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Open source log management tools in 2026

Store and search logs, and alert on patterns or counts in them. This list has 13 log management tools. Of these, 13 are open source, 13 have a free plan and 13 can be self-hosted. Checked by hand on 30 September 2026.

  1. 1

    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.

    Free plan Open source (MIT) Self-hosted LogsInfrastructure
  2. 2

    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.

    Free plan Open source (AGPL-3.0-only OR SSPL-1.0 OR Elastic-2.0) Self-hosted LogsDashboardsMetricsAPM
  3. 3

    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.

    Free Open source (Apache-2.0) Self-hosted LogsKubernetesOpenTelemetry
  4. 4

    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.

    Free Open source (Apache-2.0) Self-hosted LogsKubernetes
  5. 5

    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.

    Free plan Free: Grafana Cloud: 50 GB logs/month, 14-day retention Open source (AGPL-3.0-only) Self-hosted LogsDashboardsKubernetes
  6. 6

    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.

    Free Open source (BSD-2-Clause) Self-hosted Logs
  7. 7

    Logflare

    Log ingestion and search backed by Google BigQuery, popular with Cloudflare Workers, Vercel and Elixir apps. Now part of Supabase and open source.

    Free plan Free: 12.96M events/month, 3-day retention Open source (Apache-2.0) Self-hosted LogsDashboards
  8. 8

    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.

    Free plan Open source (AGPL-3.0-only) Self-hosted LogsMetricsTracesOpenTelemetry
  9. 9

    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.

    Free Open source (Apache-2.0) Self-hosted LogsDashboardsTraces
  10. 10

    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.

    Free plan Open source (AGPL-3.0-only) Self-hosted LogsOpenTelemetryDashboards
  11. 11

    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.

    Free Open source (Apache-2.0) Self-hosted LogsTracesOpenTelemetry
  12. 12

    Vector

    Rust observability pipeline from Datadog that collects, transforms and routes logs and metrics between sources and sinks, run as agent or aggregator.

    Free Open source (MPL-2.0) Self-hosted LogsMetrics
  13. 13

    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.

    Free plan Open source (Apache-2.0) Self-hosted LogsKubernetes

Side by side

Tool Pricing Free plan Open source Self-hosted Full-text searchStructured log parsingOTLP logs ingestLog alertsLive tailMetrics from logsArchive or tiered retentionDashboardsQuery languageAccess control
Dozzle Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesNoYesYesYesNo-YesYes
Elastic Stack (ELK) Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYes-YesYesYesYesYes
Fluent Bit Free Yes Yes Yes NoYesYesNo-YesYesNo-No
Fluentd Free Yes Yes Yes NoYesYesNo--YesNo-No
Grafana Loki Free plan Grafana Cloud: 50 GB logs/month, 14-day retention Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes-
lnav Free Yes Yes Yes YesYesNoNoYesYesNo-YesNo
Logflare Free plan 12.96M events/month, 3-day retention Yes Yes YesYes-YesYesYes--Yes-
OpenObserve Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYes-YesYesYesYesYes
OpenSearch Free Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Parseable Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYes-YesYesYesYesYes
Quickwit Free Yes Yes Yes YesYesYes--YesYes-Yes-
Vector Free Yes Yes Yes NoYesYesNoYesYesYesNo-No
VictoriaLogs Free plan Yes Yes Yes YesYesYesYesYesYesNoYesYes-

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.

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