Top 10 NodeJS Logging Library In 2024

Looking for the best NodeJS Logging Library to boost your workflow? Then, stop right here and check out the best Node JS library for NodeJS.

Logging vs tracing

In the realm of application troubleshooting, developers have the capacity to pinpoint the root cause of major malfunctions by consulting a stack trace. However, relying solely on stack traces presents an incomplete perspective.

The act of tracing offers insights into an application’s execution dynamics, encompassing the trajectory of requests, interactions with databases, calls to external APIs, and metrics gauging performance – a trove of valuable information. In essence, traces furnish the means to comprehend an application’s behavior at a meticulous level, unveiling performance bottlenecks in the process.

Conversely, the complementary aspect is fulfilled by logging. This entails the procedure of documenting messages and incidents tied to an application, ranging from errors and warnings to performance metrics and debugging particulars.

In the context of Node.js, logging plays a pivotal role in diagnosing problems, assimilating user patterns, and refining the general stability and efficiency of an application. It also creates a chronicle of an application’s activities, allowing developers to spot and troubleshoot issues, thereby facilitating more judicious decision-making.

Why use the NodeJS logging library?

There are several reasons why you should use Node.js logging libraries:

1. Improved debugging – logging libraries provide detailed information about errors and issues, allowing developers to diagnose and fix problems more efficiently.
2. Enhanced visibility – logging provides a clear view of the behavior and performance of an application, allowing developers to make informed decisions and improve the system.
3. Better performance – You can optimize the logging libraries for better performance. It reduces the overhead of logging and improves the overall performance of the system.
4. Centralized logging – many logging libraries allow logs to be written to a centralized log server, making it easier to collect, view, and analyze log data.
5. Customization – logging libraries are highly customizable. This helps to meet specific needs, such as custom log levels, output formats, and filters.

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Now, let’s start the list of the best NodeJS Logging Libraries.

Logging levels

Logging levels are a way to categorize the importance or severity of log messages. Typically, there are several levels, ranging from critical errors to informational messages, and each level is associated with a numerical value that can be used to filter log messages in a library. Here are the most common levels:

• FATAL log level
• ERROR log level
• WARN log level
• INFO log level
• DEBUG log level

The Best NodeJS Logging Library:

From a high-level perspective, Node.js logging is important because it helps developers track the events and performance of their applications, diagnose and fix issues, monitor system behavior, and make informed decisions.

Logging provides a record of the activity of an application, allowing developers to identify and debug problems, understand user behavior, and improve the overall performance and stability of the system.

Logging can also be helpful in production environments for detecting and fixing errors, monitoring system performance, and detecting security incidents. It is also advisable to use the NodeJS Microservice Framework while working on the NodeJS project.

Now, let’s check the list now.

Winston NodeJS Logging Library

Winston is a popular NodeJS Logging Library. It is a simple and universal logging library with support for multiple transports. A transport is essentially a storage device for your logs. Each winston logger can have multiple transports configured at different Logging levels. For example, one may want error logs to be stored in a persistent remote location (like a database), but all logs output to the console or a local file.

Besides, it aims to decouple parts of the logging process to make it more flexible and extensible. Attention is given to supporting flexibility in log formatting and using custom logging levels, and ensuring those APIs decoupled from the implementation of transport logging (i.e. how the logs are stored/indexed, see: Adding Custom Transports) to the API that they exposed to the programmer.

Features:

• JSON format: it creates JSON logs, which are easier to parse, sort, or filter
• Multiple transports: Winston can send logs to files, databases, the console, or tools like AWS CloudWatch or Graylog
• Supports child loggers
• Allows you to query logs
• Supports Node.js streams
• It supports creating custom levels

How To Get Started With Winston?

• NPM install

npm install winston

• Import in your nodeJS code

const winston = require('winston');

• Configure & create logging Instances

const logger = winston.createLogger({
level: 'info',
format: winston.format.json(),
transports: [
new winston.transports.Console()
]
});

• This creates a logger instance with an info level and a console transport. You can use this logger instance to log messages in your application, for example:

logger.info('Hello There');

This will log the message Hello There to the console with the info log level.

Check the official guide for further guidance.

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Pino NodeJS Logging Library

Pino is a library that is one of the best loggers for Node.js applications. It is open source, extremely fast, and logs the statements in an easy-to-read JSON format. Some of the Pino log levels are – debug, warn, error, and info messages. Besides, you can import a Pino logger into the project, and replace the console.log statements with logger.info statements.

Besides, this popular and lightweight logging package for Node.js applications boasts fast performance and low overhead, as stated in their benchmarks.

Furthermore, this NodeJS Logging library supports multiple transport types, easily extended with custom transports. One of Pino’s key features is its ability to log JSON-formatted messages, which makes them easy to parse and analyze. Like this nodejs logging library, we suggest using the best NodeJS Monitoring tools to speed up your development process.

Features:

• Transports: you can use Pino to send logs to files, the console, or tools like Sentry, Azure Application Insights, CouchDB, etc. See Pino’s Known Transports section for more details.
• Web frameworks support: Pino has modules that support logging in popular Node.js web frameworks, such as Express, Fastify, Hapi, etc.
• Browser API: Pino can be helpful for logging in the browser environment
• Creating child loggers
• Pretty printed with the pino-pretty module

How To Get Started With Pino?

• NPM Installation

npm install pino

• Import

const pino = require('pino');

• Create a logger to initialize Pino

const logger = pino({
  level: 'info'
});

This script produces logs with a logging level of INFO and above on the console.

For further guidance, you can refer to the official documentation.

Signale NodeJS Logging Library

Signale consists of 19 loggers for Javascript applications. It supports TypeScript and scoped logging. It consists of timers that help log the timestamp, data, and filename. One can create custom logs from the 19 loggers like await, complete, fatal, fav, info, etc.

You can create custom logs by defining a JSON object and fields with the logger data. You can also create Interactive loggers. When you set an interactive logger to true, new values from interactive loggers override the old ones.

The best part of Signale is the ability to filter out secretive or sensitive information. You can store multiple secrets in an array. addSecrets() and clearSecrets() are the functions that are helpful for adding and clearing the secrets from the array. Boostnote, Docz, Shower, Taskbook, and Vant use Signale for logging.

Features:

• Customizable log outputs including console, JSON, and Logfmt
• Intuitive API for easy usage and comprehension
• Styled output for improved readability and visual appeal
• Rich log context with timestamps and log levels for better analysis
• The active community of developers and contributors ensures ongoing maintenance and updates.

How To Get Started With Signale?

• Install is NPM or Yarn

npm install signale
yarn add signale

• Import Signale

const signale = require('signale');

• Create log

// Log an info message
signale.info('Starting up the server');

// Log a success message
signale.success('Server started successfully');

// Log a warning message
signale.warn('Low memory warning');

// Log an error message
signale.error(new Error('An error occurred while processing data'));

For further guidance, check the official documentation.

Morgan NodeJS Logging Library

Morgan is a logging tool (middleware) that can help in HTTP server implementation using Express & Node.js. It can be helpful to log requests, errors, and more to the console.

Features:

• Versatile request and response logger for Express apps
• Runs as middleware
• Simple to use
• Custom formats
• Split/dual logging

How To Get Started With Morgan?

• NPM Install

$ npm install morgan

Create a new morgan logger middleware function using the given format and options.

The format argument may be a string of a predefined name (see below for the names), a string of a format string, or a function that will produce a log entry.

The format the function will be called with three arguments tokens, req, and res, where tokens is an object with all defined tokens, req is the HTTP request and res is the HTTP response. The function is expected to return a string that will be the log line, or undefined / null to skip logging.

• Using a predefined format string

morgan('tiny')

• Using format string of predefined tokens:

morgan(':method :url :status :res[content-length] - :response-time ms')

For further guidance, check the official guide.

Bunyan

Bunyan is a lightweight logging tool for node.js that facilitates fast logging in JSON format. It offers a Command Line Interface (CLI) tool for convenient log viewing along with its logging capabilities. Bunyan is compatible with various runtime environments such as Node.js, Browserify, WebPack, and NW.js.

To enhance readability, Bunyan incorporates a pretty printing function that beautifies the JSON-formatted logs. The logs are categorized into different levels, including fatal, error, warn, info, debug, and trace, each assigned a corresponding numeric value.

All log levels above the set level for a particular instance are recorded. Bunyan utilizes a logging stream to capture and store the log outputs. Additionally, application subcomponents can be logged individually using the log.child() function. These child loggers are associated with a specific parent application, ensuring organization and clarity.

Furthermore, Bunyan offers support for DTrace logging, utilizing probes such as log-trace, log-warn, log-error, log-info, log-debug, and log-fatal. The use of serializers enables Bunyan to generate logs in JSON format. These serializer functions are designed defensively and do not throw exceptions, ensuring reliable and consistent log production.

Features:

• elegant log method API
• extensible streams system for controlling where log records go (to a stream, to a file, log file rotation, etc..)
• bunyan CLI for pretty-printing and filtering of Bunyan logs
• simple include of log call source location (file, line, function) with src: true
• lightweight specialization of Logger instances with log.child
• custom rendering of logged objects with “serializers”
• Runtime log snooping via DTrace support
• Support for a few runtime environments: Node.js, Browserify, Webpack, NW.js.

How To Get Started With Bunyan?

• NPM Install

npm install -g bunyan

• ImportBunyan

const bunyan = require('bunyan');

• Create logger

const logger = bunyan.createLogger({
name: 'app-name',
level: 'info'
});

• Log Message

logger.info('This is an info log message');
logger.warn('This is a warn log message');
logger.error('This is an error log message');

• Run your code & you will see the logged message

For further help, refer to the official guide.

Log4js

Log4js-node is a powerful NodeJS logging library that offers an efficient and flexible solution for managing logs in applications. With its comprehensive features and intuitive API, Log4js-node simplifies the process of logging events, errors, and debugging information.

Besides, it supports multiple output formats, including console, file, and database, allowing developers to customize their log output according to their specific requirements. Log4js-node also provides advanced functionalities such as log levels, log rolling, and log filtering, enabling developers to effectively monitor and troubleshoot their applications.

With its active community support and regular updates, Log4js-node is a reliable choice for implementing robust logging mechanisms in Node.js applications.

Features:

• colored console logging to stdout or stderr
• file appender, with configurable log rolling based on file size or date
• a logger for connect/express servers
• configurable log message layout/patterns
• different log levels for different log categories (make some parts of your app log as DEBUG, others only ERRORS, etc.)

How To Get Started With Log4JS?

• NPM Install

npm install log4js

• Import it in your node js code

const log4js = require('log4js');

• Create a log

log4js.configure({
appenders: {
console: {
type: 'console'
}
},
categories: {
default: { appenders: ['console'], level: 'info' }
}
});

const logger = log4js.getLogger();

• Log message

logger.trace('Entering cheese testing');
logger.debug('Got cheese.');
logger.info('Cheese is Gouda.');
logger.warn('Cheese is quite smelly.');
logger.error('Cheese is too ripe!');
logger.fatal('Cheese was breeding ground for listeria.');

Loglevel

Loglevel is another best nodejs logging library. Besides, this Node.js logging library is lightweight and simple. It logs the given level and uses a single file with no dependencies for logging. The default log level is “warn.” The log outputs are well formatted along with line numbers. Some methods used for logging are trace, debug, warn, error, and info.

They are resilient to failure in any environment. getLogger() is the method used to retrieve the logger object. You can combine it with other plugins as well to extend its features. Some of the plugins include loglevel-plugin-prefix, loglevel-plugin-remote, ServerSend, and DEBUG.

Features:

• Minimal code footprint
• Dynamic logging levels
• Simple API
• Browser compatibility
• Cross-platform compatibility

How To Get Started With LogLevel?

• NPM Install

npm install loglevel

• Import Logleven in your NodeJS project

const log = require('loglevel');

• Create log

log.setLevel(log.levels.ERROR);

By setting the log level to ERROR, you are specifying that only log messages with a severity level of ERROR will be logged. After setting the log level, you can use the following methods to log messages at different levels:

log.trace('This is a trace message');
log.debug('This is a debug message');
log.info('This is an info message');
log.warn('This is a warning message');
log.error('This is an error message');

The log level you set will determine which messages will be logged and which will be ignored. For example, if the log level is set to info, only messages logged using log.info and log.warn or log.error will be displayed.

Tracer

Tracer is useful for producing detailed logging messages. Logging messages consist of timestamps, file names, line numbers, and method names. Helper packages can be installed to customize the output logging format.

Besides, this nodejs logging library supports file, stream, and MongoDB transport. It supports color console and filter conditions in logging. Initially, you need to install the tracer using npm install. Next, you will need to create a logger object and select the kind of console. Then, the various log levels or types can be specified over the object for further logging.

You can also create customized filters by defining synchronous functions with the business logic present in the function body. Micro-templates like tinytim also can be helpful for system logging.

Features:

• Asynchronous logging
• Structured logging
• Customizable output
• Rich Logging context
• Middleware support

How To Get Started With tRACER?

• Install NPM

npm install tracer

• Import

const tracer = require('tracer');

• Create a logger & log an informational message:

const logger = tracer.console();
logger.info('Starting the application...');

For further information, check the official guide.

Roarr

Roarr is a logger for Node.js that doesn’t require initialization and produces structured data. It has CLI and environmental variables. Besides, it is browser compatible. Therefore, you can integrate it with Fastify, Fastify, Elastic Search, etc.

Furthermore, It can distinguish between application code and dependency code. Every log message consists of a context, message, sequence, time, and version. Various log levels include trace, debug, info, warn, error, and fatal.

Also, serialization of errors can be done, meaning the instance with the error can be logged along with the context of the object. Some of the environment variables which is specific to Node.js and Roarr are ROARR_LOG and ROARR_STREAM. “adopt” is a function that is used with node.js to pass down the context properties to various levels. Child functions can be helpful with middleware, too, while logging.

Features:

• Does not block the event cycle (=fast).
• Does not require initialization.
• Produces structured data.
• Decouples transports.
• Has a CLI program.
• Works in Node.js and browser.
• Configurable using environment variables.

How To Get Started With tRACER?

• NPM Install

npm install roarr

• Import in your node js code

const Roarr = require('roarr').default;

• Create A Logger & log a message. Thereafter, logs will be output to the console.

const logger = new Roarr({
context: {
service: 'my-service'
}
});
logger.info('Hello, There!');

For further guidance refer to the official documentation.

Npmlog

Npmlog is a basic type of logger that npm uses. Some of the logging methods used are level, record, maxRecordSize, prefixStyle, heading, and stream. It also supports colored logging. The various logging levels are silly, verbose, info, warn, HTTP, and error.

All messages are suppressed if “Infinity” is specified as the log level. If “-Infinity” is specified as the log level, the option to see logging messages has to be enabled to see the logs.

This NodeJS logging library uses Events and messages for logging. Prefix messages are emitted when prefix events are used. Style objects are helpful for formatting the logs, like adding color to text and background, and font styles like bold, italics, underline, etc. Some npm log packages are brolog, npmlogger, npmdate log, etc.

Features:

• Lightweight logging library for Node.js
• Configurable log levels
• Multiple log streams (console, files, custom streams)
• Log prefixing for identification
• Time stamping for debugging and analysis
• Log filtering based on log level
• Colored output for readability
• Dedicated error logging
• Customizable log levels and styles
• Compatible with other logging tools

How To Get Started With NpmLog?

• NPM Install

npm install npmlog

• Import it into your code

const log = require('npmlog');

• Create a log & log a message

log.level = 'verbose';

log.verbose('This is a verbose message');
log.info('This is an informational message');
log.warn('This is a warning');
log.error('This is an error');

In this example, we start by requiring the npmlog module and assigning it to a variable. Then, we set the log level to verbose, which means that messages with a log level of verbose, info, warn, and error will be displayed. We then log messages at different levels using the verbose, info, warn, and error methods.

Conclusion:

This list of the best logging libraries for Node.js apps. We created this list of NodeJS Logging Library with the goal of making it easy for you to find the one that meets your needs. If you’re looking for a fast and efficient way to debug your Node.js applications, consider using one of the libraries we discussed in this article.

If you use one of these libraries, you can rest assured you will be able to effectively monitor the health of your applications, troubleshoot and debug issues, and save important information for later use.

Each library has its own unique set of features that can help streamline your debugging process. But we do have to recommend Winston, Pino, or Bunyan due to their popularity and ease of use.

These logging libraries have proved to be invaluable when it comes to debugging Node.js applications in development and production environments.