Elastic APM vs Elastic Stack

Detailed comparison across 10 dimensions

Winner: Elastic Stack

Elastic Stack clearly comes out ahead of Elastic APM on Staquest's weighted six-dimension score. Elastic Stack has a free tier; Elastic APM does not.

Quick Overview

Overview	Elastic APMAPM solution integrated with the ELK stack for full-stack visibility.	Elastic StackReal-time search and analytics engine for logs and application data.
Type	hybrid	hybrid
Company	Elastic	Elastic N.V.
Free Tier
Has API
Open Source
Trending	Stable	Stable
Industries	DevelopmentSaaS & Cloud	Development
Categories	observability-apm	observability-apm
Website	Visit	Visit

Dimension Scores

Winners by Dimension

Overall Winner

Elastic Stack

Elastic APM: 6.7Elastic Stack: 7.2(+0.4 pts)

Pricing Value

Tie15% weight

Elastic APM

8.0

Elastic Stack

8.0

Free Tier

Elastic Stack10% weight

Elastic APM

2.0

Elastic Stack

7.5

Scalability

Elastic APM10% weight

Elastic APM

10.0

Elastic Stack

9.4

Integrations

Tie10% weight

Elastic APM

8.0

Elastic Stack

8.0

Community

Tie5% weight

Elastic APM

3.1

Elastic Stack

3.1

Open Source

Elastic APM5% weight

Elastic APM

7.0

Elastic Stack

2.0

Pricing Comparison

Elastic APM

Standard–

usage based

Core Elastic Stack features
basic security
alerting
observability integrations
basic APM

Gold–

usage based

Everything in Standard
Advanced reporting
Watcher alerting
multi-stack monitoring
enhanced security workflows

Platinum–

usage based

Everything in Gold
Advanced Elastic Stack security
Machine learning (anomaly detection)
cross-cluster replication
advanced observability features (e.g., service maps, SLOs)

Enterprise

Contact sales

usage based

Everything in Platinum
Searchable snapshots
Elastic Maps Server
AI Assistant
advanced workflow automation

Elastic Stack

Try locally

Free

View pricing

open source

Elasticsearch + Kibana on your machine
No account required
No credit card required

Free cloud trial

Free

View pricing

freemium

Fully managed on AWS, GCP, or Azure
Production-ready
Search, Observability, and Security included
Agent Builder ready

Talk to an expert

Contact sales

View pricing

custom

Architecture review
Migration planning
AI strategy consulting

Feature Comparison

Feature	elastic-apm	elastic-stack
Advanced Elastic Stack Security
Agent Builder Ready
Advanced Observability Features (E.G., Service Maps, Slos)
Ai Strategy Consulting
Advanced Reporting
Architecture Review
Advanced Workflow Automation
Elasticsearch + Kibana On Your Machine
Ai Assistant
Fully Managed On Aws, Gcp, Or Azure
Alerting
Migration Planning
Basic Apm
No Account Required
Basic Security
No Credit Card Required
Core Elastic Stack Features
Production-Ready
Cross-Cluster Replication
Search, Observability, And Security Included
Elastic Maps Server
Enhanced Security Workflows
Everything In Gold
Everything In Platinum
Everything In Standard
Machine Learning (Anomaly Detection)
Multi-Stack Monitoring
Observability Integrations
Searchable Snapshots
Watcher Alerting

Showing 30 of 30 features

Dashes mean the feature isn't listed in our data. The tool may still support it.

Frequently asked questions

Is Elastic APM or Elastic Stack better?

On Staquest's weighted six-dimension scoring, Elastic Stack comes out ahead overall, though Elastic APM can be the better fit depending on your priorities — see the dimension-by-dimension breakdown above.

Does Elastic APM or Elastic Stack have a free tier?

Elastic Stack offers a free tier; Elastic APM does not currently list one.

What are the main differences between Elastic APM and Elastic Stack?

Elastic APM is open source. The feature comparison and dimension scores above cover the full breakdown.

View Elastic APM View Elastic Stack