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Discover top open-source software, updated regularly with real-world adoption signals.
Scalable, label-driven log aggregation built for Kubernetes
Loki aggregates logs using Prometheus‑style labels, offering cost‑effective, horizontally‑scalable storage and native Grafana integration, ideal for Kubernetes pod logs and easy operation.
Loki is a horizontally‑scalable, highly‑available log aggregation system that uses the same label model as Prometheus. By storing compressed, unstructured logs and indexing only metadata, it delivers a low‑cost, easy‑to‑operate alternative to traditional full‑text indexed solutions. The label‑driven approach lets teams correlate logs with metrics directly in Grafana, making incident investigation faster and more intuitive.
A typical Loki stack consists of the Alloy agent for log collection, the Loki service for storage and query processing, and Grafana for visualization. Loki runs as a single binary with no external dependencies, supports multi‑tenant isolation, and integrates natively with Kubernetes, automatically scraping pod labels. Installation can be performed via pre‑built binaries, Docker images, or source builds, and the system scales horizontally by adding more Loki nodes behind a load balancer. Existing Prometheus users benefit from reusing their label taxonomy, while the Grafana UI provides seamless log exploration alongside metrics.
Correlate logs with metrics in Grafana
Enable engineers to jump from a metric alert to the exact log lines that generated it, speeding up root‑cause analysis.
Centralized logging for Kubernetes clusters
Collect pod logs automatically via Alloy, store them cost‑effectively, and provide a single query interface for all clusters.
Multi‑tenant log platform for SaaS providers
Isolate each customer’s logs using Loki’s tenant support while sharing the same infrastructure.
Cost‑controlled log retention for development environments
Store large volumes of logs at low cost, retaining them for weeks without expensive indexing.
Loki indexes only log labels, not the full log text, which reduces storage and operational complexity compared to full‑text indexed solutions.
No. Loki’s queries are based on label selectors and time ranges; full‑text search requires exporting logs to another system.
Alloy is the primary agent; historically Promtail was used. Both can tail files, read journald, and forward logs via the Loki API.
Grafana provides a native Loki datasource; users write LogQL queries to filter by labels and time, and view results alongside metrics.
Yes. Loki can be run as multiple nodes behind a load balancer, with built‑in replication and multi‑tenant isolation for HA deployments.
Project at a glance
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