Overview
Axiom is a managed event store for logs, traces and other machine data. You send data through OpenTelemetry, Vector, its API or integrations for Vercel, Cloudflare, AWS and Kubernetes, and it stores everything compressed without fixed schemas or indexes to manage. Queries use APL, a pipe-based language similar to Kusto, with virtual fields, joins and scheduled queries for alerts.
The Personal plan is free for good: 500 GB a month of ingest compute, 10 GB-hours of query compute, 25 GB of storage and 30 days of retention, with no card. Axiom Cloud charges a $25 platform fee that includes larger allowances and then bills extra usage in compute credits, with discounts that apply automatically as volume grows.
It is a data platform rather than a full APM suite: no uptime checks or status pages, and dashboards and monitors are built on your queries. Popular with Vercel and serverless developers who want cheap, searchable logs.
Pricing and plans
checked 28 Sept 2026Free tier · no card
Personal plan: 500 GB a month of data loading compute, 10 GB-hours of query compute, 25 GB storage, 30-day retention, all integrations, community support.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Personal | $0 | 500 GB loading compute, 10 GB-hrs query, 25 GB storage, 30-day retention |
| Axiom Cloud | $25/mo + usage | 1 TB loading, 100 GB-hrs query and 100 GB storage included; configurable retention, spend caps |
| Add-ons | $50 to $100/mo each | RBAC $50, Extended Audit Logs $50, SAML SSO $100, Directory Sync $100 |
What it does
- Schema-less ingest
- Send any JSON events; fields are discovered on read, with no indexes to manage.
- APL queries
- Pipe-based query language with aggregations, joins, virtual fields and scheduled queries.
- Integrations
- OpenTelemetry, Vector, CloudWatch, AWS, Kubernetes and CI/CD integrations on every plan.
- Monitors and dashboards
- Alerts and dashboards built from APL queries.
- Spend controls
- Spend alerts and hard caps on Axiom Cloud pause usage instead of billing more.
- MCP server
- MCP server and agent skills included for querying data from AI coding tools.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Permanent free plan with 500 GB of monthly ingest compute and 30-day retention.
- Enterprise add-ons such as SSO and RBAC are self-serve at fixed monthly prices.
- Hard spending caps prevent surprise bills.
- Published rate card, including a machine-readable version.
Limitations
- Free Personal plan retention is fixed at 30 days.
- No uptime checks, status pages or error grouping; it is a data store with querying and alerts.
- SAML SSO costs $100 a month and RBAC $50 a month as add-ons.
- APL is its own query language to learn.
Who it suits
Good for
- Serverless and Vercel apps that need searchable logs
- Teams with high log volume watching cost
- Developers who want OpenTelemetry traces and logs in one query tool
Look elsewhere if
- Teams wanting uptime checks and status pages
- Teams wanting a turnkey APM with automatic service dashboards
Alternatives to Axiom
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon CloudWatch AWS-native metrics, logs, alarms and tracing | Usage-based | Free tier | |
| AppSignal APM with errors, logs, hosts and uptime | $23.25/mo | Free tier | |
| Better Stack Uptime, logs, errors and incident management | $29/mo | Free tier | |
| Checkly Synthetic and uptime monitoring as code | $24/mo | Free tier | |
| Cronitor Cron job, uptime and heartbeat monitoring | Usage-based | Free tier | |
| GlitchTip Open-source error tracking (Sentry SDK compatible) | $15/mo | Free tier |
Questions
Is Axiom free?
Yes, the Personal plan is free with 500 GB of loading compute, 10 GB-hours of queries, 25 GB of storage and 30-day retention.
How much does Axiom Cloud cost?
A $25 monthly platform fee that includes 1 TB of loading compute, 100 GB-hours of queries and 100 GB of storage, then usage in compute credits.
Can I cap my Axiom bill?
Yes, Axiom Cloud has spending limits and alerts; usage above the limit is paused rather than billed.
Does Axiom support OpenTelemetry?
Yes, it ingests OpenTelemetry logs, traces and metrics.
Sources read for this page