Graylog vs Kibana
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Graylog
Centralized log management and analysis platform
VS
Kibana
Visualization and exploration for Elasticsearch data
| Feature | Graylog | Kibana |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | SSPL-1.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Java | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,105 | ★ 21,230 |
| First released | 2010 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Splunk, Datadog Logs | Splunk, Datadog |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Graylog or Kibana better?
Neither is universally better. Kibana has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Graylog and Kibana free and open-source?
Yes. Graylog is licensed under SSPL-1.0 and Kibana under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Graylog and Kibana with Docker?
Graylog: yes. Kibana: yes.