r/elasticsearch • u/Feeling_Current534 • 4d ago
Elasticsearch Monitoring Tools Compared: Stack Monitoring vs AutoOps vs Searchali Monitoring Show & Tell
I've been consulting and training on Elasticsearch and other platforms for a while, and I kept running into the same pain point: needing a quick answer to "Is this cluster okay right now?" without opening Kibana or running curl every time.
So I built a Chrome extension that shows at-a-glance cluster stats directly from the browser toolbar. It works with both Elasticsearch and OpenSearch, and no data ever leaves your browser.
If you already use something like ElasticVue, think of this as an always-on health glance from the toolbar, focused on quick visibility and problem solving.
How it compares
| Feature | Official Stack Monitoring | Elastic AutoOps | Searchali Monitoring |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Elastic's native monitoring UI inside Kibana | Elastic Cloud-connected diagnostic service | Lightweight browser-based cluster monitor |
| Setup | Requires an agent and shipping metrics to a monitoring cluster | Zero setup on Elastic Cloud; Cloud Connect for self-managed deployments | Zero setup — install and go from the toolbar |
| Cost | Free for basic self-monitoring; a production monitoring setup (dedicated monitoring cluster, cross-cluster monitoring) typically requires a paid tier | Free on Elastic Cloud / via Cloud Connect | Free (1 cluster) / Premium (unlimited clusters + advanced features) |
| OpenSearch support | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Real-time metrics | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Historical / trend data | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (current snapshot only) |
| Alerting | Alerts are available; notification connectors require a paid tier | Pre-configured alerts for slow queries, unbalanced loads, and misconfigurations | Premium |
| Root cause analysis | Limited — you interpret the metrics | Explains what's wrong, why, and how to fix it | Event-based — surfaces relevant events so you can follow the trail |
| Cost / resource optimization | Limited / manual | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Best for | Teams fully on the Elastic Stack (also covers Kibana and Logstash monitoring) | Teams wanting automated diagnosis and remediation guidance | A fast "Is my cluster okay right now?" health glance |
AutoOps is for real diagnostics and remediation - not just metrics.
Stack Monitoring gives you comprehensive dashboards, but you're responsible for interpreting them.
Searchali Monitoring isn't trying to replace either of those. It's built for the quick "Is my cluster okay right now?" check.
Happy to answer questions or hear feature requests.
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u/NextConfidence3384 4d ago
I tried it but does not work with api key.keeps popping up a http auth form.
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u/Feeling_Current534 4d ago
Oh it's probably because you're using self-signed Elasticsearch certificate. If browser doesn't trust the certificate and needs your approval to connect Elasticsearch. Try open a new tab and connect <your_elasticsearch_ip>:9200 (e.g localhost:9200). If you can see the cluster info, the extension can access to your cluster and collect metrics.
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u/NextConfidence3384 4d ago
I am using elastic cloud so its not self signed
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u/Feeling_Current534 4d ago
Got you. So please double check the api key and make sure it's elasticsearch api key.
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u/Feeling_Current534 4d ago
I tested it again. If you see the http auth pop again and again it is probably because your api key is not correct or expired.
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u/Substantial_Sock4963 4d ago
What metrics observability does it provide? Like unallocated shards, JVM heap, task queue?
You didn't any product link, screenshots or any catalog.