Configure access to LLMs
Elastic's AI features work with the out-of-the-box Elastic Managed LLMs or with third-party LLMs that you connect through inference endpoints or connectors.
Elastic Managed LLMs are available in Kibana deployments and serverless projects with an appropriate subscription or feature tier. They provide immediate access to generative AI features without requiring any setup or external model integration.
Elastic Managed LLMs are available out-of-the box. They do not require manual configuration or API key management. Alternatively, you can configure and use third-party LLM connectors, such as OpenAI, Azure, or Amazon Bedrock.
To learn more about security and data privacy, refer to Elastic Managed LLMs which provides details on the models.
Using Elastic Managed LLMs incurs additional costs. Refer to Elastic Cloud pricing for more information.
While you can connect to a wide range of LLMs, model performance varies by solution and use case. Refer to the following pages for performance information for models Elastic has tested:
- LLM performance matrix for Observability
- LLM performance matrix for Elastic Security
- Recommended models for Elastic Agent Builder
Models that do not appear in these resources may still work, but Elastic hasn't tested them for those scenarios. We recommend selecting a model with strong ratings for your intended use case.
The OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, Google Gemini, and AI Connector connector types are being replaced by Elasticsearch inference endpoints. To configure access to an LLM provider, create an inference endpoint with the chat_completion task type. For steps that use your own provider account and API key, refer to External inference. To use models that Elastic hosts instead, refer to Elastic Managed LLMs.
Availability of these connector types depends on your deployment and version:
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You can no longer create new connectors of these types by selecting Create connector in Kibana. Existing connectors and their rule actions continue to work, but the Connectors page hides them by default. To show them, open Display options and set Deprecated to Show. -
These connector types are still available, but deprecated.
Follow these guides to connect to one or more third-party LLM providers:
You can also use preconfigured connectors to set up third-party LLM connectors by editing the kibana.yml file. This lets you enable a connector for multiple spaces at once, without performing setup in the Kibana UI for each space.
If you use a preconfigured connector for your LLM connector, we recommend adding the exposeConfig: true parameter to the xpack.actions.preconfigured section of the kibana.yml config file. This parameter makes debugging easier by adding configuration information to the debug logs, including which LLM the connector uses.