Azure Application Insights vs ELK

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Azure Application Insights

337
281
+ 1
11
ELK

844
919
+ 1
21
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Azure Application Insights vs ELK: What are the differences?

Azure Application Insights and ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana) are two widely used monitoring and analytics tools for systems and applications. Let's explore the key differences between them.

  1. Data Collection: Azure Application Insights is a service provided by Microsoft Azure that automatically collects data and metrics from various sources, including web applications, servers, and custom instrumentation. In contrast, ELK requires manual setup and configuration to collect and process logs and other data.

  2. Ease of Use: Azure Application Insights offers a user-friendly interface and easy integration with Azure services, making it convenient for developers and system administrators. On the other hand, ELK requires more technical expertise to set up, configure, and use effectively.

  3. Scalability: Azure Application Insights is a fully managed service that can handle large volumes of data and scale automatically based on demand. ELK, however, requires manual configuration and optimization for scalability, making it less suitable for handling massive data sets.

  4. Integrated Monitoring and Management: Azure Application Insights integrates well with other Azure services, such as Azure Monitor and Azure DevOps, providing a comprehensive solution for monitoring, alerting, and managing applications. ELK, while powerful for log analysis, lacks the tight integration and ecosystem of Azure Application Insights.

  5. Analysis and Visualization: With Azure Application Insights, users have access to advanced analytics capabilities, including smart detection, anomaly detection, and powerful visualization tools. ELK also provides powerful analysis and visualization through Kibana, but its capabilities may require more manual configuration and customization.

  6. Cost: Azure Application Insights has a flexible pricing model based on data volume and retention period, allowing users to choose a suitable plan based on their needs. ELK, on the other hand, is an open-source solution, allowing users to save on licensing costs but requiring more resources for setup, maintenance, and hosting.

In summary, Azure Application Insights offers a more integrated, user-friendly, and scalable solution for monitoring and managing applications, while ELK provides more flexibility and customization options but requires more technical expertise and manual configuration.

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Pros of Azure Application Insights
Pros of ELK
  • 5
    Focus in detect performance anomalies and issues
  • 3
    Integrated with Azure
  • 1
    Live Metrics
  • 1
    User flow
  • 1
    Availability tests (Heart Beat check)
  • 13
    Open source
  • 3
    Can run locally
  • 3
    Good for startups with monetary limitations
  • 1
    External Network Goes Down You Aren't Without Logging
  • 1
    Easy to setup
  • 0
    Json log supprt
  • 0
    Live logging

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Cons of Azure Application Insights
Cons of ELK
  • 2
    Difficult to surface information
  • 1
    Custom instrumentation via code only
  • 1
    UI is clunky and gets in the way
  • 5
    Elastic Search is a resource hog
  • 3
    Logstash configuration is a pain
  • 1
    Bad for startups with personal limitations

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What is Azure Application Insights?

It is an extensible Application Performance Management service for developers and DevOps professionals. Use it to monitor your live applications. It will automatically detect performance anomalies, and includes powerful analytics tools.

What is ELK?

It is the acronym for three open source projects: Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana. Elasticsearch is a search and analytics engine. Logstash is a server‑side data processing pipeline that ingests data from multiple sources simultaneously, transforms it, and then sends it to a "stash" like Elasticsearch. Kibana lets users visualize data with charts and graphs in Elasticsearch.

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What companies use Azure Application Insights?
What companies use ELK?
See which teams inside your own company are using Azure Application Insights or ELK.
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What tools integrate with Azure Application Insights?
What tools integrate with ELK?
    No integrations found
    What are some alternatives to Azure Application Insights and ELK?
    New Relic
    The world’s best software and DevOps teams rely on New Relic to move faster, make better decisions and create best-in-class digital experiences. If you run software, you need to run New Relic. More than 50% of the Fortune 100 do too.
    Google Analytics
    Google Analytics lets you measure your advertising ROI as well as track your Flash, video, and social networking sites and applications.
    AppDynamics
    AppDynamics develops application performance management (APM) solutions that deliver problem resolution for highly distributed applications through transaction flow monitoring and deep diagnostics.
    Azure Monitor
    It provides sophisticated tools for collecting and analyzing telemetry that allow you to maximize the performance and availability of your cloud and on-premises resources and applications.
    Dynatrace
    It is an AI-powered, full stack, automated performance management solution. It provides user experience analysis that identifies and resolves application performance issues faster than ever before.
    See all alternatives