# Fluentd vs Grafana Loki

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Grafana Loki

| Attribute | Fluentd | Grafana Loki |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 57 (54% (medium)) | 68 (75% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 29 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 3,044 | 334 |
| adoption.github_stars | 13,607 | 29,009 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Fluentd is an open source data collector that consolidates logs and events from multiple applications and systems into a unified pipeline, enabling better data routing, processing, and consumption across your infrastructure. It is indexed under Log Management Software.","source":"https://www.fluentd.org/","question":"What is Fluentd?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Fluentd is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.fluentd.org/","question":"Is Fluentd free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Fluentd supports Windows, macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.fluentd.org/","question":"What platforms does Fluentd support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Fluentd can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.fluentd.org/","question":"Can Fluentd be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Fluentd is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd","question":"Is Fluentd open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Loki is a distributed log aggregation platform designed for simplicity and cost efficiency. It stores logs with only label metadata indexed rather than full-text content, making it straightforward to operate and integrate with Prometheus and Grafana for unified observability. It is indexed under Log Management Software.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/loki/","question":"What is Grafana Loki?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Grafana Loki is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the AGPL-3.0 licence. A commercial or hosted edition starts at $0.05. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/loki/","question":"Is Grafana Loki free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Grafana Loki supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/loki/","question":"What platforms does Grafana Loki support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Grafana Loki can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/loki/","question":"Can Grafana Loki be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for Grafana Loki, including Prometheus, Grafana, Kubernetes and Docker. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/loki/","question":"What does Grafana Loki integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR for Grafana Loki. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Grafana Loki not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://trust.grafana.com","question":"What security certifications does Grafana Loki have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. Grafana Loki is published under the AGPL-3.0 licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/grafana/loki","question":"Is Grafana Loki open source?","confidence":0.95},{"answer":"Grafana Loki is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.","source":"https://grafana.com/oss/loki/","question":"Where is Grafana Loki available?","confidence":0.75}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Collects event data from various sources and forwards it to multiple destinations including databases, cloud services, and data platforms. Designed to centralize log infrastructure across applications and systems. | A horizontally scalable, multi-tenant log aggregation platform that stores compressed logs and indexes them by labels, enabling fast queries and integration with Prometheus-based monitoring stacks. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","log_role":"shipper","structured_parsing":true}` | `{"hosting":"both","alerting":true,"log_role":"backend","live_tail":true,"dashboards":true,"query_language":"LogQL","full_text_search":false,"structured_parsing":true,"object_store_backed":true}` |
| integrations.count | 500 | 6 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Grafana"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Prometheus Alertmanager","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Alloy","native":true,"direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Promtail","native":true,"direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Alertmanager","native":true,"category":"alerting","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Ruby | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| market.availability | - | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.fluentd.org/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T11:05:37.414Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Grafana Cloud Logs Free","description":"Fully managed version","includedLimits":{"logs":"50GB/mo"}}],"summary":"Open source. Free tier with 50GB/mo on Grafana Cloud.","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://grafana.com/oss/loki/","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T15:08:42.105Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 70 | 9 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.19.4","date":"2026-09-28T05:54:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.19.3","date":"2026-06-25T09:16:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.19.2","date":"2026-02-19T04:41:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.11","date":"2025-12-10T04:43:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.19.1","date":"2025-11-10T02:13:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.10","date":"2025-09-12T01:52:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.19.0","date":"2025-07-30T07:31:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.9","date":"2025-05-14T08:02:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.8","date":"2025-05-01T05:44:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.7","date":"2025-01-30T01:44:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.18.0","date":"2024-11-29T05:30:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.18.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.6","date":"2024-08-20T08:09:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.17.1","date":"2024-08-20T01:34:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.17.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.17.0","date":"2024-04-30T09:14:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.17.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.5","date":"2024-03-27T09:07:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.4","date":"2024-03-14T08:12:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.3","date":"2023-11-14T05:23:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.2","date":"2023-07-14T08:27:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.1","date":"2023-04-17T07:51:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/fluent/fluentd/releases/tag/v1.16.0","date":"2023-03-29T04:04:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.16.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/operator/v0.12.0","date":"2026-10-07T17:51:23Z","type":"stable","version":"operator/v0.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.7.8","date":"2026-09-17T15:51:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.6.17","date":"2026-09-17T11:41:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.7.7","date":"2026-08-27T20:20:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.6.16","date":"2026-08-27T21:54:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/operator/v0.11.0","date":"2026-08-18T15:48:41Z","type":"stable","version":"operator/v0.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.7.6","date":"2026-08-06T09:42:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.7.5","date":"2026-08-05T03:41:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.6.15","date":"2026-08-06T09:59:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.6.14","date":"2026-08-05T00:25:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.6.13","date":"2026-07-24T07:37:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.7.4","date":"2026-07-24T07:49:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.7.3","date":"2026-06-24T16:32:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.6.12","date":"2026-06-24T15:04:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/operator/v0.10.2","date":"2026-06-09T17:51:17Z","type":"stable","version":"operator/v0.10.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.7.2","date":"2026-05-13T12:22:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.6.11","date":"2026-05-13T12:06:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/operator/v0.10.1","date":"2026-04-16T11:06:37Z","type":"stable","version":"operator/v0.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.6.10","date":"2026-04-03T15:41:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/grafana/loki/releases/tag/v3.7.1","date":"2026-03-27T11:47:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.1"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.certifications | `[{"name":"Third-party security audit","status":"active","auditor":"Cure53"}]` | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.fedramp | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.iso27001 | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 8.6 | 8 |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | - | https://grafana.com/security/hall-of-fame/issue_35/ |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":7,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=rubygems&package_name=fluentd&per_page=100","last_12m":4,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fgrafana%2Floki&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"MODERATE"}` |

## Capabilities (Log Management Software)

| Capability | Fluentd | Grafana Loki |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Pipeline role | Shipper | Backend |
| **Search** |  |  |
| Full-text log search | - | ✗ |
| Live tail / stream | - | ✓ |
| **Processing** |  |  |
| Structured parsing | ✓ | ✓ |
| PII redaction at ingest | - | - |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Log-based alerting | - | ✓ |
| Dashboards / visualisation | - | ✓ |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Retention tiering | - | - |
| Object-store columnar backend | - | ✓ |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| OpenTelemetry logs | - | - |
| Query language | - | LogQL |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Cloud + self-hosted |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:18:40.419Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*