---
title: Not sure whether to use Logstash or Beats
description: Beats are lightweight data shippers that you install as agents on your servers to send specific types of operational data to Elasticsearch. Beats have...
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/winlogbeat/diff-logstash-beats
products:
  - Beats
  - Winlogbeat
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Not sure whether to use Logstash or Beats
Beats are lightweight data shippers that you install as agents on your servers to send specific types of operational data to Elasticsearch. Beats have a small footprint and use fewer system resources than Logstash.
Logstash has a larger footprint, but provides a broad array of input, filter, and output plugins for collecting, enriching, and transforming data from a variety of sources.
For more information, see the [Logstash Introduction](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/logstash) and the [Beats Overview](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats).