Elastic Security vs Security Onion comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Elastic and Security Onion Solutions, LLC are both solutions in the Log Management category. Elastic is ranked #13 with an average rating of 9.0, while Security Onion Solutions, LLC is ranked #22 with an average rating of 8.0. Elastic holds a 3.4% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Security Onion Solutions, LLC’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of Elastic users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Security Onion Solutions, LLC users who would recommend it.

Elastic Security

Read 66 Elastic Security reviews

22,054 Views
9,924 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Security Onion

Read 7 Security Onion reviews

8,264 Views
6,281 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Elastic Security

Security Onion

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Elastic Security and Security Onion are competitive solutions in the network security monitoring category. Elastic Security holds the upper hand with flexible pricing and robust support, while Security Onion offers superior features that justify its cost according to user reviews.

Features: Elastic Security is recognized for its integration capabilities, comprehensive threat detection, and flexible pricing. Security Onion is valued for its open-source flexibility, community-driven enhancements, and extensive customization potential.

Room for Improvement: Elastic Security could enhance its configuration process and alerting mechanisms while improving visualization tools could benefit Security Onion. Users also suggest reducing setup complexity for Security Onion and enhancing Elastic Security usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Elastic Security offers a smoother deployment experience with quicker setup, while Security Onion requires more technical expertise. Security Onion has strong community support, but Elastic Security users report higher satisfaction with customer service effectiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Elastic Security's pricing is competitive, appealing to broader budgets, while Security Onion provides better long-term value through its comprehensive feature set despite initial costs. Elastic Security's pricing model is more accessible, but Security Onion delivers high ROI with its extensive capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Elastic Security vs. Security Onion Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Security vs. Security Onion

September 2026

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Helped 918,169 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Elastic Security

Ranking in Log Management

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (11th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (23rd), Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (10th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (13th)

Security Onion

Ranking in Log Management

22nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Elastic Security is 3.4%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Security Onion is 1.6%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Elastic Security	3.4%
Security Onion	1.6%
Other	95.0%

Log Management

Featured Reviews

Laurentiu Popescu

Cyber Security Lead at Orange

Has improved threat detection with deep log analysis and streamlined investigation workflows

The most useful features I find in Elastic Security are the forensic ones that allow us to carry deeper analysis into the logs for in-depth investigations, and the dashboards, with the reporting dashboard being quite user-friendly. Elastic Security is quite good at identifying threats, as it is part of the deep investigation tool that I mentioned before. Unless we need to look further into a certain log, we can carry out a deeper analysis and forensics on those particular logs. I can assess the impact of Elastic Security's real-time data analysis on our threat response efficiency as working pretty good. We are looking for real-time analysis because we have a continuous inflow of logs from different sources: from our cloud, from Active Directory, from our network. So it works pretty well.

Read full review

Matthew Sexton

Help Desk

Hands-on monitoring has built my threat detection skills and now supports my graduate research

The biggest challenges I have experienced with Security Onion are the learning curve and resource requirements, as it is not necessarily something you can install and immediately understand without networking and Linux knowledge. I actually encountered an HTTP 500 error with the management interface recently, which required troubleshooting and expanding my storage, showing me how important storage planning and system maintenance are when running Security Onion. What I would improve about Security Onion is probably the documentation around troubleshooting common issues, particularly storage management, and making the interface more approachable for new users. Having documentation of what works best would help, especially since you can have nodes or have it all built-in one as a standalone. If you use nodes, you have to have several different Security Onion instances downloaded, then have a manager and connect all of them together.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the ability to collect authentication information from service providers."

"The intelligence of the system has been very impressive. It's not quite AI, but the technical bit where it correlates information, based on the seen attacks within an organization is good."

"This solution helps us because we can find all of the logs in one place."

"My advice to anybody who is considering this product is that it is a very competitive tool that is very new in the market and the vendor is doing their best to improve services."

"The solution is free."

"The most valuable features of Elastic Security are it is open-source and provides a high level of security."

"Elastic Security is very easy to adapt."

"The cost is reasonable. It's not overly pricey."

More Elastic Security pros

"Security Onion is a completely open-source and free platform, making it a cost-effective solution that works smoothly and effectively for our organization."

"Security Onion has positively impacted my organization by enabling students to analyze logs, understand network traffic, comprehend intrusion detection, and utilize threat hunting and incident response skills in a practical environment, which are best practices we have implemented with the students."

"Security Onion brings these tools together in one platform, making it easier to investigate security events and understand what's happening across the network."

"The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports."

"We use Security Onion for internal vulnerability assessment."

"What I appreciate most about Security Onion is that it combines multiple security monitoring tools into one platform."

"Security Onion is the most mature solution in the market."

Cons

"The problem with ELK is it's difficult to administer. When you have a problem, it can be very, very difficult to rebuild indexes."

"Elastic has one problem. In the past, Elastic Security was free. Now, they currently only offer the basic license or a certain period of time."

"Because of the notification issue we moved to Logentries, as it provides a simple way to get notification whenever a server encounters an error or something unexpected happens (which we have defined using Regex)."

"Its documentation should be a bit better. I have to spend at least a couple of hours to find the solution for a simple thing. When we buy Elastic, training is not included for free with Elastic. We have to pay extra for the training. They should include training in the price."

"The solution needs to be more reactive to investigations. We need to be able to detect and prevent any attacks before it can damage our infrastructure. Currently, this solution doesn't offer that."

"Elastic Security's maintenance is hard and its scalability is a challenge. There are complications in scaling and upgrading. The solution needs to also provide periodic upgrade checks."

"We set up a cron job to delete old logs so that we wouldn't hit a disk space issue. Such a feature should be available in the UI, where old logs can be deleted automatically. (Don’t know if this feature is already there)."

"The tool should improve its scalability."

More Elastic Security cons

"The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult."

"The biggest challenges I have experienced with Security Onion are the learning curve and resource requirements, as it is not necessarily something you can install and immediately understand without networking and Linux knowledge."

"Security Onion can be made easier to set up initially, as it is somewhat difficult at the start, but once configured, it becomes a great tool to use."

"One way Security Onion could improve is by making the initial setup and configuration easier, especially for new users."

"The product is not easy to learn."

"One of the improvements for Security Onion could be to address the issue of many logs and false positive alerts by reducing the number of false positives, as storage management is very hard sometimes due to a lack of storage space for logs, and they could implement methods to expand storage."

"Security Onion's user interface could be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the free, open-source version of this solution."

"There is no charge for using the open-source version."

"The solution is not expensive and costs around ten dollars a month."

"The tool's pricing is flexible and comes at unit cost. You don't have to pay for everything."

"The solution is free."

"It is easy to deploy, easy to use, and you get everything you need to become operational with it, and have nothing further to pay unless you want the OLED plugin."

"The base product is open-source but if you need advanced security features then you need to pay for the subscription. Elastic Security's price is reasonable in some cases and in other cases it's not."

"It's a monthly cost with Elastic SIEM, but I am not sure of the exact cost."

More Elastic Security pricing and cost advice

"It is an open-source solution."

"Security Onion is a free solution."

"Security Onion is an open-source solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Comms Service Provider

12%

University

11%

Government

10%

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	40
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	15

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

Datadog vs ELK: which one is good in terms of performance, cost and efficiency?

With Datadog, we have near-live visibility across our entire platform. We have seen APM metrics impacted several times lately using the dashboards we have created with Datadog; they are very good c...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Elastic Security?

I am satisfied with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing cost. It is a pure 10.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Elastic Security?

I do not have any specific recommendations for improvements in Elastic Security, but I feel that the AI module should get more mature. These machine learning algorithms become better with time; as ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Security Onion?

Security Onion does not require any cost, as it is open-source and free.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Security Onion?

Security Onion can be made easier to set up initially, as it is somewhat difficult at the start, but once configured, it becomes a great tool to use. I assigned a rating of eight out of ten because...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Security Onion?

Security Onion is a completely open-source and free platform, making it a cost-effective solution that works smoothly and effectively for our organization. Security Onion integrates well with our e...

See all answers

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Compared 3% of the time

Microsoft Sentinel vs Elastic Security

Compared 2% of the time

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Wazuh vs Security Onion

Compared 22% of the time

Elastic Stack vs Security Onion

Compared 7% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Security Onion

Compared 6% of the time

LogRhythm SIEM vs Security Onion

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft Purview Audit vs Security Onion

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Security

October 2026

Download Elastic Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Log Management

October 2026

Download Security Onion product report

Also Known As

Elastic SIEM, ELK Logstash

No data available

Overview

Elastic Security stands out for its speed, scalability, and intuitive interface. It integrates seamlessly with Elasticsearch and Kibana, providing efficient data indexing, centralized log management, and intelligent threat identification, all while being open-source.

Elastic Security offers robust capabilities in security monitoring, threat identification, and SIEM functionalities. Its open-source nature enhances scalability, facilitating log aggregation and infrastructure monitoring. Users appreciate the intuitive dashboards and machine learning integration, which aid in proactive security measures and anomaly detection. Despite its strengths, improvements are needed in documentation, scalability, and configuration complexity. High data volume pricing and limited machine learning support are concerns, while dashboard enhancement and seamless integration with existing systems are desirable. The platform is widely used for alerting suspicious activities, analyzing logs from firewalls and Active Directory, and providing endpoint protection. It serves as a key tool for security awareness and auditing, integrating effectively with technologies like Kibana and OpenShift.

What are the most notable features of Elastic Security?

Speed and Scalability: Quickly processes large volumes of data with ease.
Intuitive Interface: Provides a user-friendly experience for efficient navigation and management.
Centralized Log Management: Consolidates logs for easier monitoring and analysis.
Threat Identification: Intelligent features help detect and alert potential threats.
Machine Learning Integration: Applies advanced analytics to identify anomalies.

What benefits or ROI should be considered in reviews?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Flexibility: Adapts to diverse IT environments and security needs.
Forensic Capabilities: Enables detailed security analysis and incident response.
Community Support: Leverages a broad community for shared insights and assistance.

Organizations deploy Elastic Security across industries for log aggregation and security monitoring, detecting unauthorized access, and analyzing system logs. It is essential for infrastructure monitoring and integrates effectively with systems such as Fluentd and OpenShift, supporting comprehensive security views across enterprise environments.

Elastic

Security Onion is an open-source Linux distribution for intrusion detection, network security monitoring, and log management. It offers comprehensive solutions for enterprises seeking to enhance their cybersecurity infrastructure.

Security Onion provides a full suite of tools to detect and respond to cybersecurity threats efficiently. As a robust and versatile distribution, it includes capabilities for real-time analysis, network visibility, and threat detection, making it indispensable for security operations centers. Users value this tool for its integration of open-source software with advanced analytics, affording professionals a detailed overview of network traffic and potential intrusions.

What are Security Onion’s most important features?

Intrusion Detection: Utilizes Suricata or Zeek for effective threat monitoring.
Network Security Monitoring: Offers powerful visualization tools for network analysis.
Log Management: Centralizes log collection and analysis.
Comprehensive Dashboards: Provides integrated dashboards for threat visibility.

What benefits or ROI should you look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Reduced cybersecurity costs due to its open-source nature.
Improved Threat Detection: Enhanced ability to identify and respond to threats quickly.
Integration Capability: Seamless integration with existing security infrastructures.
Scalability: Support for scaling network security operations as needed.

Security Onion finds extensive application in industries such as finance, healthcare, and government sectors, where robust network monitoring is critical. Its ability to integrate with existing security tools makes it a preferred choice for organizations looking to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.

Security Onion Solutions, LLC

Sample Customers

Texas A&M, U.S. Air Force, NuScale Power, Martin's Point Health Care

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Security vs. Security Onion

September 2026

Free Report: Elastic Security vs. Security Onion

Find out what your peers are saying about Elastic Security vs. Security Onion and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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