Cribl
Cribl reduces observability costs by filtering and routing telemetry data before it reaches expensive tools.
Cribl is a vendor-neutral observability pipeline that sits between data sources and downstream analytics tools, providing complete control over data collection, filtering, enrichment, normalization, and routing. It helps enterprises reduce observability data volumes by 25%+ while eliminating cloud waste across tools like Splunk and Datadog. The platform abstracts the complexity of managing multiple data sources and destinations, allowing teams to process telemetry data in-flight without vendor lock-in. Cribl serves Fortune 100/500 companies that struggle with exploding observability costs and data sprawl.
Problem solved
Enterprise observability teams send massive volumes of redundant, low-value telemetry data to expensive downstream tools, driving cloud waste and inflated licensing costs that could be reduced by 25-50%.
Target customer
Enterprise IT and DevOps teams managing complex observability stacks with high data volumes and multiple analytics tools (Splunk, Datadog, etc.); companies with 1TB+ daily telemetry ingestion.
Founders
C
Clint Sharp
CEO & Co-Founder
Former head of product for Splunk Cloud with experience at Cricket Communications.
L
Ledion Bitincka
CTO & Co-Founder
Advanced Development Architect at Splunk; led development of Search-Time Schema, Hunk, and SmartStore.
D
Dritan Bitincka
CPO & Co-Founder
Principal architect at Splunk with deep expertise in enterprise data infrastructure.
Funding history
Seed
$4M
February 2019
Led by Unknown
· Unknown
Series A
$7.4M
April 2020
Led by Unknown
· Unknown
Series B
$35M
October 2020
Led by Sequoia Capital
· Unknown
Series C
$200M
August 2021
Led by Greylock Partners, Redpoint Ventures
· IVP, Sequoia, CRV, Citi Ventures
Series D
$150M
May 2022
Led by Tiger Global Management
· IVP, CRV, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia, Greylock
Series E
$319M
August 2024
Led by Google Ventures
· GIC, CapitalG, IVP, CRV
Total raised:
$715M
Industries
Pricing
Credit-based model where 1 credit = $1 USD. Customers purchase annual credit pools used across all products. Cribl Stream Cloud: $0.32/credit per GB ingest plus infrastructure costs. Published benchmarks: $50K/year for 500GB/day, $84K/year for 1TB/day. Enterprise deployments typically $40K-$500K+ annually with $68K median. Free, Standard, and Enterprise tiers available.
Notable customers
43 Fortune 100 members, 130 Fortune 500 members. Named customers: Accenture, Bayer, FINRA, Sally Beauty, SAP, Vodafone, TransUnion, Autodesk
Integrations
Splunk, Datadog, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Azure, Elasticsearch, Sumo Logic, Cloudflare, New Relic, and 200+ other observability and data platforms
Tech stack
LazySizes (JavaScript libraries)
Webpack
Module Federation
RSS
Open Graph
DocuSign
WordPress (Blogs)
HSTS (Security)
Google Font API (Font scripts)
Nginx (Reverse proxies)
Varnish (Caching)
NitroPack (Caching)
PHP (Programming languages)
Apple iCloud Mail (Webmail)
Google Workspace (Email)
Fastly (CDN)
MySQL (Databases)
MariaDB (Databases)
Google Tag Manager (Tag managers)
Salesforce (CRM)
Yoast SEO (SEO)
Pantheon (PaaS)
Amazon Web Services (PaaS)
OneTrust (Cookie compliance)
Sendgrid (Email)
New Relic (RUM)
Priority Hints (Performance)
Website
Competitors
Splunk
Splunk is a destination tool for log analytics; Cribl is the pipeline that routes data TO Splunk while reducing costs.
Datadog
Datadog is an all-in-one observability platform; Cribl is vendor-agnostic middleware that reduces data sent to any destination.
Chronosphere
Chronosphere focuses on metrics optimization; Cribl covers logs, metrics, and traces across all data types.
Edge Delta
Edge Delta offers similar pipeline capabilities but with less vendor neutrality; Cribl emphasizes flexibility across any source/destination.
Axoflow
Axoflow is primarily open-source focused; Cribl provides enterprise-grade pipeline management with commercial support.
Why this matters: Cribl raised $319M in Series E from Google Ventures in August 2024, reaching a $3.5B valuation, validating that enterprises desperately need middleware to manage observability costs. The company has achieved rare unanimity among top-tier investors (Sequoia, Greylock, Google) and operates in the fast-growing observability cost crisis space—a $5B+ TAM opportunity as companies struggle with cloud waste.
Best for: Best for enterprise IT teams managing multiple observability tools and high-volume telemetry who need to reduce cloud costs and data sprawl without replacing existing tools.
Use cases
Cost Reduction for Large-Scale Log Management
A Fortune 500 financial services company sending 5TB/day of EDR logs to Splunk reduced daily volume to 2.9TB (41% reduction) using Cribl's filtering and aggregation. This directly reduced Splunk licensing costs by hundreds of thousands annually while maintaining security visibility.
Multi-Tool Data Routing and Normalization
Enterprise with logs flowing to both Splunk and Datadog uses Cribl to normalize data formats, enrich events with context, and route specific data types to appropriate tools. Eliminates manual ETL work and reduces data duplication costs.
Compliance and Data Reduction for Security Teams
Security operations center routes all EDR/SIEM data through Cribl to mask PII, filter low-value events, and route sensitive data to cold storage while keeping high-priority alerts in hot tools. Maintains compliance while cutting analytics tool costs by 40%+.
Real-Time Data Enrichment at Scale
SaaS company enriches millions of daily events with context (customer segment, account value, region) in-flight using Cribl before sending to analytics. Enables better dashboards and segmentation without ETL complexity.
Alternatives
Splunk
All-in-one observability platform; choose if you want a single vendor solution but typically more expensive for data reduction.
Datadog
Integrated observability platform with built-in data sampling; choose if you want unified UX but less flexibility in custom routing logic.
Elastic Stack
Open-source option with lower upfront costs; choose if you prefer self-managed infrastructure over SaaS pipeline.
Vector (by Timber)
Open-source data pipeline; choose if you need lightweight, code-driven routing without enterprise support.
FAQ
What does Cribl do? +
Cribl is an observability pipeline that sits between your data sources (servers, applications, cloud services) and your analytics destinations (Splunk, Datadog, etc.). It collects, filters, enriches, normalizes, and routes observability data in real-time, reducing data volumes by 25%+ to cut cloud costs. Unlike point solutions, Cribl is vendor-neutral and works with any combination of sources and destinations.
How much does Cribl cost? +
Cribl uses a credit-based model (1 credit = $1) with annual pools. For Cribl Stream Cloud: $50K/year for up to 500GB/day ingest, $84K/year for 1TB/day. Enterprise deployments range from $40K to $500K+ annually depending on data volume and features. Free tier available for testing.
What are alternatives to Cribl? +
Splunk and Datadog offer built-in data filtering but within their ecosystems. Elastic Stack is a lower-cost open-source option. Vector is a lightweight open-source alternative. Chronosphere and Edge Delta are comparable pipeline solutions but less vendor-agnostic.
Who uses Cribl? +
Enterprise IT and DevOps teams at 43 Fortune 100 companies and 130 Fortune 500 companies, including Accenture, Bayer, FINRA, SAP, Sally Beauty, Vodafone, TransUnion, and Autodesk. Typical customers have 1TB+ daily observability data and multiple analytics tools.
How does Cribl compare to Splunk? +
Splunk is a full observability platform you send data TO; Cribl is middleware that sits IN FRONT of Splunk (and Datadog, etc.) to reduce what gets sent. Cribl is 3-5x cheaper for data reduction and gives you vendor flexibility. If you need Splunk's analytics capabilities, they work together; if you just want cost savings, Cribl alone often suffices.
Can Cribl work with multiple observability tools? +
Yes, that's Cribl's core strength. Route logs to Splunk, metrics to Datadog, traces to New Relic, and archives to S3—all from one pipeline. Apply different filtering and enrichment rules per destination. This vendor-neutral approach is why enterprises choose Cribl over single-vendor solutions.
What's the typical ROI for Cribl? +
Companies typically see 25-50% reductions in observability data volume, translating to $50K-$500K+ annual savings in licensing fees, cloud infrastructure, and SaaS charges depending on scale. Most enterprises recoup the Cribl license cost within 6 months through downstream tool savings.
Tags
observability pipeline
data routing
cost optimization
telemetry
vendor-neutral
data reduction
cloud cost management