Comparison

Grafana Loki vs Splunk

On the evidence we track, Grafana Loki leads this comparison with a composite score of 68/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★Grafana Loki68
Splunk51
Score
vioscaleAI score
Grafana Loki68 / 100high · 75%
Splunk51 / 100low · 41%
Pricing
Free tier
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✗
Model
Grafana Lokiopen_source
Price level
Grafana Lokifree
Splunkunknown
Transparent
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✗
Integrations
Count
Grafana Loki6
Splunk2,000
Security
Disclosure policy
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✓
Fedramp
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk–
Gdpr
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk–
Iso27001
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk–
Pci
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk–
Scorecard
Grafana Loki8
Splunk–
Soc2
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk–
Reliability
Status page
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Grafana Loki334
Splunk–
Github stars
Grafana Loki29,009
Splunk–
Activity
Commits last 30d
Grafana Loki100
Splunk–
Release
Cadence days
Grafana Loki9
Splunk–
History
Grafana Loki20 items
Splunk–
License
Spdx
Grafana LokiAGPL-3.0
Splunk–
Language
Primary
Grafana LokiGo
Splunk–
Market
Content
Faq
Grafana Loki8 items
Splunk5 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for log management software. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Core
Pipeline role
Grafana LokiBackend
SplunkEnd-to-end platform
Search
Full-text log search
Grafana Loki✗
Splunk✓
Live tail / stream
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk-
Processing
Structured parsing
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✓
PII redaction at ingest
Grafana Loki-
Splunk✓
Ops
Log-based alerting
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✓
Dashboards / visualisation
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✓
Storage
Retention tiering
Grafana Loki-
Splunk✓
Object-store columnar backend
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk-
Interop
OpenTelemetry logs
Grafana Loki-
SplunkNative
Query language
Grafana LokiLogQL
Splunk-
Deployment
Hosting
Grafana LokiCloud + self-hosted
SplunkCloud + self-hosted

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Grafana Loki

Leader

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.

Independently observed

Splunk

Splunk consolidates data from various sources and enables real-time analysis for security monitoring, system observability, and AI applications. It supports analyzing data in place across different storage backends, reducing costs and data movement while providing complete operational visibility.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Grafana Loki

Leader
Open sourceFree tier

Open source. Free tier with 50GB/mo on Grafana Cloud.

  • Grafana Cloud Logs FreeFree
as of verify ↗

Splunk

Usage-based14-day trial

Activity-based, ingest, workload, and entity pricing models. Free 14-day trial.

as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✓
CLI
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✓
Self-hosted
Grafana Loki✓
Splunk✓
Hybrid
Grafana Loki✗
Splunk✓
Air-gapped
Grafana Loki✗
Splunk✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (1)
  • Grafana

Grafana Loki

Leader
8 total - 7 not shared
  • Prometheus
  • Kubernetes
  • Docker
  • Prometheus Alertmanager
  • Alloy
  • Promtail
  • Alertmanager
Independently observed

Splunk

16 total - 15 not shared
  • OpenTelemetry
  • Cisco Talos
  • AWS
  • Amazon CloudWatch
  • Datadog
  • Google Stackdriver
  • Honeybadger
  • Loadster
  • New Relic
  • Observium
  • Opsview
  • Pingdom
  • Slack
  • Amazon S3
  • Cisco Cloud Connect
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Grafana Loki or Splunk: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.