# Input Plugins

Fluentd has nine (9) types of plugins:

* [Input](https://docs.fluentd.org/input)
* [Parser](https://docs.fluentd.org/parser)
* [Filter](https://docs.fluentd.org/filter)
* [Output](https://docs.fluentd.org/output)
* [Formatter](https://docs.fluentd.org/formatter)
* [Storage](https://docs.fluentd.org/storage)
* [Service Discovery](https://docs.fluentd.org/service_discovery)
* [Buffer](https://docs.fluentd.org/buffer)
* [Metrics](https://docs.fluentd.org/metrics)

This article gives an overview of the Input Plugin.

## Overview

Input plugins extend Fluentd to retrieve and pull event logs from the external sources. An input plugin typically creates a thread, socket, and a listening socket. It can also be written to periodically pull data from the data sources.

## List of Input Plugins

* [`in_tail`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/tail)
* [`in_forward`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/forward)
* [`in_udp`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/udp)
* [`in_tcp`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/tcp)
* [`in_unix`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/unix)
* [`in_http`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/http)
* [`in_syslog`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/syslog)
* [`in_exec`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/exec)
* [`in_sample`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/sample)
* [`in_windows_eventlog`](https://docs.fluentd.org/input/windows_eventlog)

## Other Input Plugins

Refer to this list of available plugins to find out about other Input plugins:

* [Fluentd plugins](http://fluentd.org/plugin/)

If this article is incorrect or outdated, or omits critical information, please [let us know](https://github.com/fluent/fluentd-docs-gitbook/issues?state=open). [Fluentd](http://www.fluentd.org/) is an open-source project under [Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)](https://cncf.io/). All components are available under the Apache 2 License.