Grafana Loki vs OpenSearch

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?
FeatureGrafana LokiOpenSearch
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseAGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoJava
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM512 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, helmdocker, kubernetes, helm
GitHub stars★ 28,687★ 13,480
First released20182021
ReplacesSplunk, Datadog LogsElasticsearch, Splunk

Why pick each one

Choose Grafana Loki if…

  • Cheap to run compared to full-text indexers
  • Familiar Prometheus-style labels
Grafana Loki details

Choose OpenSearch if…

  • Truly open-source license
  • Rich analytics features
OpenSearch details

Frequently asked questions

Is Grafana Loki or OpenSearch better?

Grafana Loki is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider OpenSearch if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Grafana Loki and OpenSearch free and open-source?

Yes. Grafana Loki is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and OpenSearch under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Grafana Loki and OpenSearch with Docker?

Grafana Loki: yes. OpenSearch: yes.

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