Fluentd & Fluent Bit

Data collection matters and nowadays the scenarios from where the information can come from are very variable. For hence to be more flexible in certain markets needs, we may need different options. On this page, we will describe the relationship between the Fluentd and Fluent Bit open source projects.

Fluentd and Fluent Bit projects are both created and sponsored by Treasure Data and they aim to solve the collection, processing, and delivery of Logs.

Both projects share a lot of similarities, Fluent Bit is fully based on the design and experience of Fluentd architecture and general design. Choosing which one to use depends on the final needs, from an architecture perspective we can consider:

• Fluentd is a log collector, processor, and aggregator.

• Fluent Bit is a log collector and processor (it doesn't have strong aggregation features like Fluentd).

The following table describes a comparison in different areas of the projects:

	Fluentd	Fluent Bit
Scope	Containers / Servers	Containers / Servers
Language	C & Ruby	C
Memory	~40MB	~450KB
Performance	High Performance	High Performance
Dependencies	Built as a Ruby Gem, it requires a certain number of gems.	Zero dependencies, unless some special plugin requires them.
Plugins	More than 650 plugins available	Around 35 plugins available
License	Apache License v2.0	Apache License v2.0

Consider Fluentd mainly as an Aggregator and Fluent Bit as a Log Forwarder, we can see both projects complement each other providing a full reliable solution.