VictoriaLogs
activeby VictoriaMetrics Inc. · since 2023 · also known as VLogs
Log database from the VictoriaMetrics team: schemaless ingestion, LogsQL and low RAM and disk use.
Overview
VictoriaLogs stores and queries structured and plain-text logs with an emphasis on operational simplicity: one binary, no schema, no index tuning, and every field searchable without declaring it. It ingests the Elasticsearch bulk API, Loki push, OpenTelemetry, syslog and JSON lines, and is queried with LogsQL, a pipe-based language with word and phrase filters, field extraction and stats. A cluster mode (vlinsert, vlstorage, vlselect) adds horizontal scale. It works well as a replacement for Elasticsearch- or Loki-based log stacks when you want fast search over high-cardinality fields like trace or user IDs without running a heavyweight inverted index.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Every field is queryable without schema or mapping changes
- +Fast searches on high-cardinality fields such as trace_id or user_id
- +Much lower RAM and disk than Elasticsearch for the same log volume
- +Accepts Elasticsearch, Loki and OTLP ingestion, so existing shippers need only a URL change
- +Single binary with built-in web UI and live tailing
Trade-offs
- −LogsQL is another query language to learn; no SQL
- −Stores data on local disk rather than object storage
- −Younger ecosystem than Elasticsearch or Loki for dashboards and alerting integrations
- −No relevance-ranked search; it filters rather than scores
Great for
- +Centralised application and Kubernetes logs
- +Replacing an ELK stack to cut cost
- +Debugging by trace or request ID across services
- +Audit and security event retention
Think twice for
- −Relevance-ranked document search
- −Metrics (use VictoriaMetrics)
- −Transactional data
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 7 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Large · ≤ 1 PB
- Horizontal scaling
- Native
- Multi-region
- No
- Transactions
- None
- Consistency
- Eventual
- Schema
- Schemaless
- Architecture
- Single node, Distributed
- Query languages
- LogsQL
Single node handles terabytes per day on one machine; cluster mode spreads storage across vlstorage nodes.
Deployment
Ecosystem
Alternatives to VictoriaLogs
Label-indexed log aggregation: Prometheus-style streams, chunks on object storage, LogQL queries.
victorialogs vs grafana-loki →Lucene-based distributed search and analytics engine for text, vectors, logs and metrics.
victorialogs vs elasticsearch →Apache-licensed, foundation-governed fork of Elasticsearch for search, vectors and observability.
victorialogs vs opensearch →Single-binary Rust observability platform storing logs, metrics and traces as Parquet on object storage.
victorialogs vs openobserve →Rust telemetry datalake for logs, metrics and traces on S3, queried with SQL.
victorialogs vs parseable →Cloud-native search engine on object storage for logs and traces, built on Tantivy.
victorialogs vs quickwit →VictoriaLogs FAQ
What is VictoriaLogs?
VictoriaLogs is a search engine database by VictoriaMetrics Inc., first released in 2023. VictoriaLogs stores and queries structured and plain-text logs with an emphasis on operational simplicity: one binary, no schema, no index tuning, and every field searchable without declaring it. It ingests the Elasticsearch bulk API, Loki push, OpenTelemetry, syslog and JSON lines, and is queried with LogsQL, a pipe-based language with word and phrase filters, field extraction and stats. A cluster mode (vlinsert, vlstorage, vlselect) adds horizontal scale. It works well as a replacement for Elasticsearch- or Loki-based log stacks when you want fast search over high-cardinality fields like trace or user IDs without running a heavyweight inverted index.
Is VictoriaLogs open source?
Yes. VictoriaLogs is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.
Does VictoriaLogs support ACID transactions?
No. VictoriaLogs does not provide ACID transactions; its consistency model is eventual.
Does VictoriaLogs scale horizontally?
VictoriaLogs scales horizontally out of the box, with built-in sharding or partitioning. It is comfortable at large scale (≤ 1 PB).
How can I run VictoriaLogs?
You can self-host it.
What is VictoriaLogs best for?
VictoriaLogs is a strong fit for centralised application and Kubernetes logs; replacing an ELK stack to cut cost; and debugging by trace or request ID across services. Think twice for relevance-ranked document search.
What are the best alternatives to VictoriaLogs?
Common alternatives to VictoriaLogs include Grafana Loki, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, OpenObserve and Parseable. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is VictoriaLogs?
VictoriaLogs ranks #169 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (19.4/100), and #15 among search engine databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.