Grafana Loki vs SigNoz
Both are alternatives to Splunk. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as SigNoz vs Grafana Loki — same comparison, one verdict.
Grafana Loki
Cost-efficient log aggregation that indexes labels, not full text.
Loki, from Grafana Labs, keeps log storage cheap by indexing only metadata labels instead of full text, and pairs with Grafana for querying and dashboards. It is a lightweight, low-cost way to centralize logs when you don't need Splunk's full SIEM surface.
SigNoz
OpenTelemetry-native logs, traces, and metrics in one app.
SigNoz ingests logs alongside traces and metrics via OpenTelemetry and provides search, dashboards, and alerting. It fits best when your log analysis sits next to application observability rather than dedicated security/SIEM work.
Side by side
| Grafana Loki | SigNoz | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 86 | 84 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT (core) |
| Pricing | Free / self-host; optional Grafana Cloud | Free / self-host; optional managed cloud |
Grafana Loki edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Grafana Loki
Strengths
- +Very cost-efficient storage via label-based indexing
- +Integrates natively with Grafana dashboards you may already run
- +Simpler to operate than a full search cluster
Trade-offs
- −Label-only indexing makes ad-hoc full-text search slower than OpenSearch or Splunk
- −No built-in security-analytics/SIEM layer
- −AGPL-3.0 network copyleft matters if you offer it as a service
SigNoz
Strengths
- +Unifies logs with traces and metrics via OpenTelemetry
- +MIT-licensed core, no field-of-use restrictions
- +No per-GB-ingest billing when self-hosted
Trade-offs
- −Log analytics is younger than OpenSearch's search engine
- −Not a SIEM — no dedicated security-analytics layer
- −ClickHouse-backed stack to operate
More Splunk head-to-heads
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Facts verified 2026-07-09. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.