---
title: Elasticsearch Curator
description: Similar to Index lifecycle management (ILM), Elasticsearch Curator can help you manage index lifecycles. If ILM provides the functionality to manage your...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4236/manage-data/lifecycle/curator
---

# Elasticsearch Curator
Similar to Index lifecycle management (ILM), Elasticsearch Curator can help you manage index lifecycles. **If ILM provides the functionality to manage your index lifecycle and you have at least a Basic license, use ILM instead of Curator.** Many Elastic Stack components use ILM by default.
If you're looking for additional functionality for managing your index lifecycle, you can read more about how Elasticsearch Curator may help in [Curator index management](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/curator/tree/main/reference).