Sazabi vs Axiom: How They Compare for Teams With a Lot of Log Volume
Prices and facts checked on vendor pages on Nov 8, 2026.
Axiom describes itself as a data platform for event and telemetry data, with logs, traces, metrics and product analytics on one store. Sazabi is narrower: it is for engineering teams that want production issues found and explained from their logs. Sazabi wrote this page, so verify every number on the Axiom pages listed below.
At a Glance
How Axiom Works and Charges
Everything here comes from Axiom's pricing page and published rate card, read on 2026-11-08. The rate card uses compute credits at $1.00 each on pay as you go. Data loading and queries draw credits down in graduated tiers, and storage is billed separately.
Axiom assumes 95 percent compression by default, so 100 GB of raw data is about 5 GB stored. Its own guidance puts a base log-management workload at roughly 0.40 GB-hours of query per GB ingested. You can pre-purchase credits for 12, 24 or 36 months at up to 40 percent off. Add-ons are SAML SSO at $100, Directory Sync at $100, RBAC at $50 and Extended Audit Logs at $50 per month. The page lists SOC 2 Type II and GDPR as in place and a HIPAA BAA as a self-serve add-on.
How Sazabi Works and Charges
Sazabi starts from the logs rather than from a query language. Point the OpenTelemetry Collector or Vector at its intake, and it flags problems you did not write a monitor for, opens an issue with the evidence, and alerts in Slack. You can also ask questions in plain language. It investigates root cause and hands the context to your coding agent over MCP, CLI or API.
Hobby, Startup and Growth cost $50, $200 and $1,000 per 30 days. Each includes 200 GB ingested, 50 GB scanned, 20 issues and 500 AI credits, then $0.10 per GB ingested, $0.10 per GB scanned, $4 per issue and $0.01 per credit. Details are on the Sazabi pricing page.
Sazabi holds SOC 2 Type II, SOC 1, ISO 27001 and ISO 27017 certifications. Anyone who signs an NDA, customer or not, can request the SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 audit reports from the Sazabi Trust Center. HIPAA safeguards are available on select plans.
A Worked Monthly Example
Assumptions: 10 TB (10,000 GB) of logs per month, one-month retention, pay as you go, no add-ons. For both products, queries scan 0.4 GB per GB ingested, so 4,000 GB-hours on Axiom and 4,000 GB scanned on Sazabi. Axiom stores 5 percent of raw volume. Sazabi is on the Startup plan with no extra issues or AI credits. This applies Axiom's own base-workload guidance to both sides, which is an assumption, not a measurement.
The totals are close. Axiom pulls ahead as volume grows, because its ingestion tiers step down and the first 1 TB is free. Sazabi's allowance helps most at lower volumes. Axiom also has the edge on self-serve retention, since Sazabi's self-serve plans top out at 90 days.
Key Differences for a Log-Centered Team
Data platform versus issue workflow. Axiom is built to hold large volumes of events cheaply and let you query them. You write the queries, alerts and dashboards, or let its agent tools help. Sazabi spends its effort on deciding what deserves attention, then investigating it.
Meters. Axiom splits cost into three meters plus a platform fee. Sazabi meters ingestion, scanning and issues. Issues are the line item Axiom has no equivalent for, and a noisy environment can raise it.
Retention. Axiom retention is configurable and older data moves to cheaper storage tiers. Sazabi retention is a plan setting.
When to Pick Axiom
- You send very high volume and want ingestion rates that step down as you grow.
- You need long retention at low storage cost, or retention beyond the 90 days Sazabi's self-serve plans offer.
- You want one store for logs, metrics and non-observability events such as product or LLM data.
- You want SSO, RBAC, audit logs and a HIPAA BAA as self-serve add-ons.
- Your team is comfortable writing APL and building its own alerts.
When to Pick Sazabi
- You want problems surfaced and explained without building monitors and dashboards first.
- You want investigations handed to Claude Code, Codex or Cursor with the evidence attached.
- You want repository scanning to file confirmed vulnerabilities as issues.
- Your volume sits in the range where a $200 plan with allowances beats three separate meters.
Trying Sazabi Alongside Axiom
Axiom lists OpenTelemetry and Vector among its integrations, and Sazabi accepts the same shippers, so you can add Sazabi as a second exporter without touching the Axiom path. There is also an Axiom MCP connector for the Sazabi agent. If you would rather keep long-term data in Axiom, the agent can query it with APL during an investigation, while Sazabi handles detection on the live stream. If you are also weighing a per-GB regional model, the Better Stack comparison covers that one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Axiom have a free tier?
Yes. Axiom lists a permanent Personal plan at $0 with 500 GB of data loading, 10 GB-hours of query compute, 25 GB of storage and 30-day retention. Axiom Cloud adds a $25 per month platform fee and includes 1 TB of loading, 100 GB-hours of query and 100 GB of storage.
Can the Sazabi agent query data that stays in Axiom?
Yes. Sazabi has an Axiom MCP connector that gives its agent tools to query your Axiom datasets and logs using APL during a conversation. You supply the credentials and choose what the connector can reach.
How does Axiom charge for queries?
Query compute is metered in GB-hours with graduated rates from $0.20 down to $0.08, and the first 100 GB-hours each month are free. Sazabi meters scanned GB at $0.10 after 50 GB included per 30-day cycle.
Sources
- Platform fee, Always Free allowances, retention, integrations, MCP server, add-on prices, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA BAA and deployment lines (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Published rate card: data loading, query and storage tiers, compression default, pre-purchase discounts (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Product description: EventDB, MetricsDB, Console, alerting (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Sazabi plan prices, included usage, overage rates and retention (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- How Sazabi detects issues, investigates and alerts (accessed Nov 8, 2026)
- Axiom MCP connector lets the Sazabi agent query datasets with APL (accessed Nov 8, 2026)