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

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.

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