Log management tools with a free plan in 2026
Store and search logs, and alert on patterns or counts in them. This list has 21 log management tools. Of these, 13 are open source, 21 have a free plan and 16 can be self-hosted. Checked by hand on 30 September 2026.
- 1
Axiom
Hosted event store for logs, traces and other event data, queried with the APL language, with dashboards and monitors. Integrates with Vercel, Cloudflare and OpenTelemetry.
- 2
Better Stack Telemetry
Better Stack's log, metric and trace store built on ClickHouse, queried with SQL or a live-tail view. Shares an account with Better Stack uptime and on-call.
- 3
Bugfender
Remote logging for mobile and web apps: the SDK sends device logs to the cloud so you can read what happened on a user's device, with crash reports and user feedback.
- 4
Dozzle
Small web UI that streams and searches live Docker container logs across hosts, with no log storage. Optional Dozzle Cloud adds grouped alerts and log analysis.
- 5
Elastic Stack (ELK)
Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana and Beats: full-text indexing and search of logs with Kibana dashboards and alerting. Self-host the free distribution or buy Elastic Cloud.
- 6
Fluent Bit
Lightweight C log and metrics processor from the Fluentd project, common as the node-level agent in Kubernetes. Ships to Loki, Elasticsearch, cloud logging and OTLP.
- 7
Fluentd
CNCF graduated log collector that reads, parses, buffers and forwards logs to hundreds of outputs through a plugin system. Written in Ruby and C.
- 8
Grafana Loki
Log aggregation system that indexes only labels, not full log text, and stores chunks in object storage. Queried with LogQL from Grafana; hosted as part of Grafana Cloud.
- 9
Graylog
Centralised log collection with parsing pipelines, stream routing, search and alert conditions. Graylog Open is free to self-host; paid editions add security analytics and archiving.
- 10
lnav
Terminal log file navigator that merges several log files into one timeline, highlights errors, and lets you query log lines with SQL. Runs locally, no server.
- 11
Logflare
Log ingestion and search backed by Google BigQuery, popular with Cloudflare Workers, Vercel and Elixir apps. Now part of Supabase and open source.
- 12
Loggly
SolarWinds hosted log management: ship logs over syslog or HTTP, search and filter them, and build charts and email alerts on the paid plans.
- 13
ManageEngine Log360 Cloud
ManageEngine's cloud SIEM that collects logs from servers, network devices and cloud services for search, audit reports and compliance reporting. Has a Free edition.
- 14
OpenObserve
Single-binary store for logs, metrics and traces on object storage, with SQL search, dashboards and alerts. Self-host the open source build or use the pay-as-you-go cloud.
- 15
OpenSearch
Apache-licensed fork of Elasticsearch and Kibana run under the Linux Foundation. Indexes and searches logs, with OpenSearch Dashboards, alerting and trace analytics plugins.
- 16
Parseable
Log and telemetry store written in Rust that keeps data as Parquet on object storage and queries it with SQL. Open source server, plus a hosted cloud and enterprise edition.
- 17
Quickwit
Rust search engine for logs and traces that indexes into object storage and searches there directly, with Elasticsearch-compatible and Jaeger APIs. The team joined Datadog in January 2025.
- 18
Seq
Self-hosted server for structured logs and traces, popular in .NET shops via Serilog. Search with a SQL-like syntax, build dashboards and send alerts.
- 19
Splunk
Log indexing and search platform (Splunk Enterprise, self-hosted, or Splunk Cloud) with the SPL query language, dashboards and alerting. Widely used for security and IT operations.
- 20
Vector
Rust observability pipeline from Datadog that collects, transforms and routes logs and metrics between sources and sinks, run as agent or aggregator.
- 21
VictoriaLogs
Log database from the VictoriaMetrics team, run as a single binary or cluster, queried with LogsQL and viewable in Grafana. Accepts Loki, Elasticsearch and OTLP ingestion.
Side by side
| Tool | Pricing | Free plan | Open source | Self-hosted | Full-text search | Structured log parsing | OTLP logs ingest | Log alerts | Live tail | Metrics from logs | Archive or tiered retention | Dashboards | Query language | Access control |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Axiom | Free plan | 500 GB/mo ingest, 25 GB storage, 30-day retention | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Better Stack Telemetry | Free plan | 3 GB logs retained 3 days | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bugfender | Free plan | 100K log lines/day, 24-hour retention | No | No | Yes | - | - | - | Yes | - | Yes | - | - | Yes |
| Dozzle | Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | - | Yes | Yes |
| Elastic Stack (ELK) | Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fluent Bit | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | - | Yes | Yes | No | - | No |
| Fluentd | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | - | - | Yes | No | - | No |
| Grafana Loki | Free plan | Grafana Cloud: 50 GB logs/month, 14-day retention | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | - |
| Graylog | Free plan | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| lnav | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | - | Yes | No |
| Logflare | Free plan | 12.96M events/month, 3-day retention | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | - | Yes | - |
| Loggly | Free plan | Lite: 200 MB/day, 7-day retention | No | No | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ManageEngine Log360 Cloud | Free plan | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | - | - | - | Yes | - | - |
| OpenObserve | Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OpenSearch | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Parseable | Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Quickwit | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | - | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | - |
| Seq | Free plan | Individual: 1 user, 50 GB storage | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | - | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Splunk | Free plan | Splunk Free: 500 MB/day, one instance, no alerting | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Vector | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | - | No |
| VictoriaLogs | Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | - |
Yes: confirmed in the tool's documentation. No: documented as not offered. -: not confirmed. Plans and prices change; check each tool's own site before you decide.
More lists
- Log management tools in 2026 25
- Best log management tools in 2026 11
- Open source log management tools in 2026 13
- Self-hosted log management tools in 2026 17
- Observability tools with a free plan in 2026 131
- Observability platforms with a free plan in 2026 16
- Metrics and time-series tools with a free plan in 2026 10
- Tracing and APM tools with a free plan in 2026 17
- Error tracking tools with a free plan in 2026 16
- Continuous profiling tools with a free plan in 2026 10
- Real user monitoring and session replay tools with a free plan in 2026 14
- OpenTelemetry and telemetry pipeline tools with a free plan in 2026 19
- Dashboard tools with a free plan in 2026 7