Grafana Loki vs VictoriaLogs
Grafana Loki
grafana.comVictoriaLogs
victoriametrics.comSide by side
| Figure | Grafana Loki | VictoriaLogs |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $19/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 2 |
| Spec score · Log Management Software | 9.4 (#3) | 8.5 (#27) |
| Spec score · Log Analysis Software | 9.1 (#4) | 7.8 (#16) |
| Deployment options | self-hosted | VictoriaLogs can run from prebuilt binaries, Docker, or Kubernetes using Helm charts or the VictoriaMetrics Operator. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Official documentation lists Grafana Alloy as the recommended collector and describes OpenTelemetry, Promtail, Fluent Bit, Fluentd, Vector, Logstash and other clients. | The docs list Grafana, Perses, Bindplane, and Logchef integrations and describe ingestion from collectors including Vector and Fluent Bit. |
| License | Grafana states that Loki is released under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3. | The single-node and cluster versions are available under the Apache License 2.0. |
| Live log tailing | Yes | Yes |
| Log pipelines | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | Loki is a log aggregation system designed to store and query logs from applications and infrastructure. | VictoriaLogs is an open-source database for logs designed for fast, efficient log storage and analysis. |
| Query language | LogQL lets users explore logs in Grafana or through the LogCLI command-line tool. | LogsQL provides full-text search and log analytics capabilities. |
| Structured log parsing | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Grafana directs Loki users to its community forum, Grafana Labs Slack, and the Loki project email for help. | The maker offers Ground Control support from the core team, including technical, architectural, security, adoption, integration, and performance guidance. |
Plans
Grafana Loki
- Grafana Cloud Logs FreeFree
- Grafana Loki OSS self-hostedFree
- Loki (self-hosted)Free
- Grafana Cloud Logs Pro$19 a month
- Grafana Cloud Logs EnterprisePrice not published
VictoriaLogs
- VictoriaLogs open sourceFree
- VictoriaLogs EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Grafana Loki
Grafana Loki is a free, AGPLv3-licensed log aggregation system for storing and querying application and infrastructure logs. It can be self-hosted on Linux or accessed through Grafana Cloud Logs plans, with API support and live log tailing. Loki scales horizontally, supports high availability and multiple tenants, and indexes labels instead of log-line contents. LogQL provides queries in Grafana or the LogCLI command-line tool. Grafana describes object-storage support for high-throughput, durable, petabyte-scale retention. Loki can evaluate alerting rules on incoming logs and send results to Prometheus Alertmanager, with native integrations for Prometheus, Grafana, and Kubernetes. Documented ingestion options include Grafana Alloy, OpenTelemetry, Kubernetes Monitoring Helm, Docker, Fluent Bit, Fluentd, and Logstash. Installation methods include Helm, Tanka, Docker, Docker Compose, local installation, and source builds. Cloud plans range from free to paid Pro and Enterprise options.
VictoriaLogs
VictoriaLogs is an open-source database for storing and analyzing logs. It accepts structured and unstructured log data without requiring a schema, and LogsQL provides full-text search and log analytics. It supports log pipelines, structured parsing, live tailing, archive export, OpenTelemetry, and a service map. Deployment can be single-node or clustered, using prebuilt binaries, Docker, or Kubernetes. The single-node and cluster versions are available under the Apache License 2.0, and the open-source plan is free. By default, entries older than seven days are dropped. Integrations include Grafana, Perses, Bindplane, and Logchef; ingestion from Vector and Fluent Bit is also described. VictoriaMetrics says the system uses up to 30 times less RAM and up to 15 times less disk space than Elasticsearch and Grafana Loki. HTTPS, Basic Auth, and TLS are supported; security guidance recommends a trusted network or an authorization proxy for internet requests. mTLS is an Enterprise feature, with commercial support also offered.