I tried LogFlare (which is now Supabase Logs) in January, but it didn't work well for what I wanted.
Supabase Logs / Logflare seems primarily interested in creating graphs from logs rather than using logs for diagnostic purposes.
I've been looking for a log solution that's good for the use case of high retention but low volume.
I have a few small apps that generate a few MB of logs per month, so basically nothing. But I still want to have all my logs searchable in one place.
Most logging solutions set retention based on time rather than data size. So regardless of how much you're logging, they throw away your logs within somewhere between 7-30 days unless you're on an insane Enterprise plan.
I was excited about LogFlare because it supports unlimited retention, but I ran into too many issues and had to cancel my subscription:
* To search your logs, you need to write a SQL-like query in LogFlare's DSL. You can't just put in a route (e.g. /api/auth) like you can with other log analytics.
* Search only shows the matching lines. Usually, what I want to see is the log line in context. For example, if I search "catastrophic error" I want to see the log lines leading up to that, not just that specific line.
* Search is limited to a maximum of 100 results. If you want to see more results, you need to rewrite your query rather than just scroll up or hit a "load more" button.
* When you do adjust the query to a larger time window, the query will fail because it can't generate a graph unless you also adjust the group_by in your query to match the new time window's limits. This is an annoying obstacle if you don't care about graphing the results and are just trying to diagnose an issue in your logs.
I found support lacking as well. I emailed support to ask if I was misunderstanding how to use Logflare or if it was just designed for a different use case. I was on a paid plan, but I still had to wait 3 business days for a response. When the response came, they just said that it was designed for me but didn't address any of the issues I brought up.
I do like that Logflare/Supabase let you bring your own BigQuery. That's nice for customers like me who want low-volume, high retention. I hope they continue iterating because it has potential.
In the meantime, I've found LogTail to be a pretty good alternative, but they're limited to 30 days of retention even on the highest tier plan.
Supabase Logs / Logflare seems primarily interested in creating graphs from logs rather than using logs for diagnostic purposes.
I've been looking for a log solution that's good for the use case of high retention but low volume.
I have a few small apps that generate a few MB of logs per month, so basically nothing. But I still want to have all my logs searchable in one place.
Most logging solutions set retention based on time rather than data size. So regardless of how much you're logging, they throw away your logs within somewhere between 7-30 days unless you're on an insane Enterprise plan.
I was excited about LogFlare because it supports unlimited retention, but I ran into too many issues and had to cancel my subscription:
* To search your logs, you need to write a SQL-like query in LogFlare's DSL. You can't just put in a route (e.g. /api/auth) like you can with other log analytics.
* Search only shows the matching lines. Usually, what I want to see is the log line in context. For example, if I search "catastrophic error" I want to see the log lines leading up to that, not just that specific line.
* Search is limited to a maximum of 100 results. If you want to see more results, you need to rewrite your query rather than just scroll up or hit a "load more" button.
* When you do adjust the query to a larger time window, the query will fail because it can't generate a graph unless you also adjust the group_by in your query to match the new time window's limits. This is an annoying obstacle if you don't care about graphing the results and are just trying to diagnose an issue in your logs.
I found support lacking as well. I emailed support to ask if I was misunderstanding how to use Logflare or if it was just designed for a different use case. I was on a paid plan, but I still had to wait 3 business days for a response. When the response came, they just said that it was designed for me but didn't address any of the issues I brought up.
I do like that Logflare/Supabase let you bring your own BigQuery. That's nice for customers like me who want low-volume, high retention. I hope they continue iterating because it has potential.
In the meantime, I've found LogTail to be a pretty good alternative, but they're limited to 30 days of retention even on the highest tier plan.