Manticore Search vs Elasticsearch: 3x Faster Kibana Dashboard Rendering for Log Analysis

Manticore Search outperforms Elasticsearch in analyzing large volumes of Nginx log data, with Kibana dashboard rendering speeds up to 3x faster. This article compares the performance of the two search engines using the same dataset and highlights Manticore Search's advantages. The Manticore Search Kibana Demo project allows users to compare the performance of both search engines. The demo project uses Kibana as the visualization tool and is connected to both Elasticsearch and Manticore Search. The dataset is generated from Nginx logs using the kscarlett-generator tool. To run the demo, users need to clone the repository, configure the environment, and launch the Docker environment. The primary focus of the test is the dashboard rendering speed in Kibana, where Manticore Search consistently outperforms Elasticsearch. Manticore Search offers several advantages, including high performance, full SQL support, real-time indexing, columnar storage, and lightweight setup. While there are some limitations and work-in-progress features, Manticore Search proves to be a powerful alternative to Elasticsearch, especially in scenarios requiring fast data processing and visualization.