Why do we need telegraf when using statsd

Question

I see the combination statsd + telegraf + influxdb used all the time.

• Statsd collects, aggregates and forwards metrics
• Telegraf aggregates and forwards metrics

Why not use just the statsd (without telegraf) to aggregate and forward metrics? What is the added benefit of including telegraf?

Gorman

telegraf is a plugin based solution and has 4 concepts of distinct plugins. github.com/influxdata/telegraf/tree/master/plugins (See plugins for inputs and output). Due to the capabilities telegraf provides (T under TICK stack), it's better to use a plugin based solution. Telegraf also collects metrics using it's core or available input plugins. – Fret

Answer 1

The last update to Etsy's statsd project was in 2016. One advantage of using telegraf is that it is an active project. Since telegraf has a Statsd plugin, it's possible that you don't need both.

Reader

The statsd plugin doesn't replace statsd does it? Doesn't it just allow statsd to pipe information into telegraf? Maybe it does actually replace it... – Scrutiny

Statsd latest commit was on Aug 27, 2020. Just saying that is not this old. – Corbel

StatsD appears to be actively maintained in 2023 – Drud