Splunk vs. ELK: Log Management and Analysis Comparison 2022

ELK and Splunk are both well respected vendors in the log management and analysis space. Both offer broad monitoring and data analytics of security incidents, potential threats, and log performance. Buyers looking for a platform to address such needs are likely to find both on their list of strong candidates.
Both of these log management solutions help organizations stay more secure. They increase the level of visibility into what is happening within the infrastructure, flagging potential data breaches or areas of compromise. They also help IT sift through massive quantities of log data to make them less unwieldy. By providing actionable intelligence from so much data, they can save IT a lot of time hunting for what might be wrong.
Overall, there are plenty of similarities as well as differences between ELK and Splunk. They each will appeal to buyers with different goals in mind. Here’s a look at both, and how they compare in terms of features and other key factors.
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ELK vs. Splunk: Key Feature Comparison
The Splunk platform encompasses searching, monitoring, and analyzing of a vast amount of IT data to identify data patterns, provide metrics, diagnose problems and aid in business and IT decision making. To give an idea of the scope of Splunk, its platform goes beyond log management. It also offers Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) as well as Application Performance Monitoring (APM), compliance, automation, orchestration, forensics, and even IT service management (ITSM) and IT operations management (ITOM).
Splunk’s wide range of products and features are aggregated within the Splunk Observability Suite. The platform can be used to analyze, ingest, and store data for later use, as well as detect issues impacting customers. Overall, it offers a breadth of management. Those wishing to manage SIEM, ITOM and ITSM in an integrated fashion will find Splunk to be a fine tool to do the job. It offers a wealth of real-time visualization and analysis features, as well as management and monitoring.
ELK came out of the open source world, developed by an organization known as Elastic. It is an acronym for Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana, and comprises a data analytics and search platform based on Apache Lucene. The company offers paid support for its free open source software. The elements are:

Elasticsearch, a distributed search/analytics engine.
Logstash for data processing.
Kibana for data visualization.
Beats for data shipping.

Collectively known as the Elastic Stack, the individual components can also be implemented on their own.
Splunk represents itself as a complete platform to handle everything related to security and IT management. It ventures far beyond log management and analysis. ELK is more rigidly defined within the log management and search world.
Both Splunk and ELK are highly capable and comprehensive log analysis and management tools that include plenty of customization features and dashboards that offer reporting, alerting, visualizations, and more. But Splunk wins due to its scale and the breadth of features offered.
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ELK vs. Splunk: Comparing Support, Implementation
ELK is said by some to be relatively easy to deploy and use, especially for those well-versed in the open source world. Otherwise, it can be a little difficult to grasp at first and to figure out the details of its advanced features and the variety of configuration options available.
But once the learning curve is over, users are very happy with it. To simplify implementation and ease of use, ELK is available as a service via Amazon Web Services (AWS). That removes much of the hassle in deployment and management of ELK. Another plus for the Elastic Stack is its user community, which is packed full of great resources such as libraries of community-contributed clients that were written using different programming languages.
Splunk’s dashboards and features, in general, are a little more accessible and intuitive than ELK’s. It isn’t easy to implement but it is probably a little easier than ELK. Initial deployment can be accomplished via the cloud.
Due to the size and complexity of Splunk, though, it isn’t for beginners. It requires a higher level of skilled internal resources as well as vendor support to deploy and operate. Users report that the sophistication of Splunk is mirrored in ease of use. Those very familiar with the platform will find it easy. Everyone else has a steep learning curve. There is no clear winner in this category.
ELK vs Splunk: Cloud and On-Premises Comparison
Splunk was born and raised in the cloud. It does not offer on-premises appliances but provides software for on-site deployment if desired. But most use it in the cloud. Splunk can be installed directly through the cloud onto a public, private, or hybrid cloud setting.
ELK can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud via its AWS deployment option, and so offers a greater array of deployment choices.
In this category, Splunk wins in the cloud, and ELK for on-premises.
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Elk vs. Splunk: Integration Comparison
A big strength of Splunk and a key differentiator is its ability to integrate data streams from a huge number of sources. Some users ingest several PB per day. It supports a wide range of data formats like.xml,.csv and.json file. Those with needs that require such data stream integration from multiple data formats should opt for Splunk, as it offers over 1,000 applications, available in Splunk’s app store. It also heads a coalition of 30 partners on security collaboration. Splunk also offers a RESTful API and a host of software development kits.
ELK uses RESTful APIs and is built on JSON. Like Splunk, it comes with plenty of pre-built clients and plenty of language choices. The ELK community has done a great job making a massive amount of plug-ins and integrations available. Some are free community tools; others are provided by third-party suppliers.
This is a close one, but Splunk wins by a whisker.
ELK vs. Splunk: Comparing Analytics and Search
Splunk is all about monitoring and analyzing data generated from various machines. It is great for analyzing the huge number of log files generated by enterprise systems. It eliminates the need for IT to spend hours trawling through all the logs looking for that performance needle in the IT haystack.
Splunk makes use of the search processing language to find terms present in log files. For example, it offers a wealth of real-time visualization and analysis features. If real-time management and monitoring are vital, then this one is a no contest. But it does come at a price.
ELK does a good job of analyzing log files, too. Within the confines of what it does, ELK is excellent at collecting logs, sorting through them and providing actionable insights. But it lacks the level of inputs available to Splunk and so loses slightly in this category.
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ELK vs. Splunk: Price Comparison
Splunk does not come cheap. The various modules within Splunk have a reputation for being expensive. Further, upselling can send the budget much higher. For instance, if you want performance monitoring, that adds an APM module, and slowly other modules creep in and the price tag rises. This is normal enough in IT. But when you are already dealing with a pricey platform, it is important to determine what you really need and what you can dispense with.
ELK is the opposite. As a free, open source platform, it attracts a lot of interest. But free doesn’t always mean free. There are hardware costs to consider as well as the price of storage for all those logs and data to be analyzed. Professional services add further costs and many need them. Those that are willing to host it in the AWS cloud can reduce costs considerably.
ELK wins on price.
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ELK vs. Splunk: Conclusion
Splunk and ELK are both excellent tools designed to solve a great many challenges related to security and performance monitoring. You can’t go too far wrong with either one. Both are strong in log management. Both offer fine analytics tools. Users rate both highly. In truth there is little to choose between them. Splunk gets the nod from Gartner, but that is understandable with ELK being open source.
In terms of market profile, Splunk counts well over 10,000 customers and is in the bulk of the Fortune 100. Not to be outdone, Elastic boasts a large installed base, too, and is trusted by the likes of Verizon, Salesforce, and Thomson Reuters.
Splunk is clearly a much broader platform and toolset. Yet the choice between them, as usual, comes down to needs and familiarity. Those wanting an all-encompassing security and IT management platform that includes log management and analytics will find Splunk fits their needs. Additionally, those with aging applications that are ready for a major management makeover will find Splunk a good fit. It covers a large amount of ground.
But those familiar with open source or Elastic specifically, and who just want log management and analytics without all the bells and whistles of Splunk, will do just fine with ELK.
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