What is Azure Data Explorer used for?

Azure Data Explorer is a Microsoft Azure analytics service for exploring large volumes of log, telemetry and time-series data using the Kusto Query Language. It is a good fit for analyzing application logs at scale, IoT and telemetry exploration, and interactive troubleshooting of production systems.

How much does Azure Data Explorer cost?

Azure Data Explorer is a paid product with no free plan.

Is Azure Data Explorer open source?

No. Azure Data Explorer is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Azure Data Explorer include InfluxDB, TimescaleDB and QuestDB.

What are some alternatives to Azure Data Explorer?

Azure Data Explorer competes with Google BigQuery, Amazon Athena and Snowflake. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Azure Data Explorer alternatives.

Azure Data Explorer: features, pricing and alternatives

About Azure Data Explorer

Azure Data Explorer is a fully managed analytics service in Microsoft Azure that is designed for fast exploration of large volumes of log, telemetry and time-series data. It is built around the Kusto Query Language, which is used to filter, aggregate and analyze data interactively.

Teams typically use it to ingest streaming or batch data from applications, devices and services, then query it with Kusto for troubleshooting, monitoring and ad hoc investigation. It sits alongside other Azure data services such as Azure Monitor, Azure Databricks and Microsoft Fabric, and the same query technology underpins several of those products.

Azure Data Explorer is a proprietary cloud service that exists only inside Azure, so there is no self-hosted edition. It is billed under Microsoft's usage-based Azure pricing, and current rates are listed on the Azure pricing pages.

Key features

Kusto Query Language for interactive analysis
Ingestion of streaming and batch telemetry
Time-series analysis over large datasets
Integration with other Azure data services
Fully managed cloud service

Good fit for

→Analyzing application logs at scale
→IoT and telemetry exploration
→Interactive troubleshooting of production systems

Tags: azure; analytics; kusto; time-series; logs; telemetry; database; cloud-service

Azure Data Explorer: questions and answers

What is Azure Data Explorer used for?: Azure Data Explorer is a Microsoft Azure analytics service for exploring large volumes of log, telemetry and time-series data using the Kusto Query Language. It is a good fit for analyzing application logs at scale, IoT and telemetry exploration, and interactive troubleshooting of production systems.
How much does Azure Data Explorer cost?: Azure Data Explorer is a paid product with no free plan.
Is Azure Data Explorer open source?: No. Azure Data Explorer is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Azure Data Explorer include InfluxDB, TimescaleDB and QuestDB.
What are some alternatives to Azure Data Explorer?: Azure Data Explorer competes with Google BigQuery, Amazon Athena and Snowflake. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Azure Data Explorer alternatives.