A Guide to Open Source Observability: Incerto vs ELK
observability
Anurag Pandey
June 11, 2024
Authored by
Anurag PandeyIntroduction
Two leading observability stacks, Incerto (using ClickHouse, OpenTelemetry, and Grafana) and the ELK stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), offer distinct approaches to observability. This blog delves into the key differences between Incerto and ELK, highlighting their unique strengths in handling metrics, logs and traces among other key factors like performance and convenience. Read on to find out what suits your needs the best!
Incerto uses Grafana, ClickHouse and OpenTelemetry to offer a complete Observability solution. ELK stands for Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibana.
| Feature | Incerto | ELK | What does this mean for you? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Query Processing | Uses Clickhouse, a columnar database optimised for fast query processing | Uses Elasticsearch, which stores indexed data and is optimised for full-text search | Columnar database is much faster and reduces query processing time by 100x. |
| Storage | Storage in Columnar database implies 20x compression | Stores indexed data in document-based databases. | Lesser time to fetch, move and maintain the data with columnar database |
| Query Language | SQL | ESQL (ElasticSearch Query Language) | Most developers are familiar with SQL, no need to learn a DSL |
| Distributed Tracing | OpenTelemetry for distributed tracing, and the traces are visualised in Grafana | Not natively integrated, requires additional setup with APM solutions like Elastic APM | Incerto’s solution for traces is easier to manage |
| Visualisation | Grafana, although a fork of Kibana, is a lot more feature rich now. | Kibana is limited in features when compared to grafana. Kibana is optimised for log visualisation, so it is not the go-to for traces and metrics. | Grafana takes the clear upper hand with more features, better usability and well-suited for a wider range of input. |
| Scalability | ClickHouse scales well horizontally and vertically | Elasticsearch was built to scale horizontally | Both systems support scalability and distributed deployments. |
| Cardinality | ClickHouse efficiently handles high cardinality data for logs, metrics and traces analysis | Elasticsearch can struggle with high cardinality data, may require optimization and tuning | Clickhouse has better performance and lower costs with high cardinality data. |
| Integration | OpenTelemetry integrates with various observability tools and frameworks. Clickhouse has 104 core and partner integrations in addition to several community integrations. Grafana has 15+ integrations and 269 dashboard plugins. OpenTelemetry has 47 integrations. | ELK components integrate very well with each other, but need additional configuration for integration with external tools | Grafana, Clickhouse and OpenTelemetry integrate seamlessly with the most open source tools. If open source is your priority, Incerto has an advantage. |
| DataSources | Grafana supports 15+ built-in datasources, and allows you to create custom data sources | Elasticsearch is the only datasource that Kibana supports | Grafana is more versatile in terms of datasources, and gives more flexibility. |
| Maintenance | Maintenance needed for Clickhouse and OpenTelemetry Pipeline and Grafana | Maintenance needed for Elasticsearch clusters, Logstash pipelines, and Kibana configurations | ELK provides managed services with the Elastic Cloud plan. Incerto provides managed services while you only pay for the cloud costs. |
| Cost | Solution sits on your infra and you only pay for the cloud charges | Self managed is free, enterprise version has various plans | In the long run, Incerto is more cost efficient than ELK. Monthly recurring charges for Incerto are 80% less than ELK. |
| Community Support | OpenTelemetry is backed by CNCF. Grafana and ClickHouse have an active community of users. | ELK has a mature community of users and documentation. | Both have robust community support and resources |
Incerto or ELK: What to Choose?
When to choose Incerto:
- Cost Efficiency: When cost is a significant factor, ClickHouse’s columnar storage and Grafana’s open-source nature provide a cost-effective solution for managing large datasets.
- High Cardinality Data: If your applications generate high cardinality metrics or logs, ClickHouse handles such data more efficiently than Elasticsearch.
- Familiarity: With SQL and open source tools like Grafana, the learning curve is not as steep for your team
- Fast Query Processing: If this is a priority for your team, ClickHouse is a no brainer
- Low Maintenance Overhead: Incerto offers managed observability and you don’t need to have a team to take care of your observability needs.
- Customizability: Incerto’s observability is highly customisable, tailor-made for your system.
- Security Compliance: With Incerto, your data does not leave your infrastructure. The observability solution is implemented on your infrastructure.
When to choose ELK:
- Dedicated Team for Observability: With ELK’s self-hosted version, if you have a dedicated team for handling observability
- Immediate implementation: If you have to start with your o11y journey right away, choose ELK because setting up Incerto takes more time
- SaaS: If you’re looking for SaaS, choose ELK
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