OpenSearch dashboard vs. Kibana? Do we need Kibana?

Amazon OpenSearch Service provides OpenSearch Dashboards as its primary visualization tool, which is essentially the AWS alternative to Kibana. Here's what you need to know:

1. OpenSearch Dashboards vs Kibana:

   • OpenSearch Dashboards is the open-source visualization tool designed to work with OpenSearch.
   • Kibana was the visualization tool used with Elasticsearch (the predecessor to OpenSearch).

2. Transition from Kibana to OpenSearch Dashboards:

   • When Amazon renamed their Elasticsearch Service to OpenSearch Service, they also transitioned from Kibana to OpenSearch Dashboards.
   • For domains running OpenSearch, the endpoint changed from /_plugin/kibana to /_dashboards.

3. Do you need Kibana with OpenSearch 1.x or 2.x?

   • No, you don't need Kibana if you're using OpenSearch 1.x or 2.x.
   • OpenSearch Dashboards is provided with every OpenSearch Service domain and is designed to work seamlessly with OpenSearch.
   • OpenSearch Dashboards offers similar functionality to Kibana, allowing you to visualize your data and create interactive dashboards.

4. Backwards Compatibility:

   • For domains running legacy Elasticsearch (version 7.10 and earlier), Kibana is still available.
   • If you upgrade from Elasticsearch to OpenSearch, your visualization tool will automatically transition to OpenSearch Dashboards.

In summary, if you're using Amazon OpenSearch Service with OpenSearch 1.x or 2.x, you'll be using OpenSearch Dashboards as your visualization tool, and you won't need Kibana. OpenSearch Dashboards provides the functionality you need for data visualization and exploration in your OpenSearch environment.

Sources
Using Dashboards (co-located with cluster) with Amazon OpenSearch Service - Amazon OpenSearch Service
Open-Source Search Engine - Amazon OpenSearch Service Features - AWS
Amazon OpenSearch Service rename - Summary of changes - Amazon OpenSearch Service