The main difference between Coralogix, Better Stack, and CubeAPM is that Coralogix focuses on AI-driven log analytics with optional cloud archiving, while Better Stack emphasizes uptime and log monitoring for small to mid-size teams. In contrast, CubeAPM delivers full-stack MELT observability with self-hosting, smart sampling, and predictable pricing.

Based on our research, Coralogix’s pay-per-GB pricing can quickly scale beyond $5,000/month for high-volume teams, and Better Stack’s log retention caps at 30 days on most plans. But CubeAPM is built for teams that need OpenTelemetry-based observability, low-latency self-hosting, compliance-readiness, unlimited data retention, and at just $0.15/GB ingestion. This is ideal for startups, fintech, or enterprises looking for faster MTTR and cost optimization.

In this Coralogix vs Better Stack vs CubeAPM comparison, we’ll break down how these three tools differ across pricing, deployment, MELT coverage, sampling, and support to help you decide which platform best fits your use case. 

Coralogix vs Better Stack vs CubeAPM Comparison

Coralogix vs Better Stack vs CubeAPM: Feature-by-Feature Breakdown

Here we dive deeper into how each tool handles the core capabilities that matter when choosing an observability platform.

Multi-Agent Support

CubeAPM offers the strongest multi-agent ecosystem among the three tools — Yes (OTel, New Relic, Datadog, Elastic). It natively supports OpenTelemetry (OTLP) for all telemetry types, while also maintaining direct compatibility with New Relic and Datadog agents, and integrations for Prometheus exporters and Elastic Beats. 

This breadth of support means teams can migrate from legacy tools or run hybrid infrastructures without changing their existing instrumentation. CubeAPM’s vendor-neutral ingestion pipeline ensures consistent data across mixed environments — whether Kubernetes, VM-based, or on-prem — making it ideal for enterprises standardizing on OpenTelemetry while retaining flexibility and compliance.

Coralogix provides limited immediate agent support, primarily through OpenTelemetry and Prometheus. It relies on these standards for collecting logs, metrics, and traces, supported by Fluent Bit and custom SDKs for specialized data sources. While it integrates well with modern telemetry standards, it lacks built-in orchestration for a broader agent ecosystem, making it better suited for teams already committed to OTEL or Prometheus pipelines.

Better Stack focuses on simplicity over depth, offering basic agent coverage via its Logtail agent and REST API. It now supports OpenTelemetry ingestion for logs, metrics, and traces, with eBPF-based instrumentation in beta for infrastructure visibility. However, it doesn’t yet provide the same range of native agent integrations as CubeAPM, making it a lighter fit for small teams prioritizing ease of setup over multi-agent extensibility.

MELT Support (Metrics, Events, Logs, Traces)

CubeAPM offers full MELT coverage — integrating Metrics, Events, Logs, and Traces within a single unified platform. It provides end-to-end observability across applications, infrastructure, databases, real-user, and synthetic monitoring. Its OpenTelemetry-native design automatically correlates all telemetry for fast root-cause analysis, reducing MTTR. With self-hosting flexibility and smart data compression, CubeAPM delivers enterprise-grade MELT coverage at predictable costs.

According to the official documentation, Coralogix also provides full MELT support, spanning logs, metrics, traces, and security events. It structures telemetry through its Live, Archive, and Streama pipelines for performance and cost control. Coralogix integrates with OpenTelemetry and Prometheus, giving a unified view of distributed systems, though it lacks automated sampling, which can increase costs in high-volume use cases.

Better Stack focuses on logs, uptime, and metric visualization through its Logtail and Better Uptime modules. It supports OpenTelemetry ingestion but doesn’t yet include distributed tracing or event correlation. The setup is simple and efficient for developers who need visibility into uptime and logs without full MELT complexity.

Setup (Deployment)

CubeAPM offers a self-hosted but vendor-managed deployment model, giving organizations full control of their data while CubeAPM handles configuration, scaling, and maintenance. It can run fully within a customer’s cloud or on-premise environment, ensuring compliance with data localization and privacy regulations. This setup eliminates egress costs and allows teams to deploy CubeAPM as a private observability stack while still receiving managed updates and vendor support.

Coralogix is a cloud-based SaaS platform, offering managed observability through its global infrastructure. Users can start collecting telemetry in minutes using ready-made integrations and pipelines, with optional on-premise hosting for some components for compliance or cost optimization. While setup is straightforward, it relies entirely on Coralogix’s hosted environment, which may limit data residency flexibility for certain regions.

Better Stack operates as a SaaS-only solution, hosted in the US and EU regions. It requires no infrastructure management and can be configured in minutes via the Logtail agent or REST API. However, it does not currently support private or self-hosted deployments, which can be a limitation for enterprises with strict compliance or air-gapped environments.

Pricing for Small, Medium, & Large Teams

Pricing is one of the easiest ways to spot how observability platforms differ in their business model and scaling behavior. 

To summarize the cost:

Cost for Small Teams (~30):

• CubeAPM: $2,080
• Coralogix: $3,380
• Better Stack: $5,723

Cost for Mid-Sized Teams (~125):

• CubeAPM: $7,200,
• Coralogix: $9,700
• Better Stack: $20,550

Cost for Large Teams (~250):

• CubeAPM: $15,200
• Coralogix: $22,500
• Better Stack: $43,350

CubeAPM Costs: Detailed Calculation 

CubeAPM charges an ingestion-based rate of $0.15 per GB, with no extra fees for users, hosts, or features. This covers logs, traces, metrics, RUM, and synthetics in one bill. Let’s see how it costs for teams of different sizes:

• Small teams (~ 30): $2,080
• Mid-sized teams (~ 125): $7,200
• Large teams (~250): $15,200

Coralogix Costs: Detailed Calculation

According to their pricing page, Coralogix uses a per-GB model: logs at $0.52/GB, traces at $0.44/GB, and metrics at $0.05/GB, with AI token usage at $1.50 per 1 M tokens. Their pricing page emphasizes “pay for your data and nothing more”. The cost for teams of different sizes:

• Small teams: $3,380
• Med-size teams: $9,700
• Large teams: $22,500

Better Stack Costs: Detailed Calculation

Better Stack pricing lists a free tier, and then the paid plans start at $29/month per host, with logs & traces billed at $0.35/GB and metrics pricing showing “2 billion free samples + $17.50 for each additional billion retained”. Their pricing page confirms the free start and base plan. Let’s see how it costs different teams:

• Small teams: $5,723
• Med-size teams: $20,550
• Large teams: $43,350

Compared to tiered or per-host models in other platforms, CubeAPM’s pricing ensures transparency and predictable spending even as data volumes grow. With a flat ingestion rate of $0.15 per GB, CubeAPM removes host-based or user-based fees and puts cost control in your hands — from early­stage startups to scale-up enterprises.

Sampling Strategy

CubeAPM uses Smart Sampling, a fully automated and context-aware mechanism that dynamically decides which traces and logs to retain based on latency, error rate, and business-critical metrics. It comes with 95% data compression to drastically cut storage and ingestion costs without losing critical visibility.

This adaptive approach captures the most valuable telemetry while minimizing data volume, helping teams cut costs by up to 60% without losing insight. Because Smart Sampling operates at the collector level and integrates with OpenTelemetry, CubeAPM ensures every important transaction — such as failed API calls or high-latency spans — is retained for analysis while routine noise is efficiently discarded.

Coralogix applies a Streama-based control model that lets users classify telemetry into live, archived, or archived-in-customer-cloud tiers. While this helps reduce costs by routing low-priority data into cheaper storage, Coralogix doesn’t include native Smart or tail-based sampling. Instead, all data initially passes through its ingestion pipeline before classification, which can increase costs in high-volume workloads compared to CubeAPM’s collector-level sampling.

Better Stack currently has no native sampling feature. It ingests and stores all incoming logs and traces by default through its Logtail agent and OpenTelemetry integration. Users can manually filter events using query-based log pipelines, but without automated or adaptive sampling, larger environments can accumulate unnecessary data, raising storage and processing overhead.

Log Retention

CubeAPM provides infinite data retention at no extra cost when deployed within your own infrastructure. Logs, metrics, and traces remain stored under your control, allowing teams to meet strict audit and compliance standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, or RBI localization. Because CubeAPM’s data pipeline is optimized with 95% compression, retaining historical telemetry doesn’t require additional storage fees or vendor-tiered pricing. This makes long-term observability affordable and predictable, even for large-scale environments handling terabytes of data each month.

Coralogix also advertises infinite retention, but with an important trade-off. Hot data is stored within the Coralogix platform for quick access, while archived telemetry is pushed into the customer’s cloud bucket. Though this lowers Coralogix’s storage charges, the data still incurs public egress costs since it leaves Coralogix’s managed environment. For compliance-sensitive organizations, this hybrid model may not fully satisfy data residency requirements.

Better Stack offers 15–30 days of retention depending on the selected plan. Logs can be exported to external storage manually, but there’s no built-in infinite or archival tier. This model suits small teams and short-lifecycle workloads but is less practical for regulated or long-term monitoring use cases that demand extended data history.

Support Channel & TAT & Pricing

CubeAPM provides real-time support via Slack and WhatsApp, with response times measured in minutes, not hours. Customers interact directly with the core engineering team — no ticket queues or automated replies — ensuring immediate help for deployment, tracing, or performance issues. This hands-on model is included at no extra cost, making CubeAPM especially valuable for teams needing fast technical assistance and proactive troubleshooting as they scale observability workloads.

Coralogix offers 24/7 customer support through live chat and email, with turnaround times ranging from a few minutes on enterprise plans to a few hours for standard users. Dedicated onboarding specialists and account managers assist with initial setup and data migration. While reliable, Coralogix’s support is routed through a conventional ticketing system, which may not be as instantly responsive as CubeAPM’s direct communication model.

Better Stack provides responsive Email, Chat, and Slack support, with a <4-hour TAT for paid users and 1–2 business days for free plans. The support team is integrated directly into its Better Uptime interface, simplifying issue resolution. Although effective for smaller teams, advanced SLA or dedicated engineering support is limited to enterprise subscriptions.

Known For

CubeAPM is known for its OpenTelemetry-native full-stack observability, combining MELT coverage, self-hosting flexibility, and predictable $0.15/GB pricing. It’s recognized for unifying metrics, events, logs, and traces into one lightweight platform that enterprises can deploy privately or manage in the cloud. With direct Slack-based support and smart sampling that reduces cost by over 60%, CubeAPM has become a preferred choice for teams seeking enterprise-grade visibility without SaaS-tier overheads.

Coralogix is best known for its log analytics and AI-driven data optimization capabilities. It helps organizations centralize logs, metrics, and traces in real time using its Streama pipeline, which automatically classifies data for hot, archive, and cold storage. Its core strength lies in dynamic indexing, powerful dashboards, and the ability to archive telemetry into customers’ own cloud storage for long-term retention.

Better Stack has earned its reputation for being developer-friendly and design-focused, providing an elegant experience across log management, uptime monitoring, and incident response. Its modular approach via Logtail and Better Uptime gives small DevOps teams everything they need for lightweight observability, fast setup, and clean dashboards without operational complexity.

Which Tool Is Best for You? Why Brands Choose CubeAPM

If you’re comparing CubeAPM, Coralogix, and Better Stack, the main difference lies in how much visibility, control, and scalability each platform offers. CubeAPM stands out as the only solution delivering full MELT coverage, self-hosting flexibility, and smart sampling with 95% compression — all at a predictable $0.15/GB, making it ideal for teams of any size that want complete observability without the enterprise price tag.

Benefits of Choosing CubeAPM

• Full-Stack Observability: Unified visibility across metrics, events, logs, and traces, including RUM, synthetic monitoring, and error tracking — all in one dashboard.
• Multi-Agent Support: Seamlessly works with OTel, New Relic, Datadog, Elastic, Prometheus, and Fluent Bit agents, letting teams migrate without re-instrumenting.
• Self-Hosting & Compliance: Deploy CubeAPM in your own cloud or data center, ensuring strict compliance for data localization.
• Smart Sampling + 95% Compression: Context-aware data reduction ensures up to 70% lower costs without losing key traces or metrics.
• Predictable Pricing: Transparent $0.15/GB ingestion pricing — no per-host, per-user, or add-on fees.
• Instant Engineer Support: Direct Slack and WhatsApp access to CubeAPM engineers with response times under a few minutes.
• OpenTelemetry-Native Design: Full OTEL compatibility for plug-and-play integration with modern frameworks and open standards.
• Comprehensive API Access: Exposes powerful REST and OTLP APIs for automated dashboards, integrations, and CI/CD observability workflows.

Coralogix vs Better Stack vs CubeAPM: Use Cases

Each observability platform fits a different team profile. Here’s when to choose CubeAPM, Coralogix, or Better Stack, depending on your scale, data strategy, and compliance needs.

Choose Coralogix if:

You need strong log analytics and AI-driven data classification with real-time visualization.

• Log-First Architecture: Advanced log parsing and correlation with visual dashboards.
• Streama-Based Tiering: Classify telemetry into live, archive, and cold data tiers for cost optimization.
• OpenTelemetry & Prometheus Support: Compatible with common telemetry standards for easy data ingestion.
• AI-Assisted Insights: Auto-detects anomalies and patterns in large log datasets.
• Best For: Companies prioritizing log analytics, event correlation, and cost control within managed cloud setups.

Choose Better Stack if:

You want simple, beautiful monitoring for uptime, logs, and incidents without complex setup.

• Fast Setup: Deploy the Logtail agent in minutes — minimal configuration needed.
• Unified Uptime & Logs: Correlate incidents with logs directly in the Better Uptime dashboard.
• OpenTelemetry Ingestion: Supports metrics and logs through OTEL with eBPF instrumentation in beta.
• Collaborative Dashboards: Real-time alerts via Slack, Email, or PagerDuty for small agile teams.
• Best For: Startups or DevOps teams seeking lightweight observability and uptime tracking without deep APM complexity.

Choose CubeAPM if:

You need complete MELT observability, data control, and predictable pricing in one OpenTelemetry-native platform.

• Full MELT Coverage: Unified metrics, events, logs, and traces, plus RUM, synthetic monitoring, and error tracking.
• Self-Hosting & Compliance: Run CubeAPM inside your own cloud or data center for compliance.
• Smart Sampling: Retains high-value telemetry while cutting storage costs by up to 70% with 95% compression.
• Predictable Pricing: $0.15 / GB ingestion rate — no host, user, or feature-based pricing.
• Multi-Agent Support: Works with OTel, New Relic, Datadog, Elastic, and Prometheus agents, easing migration.
• Comprehensive API Access: Powerful REST and OTLP APIs for automation, CI/CD, and dashboard customization.
• Instant Engineer Support: Direct access to CubeAPM engineers via Slack or WhatsApp with a response in minutes.
• Best For: Teams running large-scale Kubernetes or microservice deployments that need full-stack visibility with strict data control.

Coralogix vs Better Stack vs CubeAPM: What to Choose?

While Coralogix shines in log analytics and Better Stack simplifies uptime and incident monitoring, CubeAPM delivers the most complete observability experience — unifying metrics, events, logs, and traces with self-hosting, smart sampling, and 95% compression at just $0.15/GB. It’s built for teams that demand transparency, scalability, and compliance without sacrificing performance.

Start your 30–day free trial of CubeAPM today and experience unified observability that’s faster, smarter, and more affordable than ever.