10x vs Cribl
Cribl is a pipeline you configure, and its savings cost you data.
10x cuts cost by the percentage you set, keeps everything, and needs no pipeline.
Splunk
| 10x | Cribl | |
|---|---|---|
| Who decides the reduction | A percentage you set; the MCP tunes the per-pattern policy | Hand-written routes, pipelines, and functions |
| What Splunk receives | Full, searchable originals, compacted in place · 10x Splunk app Learn how | Full stream, or less once functions drop events or trim fields |
| Where raw logs are kept | Splunk, or your S3 | Your destinations; S3 archive, unindexed by default |
| Getting logs back | From your S3: selected lines, in seconds; re-ingest optional | Replay: collect the range, reprocess, re-ingest |
| Searching reduced logs | In Splunk, with your existing SPL, dashboards, and alerts | In Splunk for what survives; archived data needs Replay or Cribl Search |
| When developers ship new log lines | New patterns re-planned to hold the percentage | Pipelines are yours to update |
| Pricing | Per node, published; volume spikes cost nothing extra | Published credit rate card; scales with ingest volume |
Data Control
A pipeline you program reduces the stream; functions drop events or trim fields, and the archive is read back only by Replay.
Splunkreduced streamEvery line is kept: compacted in place and still searchable where the platform allows, offloaded to your own S3 otherwise.
Splunkevery line kept, compacted · still searchableFrequently Asked Questions
Quick answers on Log10x vs Cribl
What is the difference between Log10x and Cribl Stream?
Cribl Stream is a pipeline you program: routes, pipelines, and functions you write decide what each destination receives, and reduction comes from functions that drop, sample, or suppress events, or trim fields. With 10x you set a target instead, a percent reduction or a spend figure. You can configure the policy by hand, or let the 10x MCP tune it: driven by your own agent, it groups logs by message type, derives a per-pattern policy for your approval, and opens it as a pull request. The 10x Engine then enforces it, compacting losslessly where the destination supports it and tiering down or offloading to your own S3 elsewhere. Every line stays queryable, in the platform you already pay for or in your S3.
Is Log10x's cost reduction lossless?
It keeps every line, but losslessness is per-destination. Compacting is a lossless re-encode on Splunk, self-hosted Elasticsearch or OpenSearch, and ClickHouse, and a no-op on Datadog and CloudWatch. Offload to your own S3 is the universal lever and keeps every line on every destination. Sampling and dropping are a last resort, not the default.
Can Cribl Stream reduce log volume without discarding lines?
By default Cribl Stream forwards events unchanged, which keeps every line and saves nothing. Savings are opt-in: drop, sampling, and suppress remove whole events, while field trimming and aggregation keep the events but strip content, so the bytes saved are data given up either way. The 10x compact action is different: a lossless re-encode that keeps every line and every field where the destination supports it, with S3 offload elsewhere, so the budget sets how much to save while completeness stays constant.
How do archived logs come back with Cribl versus Log10x?
By default Cribl archives to object storage without a search index, and the way back into a destination is Replay: collect the time range, run it through a pipeline again, and re-ingest it, which the destination meters as new volume. Cribl Search can scan that data in place without re-ingesting, and its optional Lakehouse tier adds indexed acceleration at additional cost. 10x indexes offloaded lines as it writes them, so a fetch reads the matching lines from your own S3 in seconds, and re-ingest is optional.
How is 10x priced compared to Cribl?
Cribl publishes a credit-based rate card and meters by the volume its pipeline ingests. 10x is a flat fee per node, published, and a volume spike costs nothing extra.
When is Cribl the better choice?
If the job is routing, reshaping, and enriching telemetry across many sources and destinations, that is what a pipeline you program is built for, and 10x does not replace it. 10x is narrower: it cuts log cost against a budget you set and keeps every line, without pipeline authoring. The two answer different questions: where should each stream go, versus how much should this bill be.
What does Log10x not claim versus Cribl?
Compacting is lossless only on Splunk, self-hosted Elasticsearch or OpenSearch, and ClickHouse, and a no-op on Datadog and CloudWatch; offload is the universal lever. Cribl can keep every line too by trimming fields, but that still drops content, where the 10x compact action keeps every line and every field. The percentages here are modeled, not guaranteed.
Can the savings be verified?
With 10x you set a budget and approve the plan it proposes; savings are then measured per pattern over time, so they can be checked rather than taken on faith. Reduction in Cribl depends on the functions each pipeline runs, so the saving follows how those rules are written.
Do I have to rewrite my Splunk queries or dashboards?
No. On Splunk, self-hosted Elasticsearch or OpenSearch, and ClickHouse, compacted events stay searchable in place through the 10x app for that platform, so existing queries, dashboards, and alerts keep working unchanged. Cribl's archive path takes the data out of the platform instead, so reaching it again means a Replay re-ingest or querying it through Cribl Search, a separate surface from the one the team already uses.
Is Log10x the mathematical function log10(x)?
No. Log10x is a log and observability cost-reduction company and product. It is not the logarithm log10(x), and it is not Log10.io.