Contents
Roadmap info from roadmap website
Here’s a comparison of Zap, Zerolog, Log/slog, and Logrus in a markdown table:
| Feature | Zap | Zerolog | Log/slog (Go’s Structured Logger) | Logrus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | High-performance, structured logging | Zero-allocation, structured logging | Go’s standard library for structured logging | Simple, feature-rich logging library with hooks for customization |
| Performance | Extremely fast, optimized for high throughput | Extremely fast, minimal allocations (zero-allocation) | Fast and lightweight | Moderate performance, higher memory usage than Zap and Zerolog |
| Design Philosophy | Focus on performance and structured logging | Zero memory allocations for performance efficiency | Simple and modular, part of Go’s core ecosystem | Focus on ease of use and feature richness over raw performance |
| Structured Logging | Yes, supports fields and structured data | Yes, highly structured, supports complex data | Yes, native support for key-value pairs | Yes, but with a less efficient API compared to Zap/Zerolog |
| Ease of Use | Moderate (requires initial setup, multiple options) | Easy to use with a fluent API | Very simple API, part of Go’s standard | Very easy to use, beginner-friendly with a lot of built-in features |
| Logging Levels | Debug, Info, Warn, Error, DPanic, Panic, Fatal | Trace, Debug, Info, Warn, Error, Fatal, Panic | Supports multiple log levels | Panic, Fatal, Error, Warn, Info, Debug, Trace |
| Log Format | JSON and custom formats | JSON only | JSON and other formats using adapters | Text by default, JSON via custom formatter |
| Configurability | High (many options for customization) | Highly configurable | Basic, but flexible with hooks or handlers | High configurability, with hooks for custom formatting and outputs |
| Context Support | Yes, context-aware logging | Yes, integrates context for structured logs | Yes, integrates with Go’s context package | No built-in support (can be handled with manual integration) |
| Output Destinations | Files, stdout, custom writers | Files, stdout, custom writers | File, stdout, and customizable handlers | Files, stdout, custom writers |
| Dependency | External library (uber-go/zap) | External library (rs/zerolog) | Native Go library (starting in Go 1.21) | External library (sirupsen/logrus) |
| Serialization | High performance serialization (optimized for JSON) | Zero-allocation serialization | Lightweight serialization for key-value pairs | Higher memory usage, with more flexibility in output formatting |
| Best Use Case | High-throughput, production-grade applications | High-performance logging with zero memory overhead | Lightweight applications, standard logging in Go projects | Simple applications needing easy-to-implement logging with customizable features |
| Community/Support | Large community, actively maintained | Smaller but active community, popular in performance-focused applications | Growing adoption since it’s part of Go’s standard library | Large, well-established community with many extensions available |
Summary of Each:__
-
Zap:
- Best For: High-performance production systems that need structured logging and customization options.
- Use Case: Microservices, logging-heavy applications requiring low-latency log output with structured data.
-
Zerolog:
- Best For: High-performance logging in applications where memory allocations need to be minimized, and logging speed is a priority.
- Use Case: Low-latency, high-throughput services such as financial systems, distributed systems, or real-time APIs.
-
Log/slog:
- Best For: Developers who want to stick to Go’s standard library and need lightweight structured logging without external dependencies.
- Use Case: Lightweight Go applications or teams that prefer staying within the Go ecosystem and want basic structured logging.
-
Logrus:
- Best For: Simpler applications that value ease of use and flexibility in logging formats and outputs over raw performance.
- Use Case: Small to medium applications where setup speed and ease of use are priorities, or where you need a flexible logging solution that can easily be extended with hooks.
When to Choose__
- Zap: If you need highly efficient, high-performance logging with lots of customization and structured data handling.
- Zerolog: If zero-allocation performance is critical, and you need extremely fast and memory-efficient logging.
- Log/slog: If you prefer using Go’s standard library, need structured logging, and don’t want external dependencies.
- Logrus: If ease of use, flexibility, and community support are priorities, and you’re not concerned with the highest logging performance or memory overhead.