Axiom vs Better Stack vs Grafana Cloud vs HyperDX
Four observability platforms with very different free tiers — serverless log analytics with unlimited querying, combined logging + uptime monitoring, full-stack metrics + logs + traces, and a unified logs/traces/metrics view — compared on ingest, retention, and pricing.
| Axiom | Better Stack | Grafana Cloud | HyperDX | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier note | Serverless log/analytics ingest with 1 TB/year free and unlimited querying — pay only for ingest over the free quota. | Structured logging (Logtail) + uptime monitoring in one free tier — 1 GB/month logs and 10 monitors with 14-day retention. | Full-stack observability (metrics + logs + traces) with a generous forever-free tier and usage-based pricing after. | Unified logs + traces + metrics with a 30 GB/month free tier and 30-day retention; open-source self-host option. |
| Bandwidth | 1 TB/year ingest | 1 GB/month logs | 50 GB logs + 50 GB traces/month | 30 GB/month ingest |
| Builds | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Requests | 30-day retention, unlimited queries, 1 user | 10 uptime monitors, 14-day log retention | 10k series, 14-day retention, 3 users | 30-day retention, 1 user |
| Custom domains | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Paid from | — | $25/mo | — | $50/mo |
| Generosity ★ | 19 | 4 | 20 | 8 |
| Last verified | 2025-09-01 | 2025-09-01 | 2025-09-01 | 2025-09-01 |
| Visit site | Axiom ↗ | Better Stack ↗ | Grafana Cloud ↗ | HyperDX ↗ |
Data verified 2025-09-01.