibana, Logstash, Beats and Elastic Agent; Elasticsearch is built on Apache Lucene. That makes it the data and search layer in an application or Elastic Stack deployment, rather than a dashboard-only tool.
Grafana connects telemetry sources through open standards including OpenTelemetry and Prometheus, with hundreds of plugins and integrations. Its platform brings logs, metrics, traces and other telemetry together for dashboards, investigations and related observability workflows. The vendors do not publish a language-by-language SDK matrix or CLI contract in their product overviews, so teams should check the documentation for their chosen client and workflow before settling on an integration design. The architectural distinction is clear: Elasticsearch exposes a database API, while Grafana centers on connecting and viewing telemetry sources.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Both products are described as open source, but their exact licences are not specified in the product overviews. Elasticsearch is explicitly self-hostable and can run in the cloud, on-premises or serverless. Grafana's listed product is Grafana Cloud; its Enterprise offering includes Public Cloud, Federal Cloud or Bring Your Own Cloud deployment options.
Grafana says teams can connect existing tools and data sources without a rip-and-replace, using standards such as OpenTelemetry and Prometheus. That supports an integration path across existing systems, though it does not guarantee migration will be effort-free. Elastic's self-hosting and stack integrations give teams deployment choices, but Elasticsearch still requires managing its search and indexing role in the chosen architecture. Neither vendor publishes data-export formats or migration procedures in its product overview. Ask both vendors about export paths, retention effects and migration requirements before committing.
Questions people ask
What is Kibana used for?
Kibana is an integration in the Elastic Stack, alongside Elasticsearch, Logstash, Beats and Elastic Agent. Elasticsearch is the component described as storing, indexing and querying data. The product overview does not detail Kibana's specific functions, so check Elastic's documentation for the workflows and features you plan to use.
Can I use Logstash with Elasticsearch?
Yes. Elastic lists Logstash as an integration in the Elastic Stack alongside Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats and Elastic Agent. Elasticsearch provides the search database and RESTful HTTP API. Check the Elastic documentation for configuration and compatibility details for the versions you intend to deploy.
Which database is best for Grafana?
Grafana is an observability platform, not the database in this comparison. It connects existing tools and data sources using standards including OpenTelemetry and Prometheus, as well as plugins. Choose a data store based on the telemetry or application data you need to retain and query; Elasticsearch is one option when you need search and indexing.
What are the key differences between ELK and Prometheus Grafana?
Elasticsearch is a distributed search database; its Elastic Stack integrations include Kibana, Logstash and Beats. Grafana connects observability sources using standards including Prometheus and OpenTelemetry, then brings telemetry together for dashboards and investigations. The key distinction is search and indexing versus telemetry-focused visualization and workflows; the products can occupy different roles in a stack.