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Grafana Loki vs Quickwit

Grafana Loki: Label-indexed log aggregation: Prometheus-style streams, chunks on object storage, LogQL queries. Quickwit: Cloud-native search engine on object storage for logs and traces, built on Tantivy.

key differences

  • Grafana Loki is primarily a time-series database; Quickwit is search engine.
  • Licensing: Grafana Loki is open source (copyleft) (GNU AGPL v3.0); Quickwit is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0).
  • Only Quickwit has full-text search, columnar storage.

choose grafana-loki for

  • +Kubernetes and application logs alongside Prometheus
  • +Cost-efficient log retention on S3
  • +Deriving metrics and alerts from log lines
  • +Correlating logs with traces in Grafana

best at · Observability, Time-series

choose quickwit for

  • +Log search and retention at large scale
  • +Distributed tracing backend
  • +Security and audit event search
  • +Cheap replacement for Elasticsearch hot-warm logging clusters

best at · Observability, Search, Time-series

Grafana LokiLabel-indexed log aggregation: Prometheus-style streams, chunks on object storage, LogQL queries.
QuickwitCloud-native search engine on object storage for logs and traces, built on Tantivy.
overview
Primary model
Time-Series
Search Engine
Also supports
–
Document, Time-Series
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Grafana Labs
Quickwit (Datadog)
First release
2018
2021
Latest version
3.7.9 (Oct 20, 2026)
0.9.3 (Oct 22, 2026)
License
Open source (copyleft)GNU AGPL v3.0
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
28.7
11.9
Rank
#96
#275
GitHub stars
29.1K
11.7K
Stack Overflow questions
643
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
None
None
Consistency
Eventual
Eventual
Schema
Schemaless
Flexible
Architecture
Single node, Distributed, Shared storage
Distributed, Shared storage
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
–
capabilities
Transactions
—
—
Joins
—
—
Secondary indexes
—
—
Full-text search
—
✓
Vector search
—
—
Geospatial
—
—
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
—
—
Triggers
—
—
Stored procedures
—
—
Materialized views
—
—
TTL / expiry
✓
✓
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
✓
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
—
—
Role-based access
—
—
Time travel
—
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
—
—
Streaming ingest
✓
✓
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
LogQL
Quickwit query language, Elasticsearch Query DSL (subset)
Client languages
–
Any HTTP client
Best for
Observability, Time-series
Observability, Search, Time-series
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Grafana Loki vs Quickwit: FAQ

What is the difference between Grafana Loki and Quickwit?

Grafana Loki: Label-indexed log aggregation: Prometheus-style streams, chunks on object storage, LogQL queries. Quickwit: Cloud-native search engine on object storage for logs and traces, built on Tantivy. Grafana Loki is primarily a time-series database; Quickwit is search engine. Licensing: Grafana Loki is open source (copyleft) (GNU AGPL v3.0); Quickwit is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0). Only Quickwit has full-text search, columnar storage.

When should I choose Grafana Loki over Quickwit?

Choose Grafana Loki for kubernetes and application logs alongside Prometheus; cost-efficient log retention on S3; and deriving metrics and alerts from log lines. Choose Quickwit for log search and retention at large scale; distributed tracing backend; and security and audit event search.

Is Grafana Loki or Quickwit more popular?

Grafana Loki ranks #96 on the WhichDB Score (28.7/100) and Quickwit ranks #275 (11.9/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Grafana Loki and Quickwit open source?

Yes. Grafana Loki is open source. License: GNU AGPL v3.0. Yes. Quickwit is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.