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Elastic Security vs Security Onion comparison

Elastic and Security Onion Solutions, LLC are both solutions in the Log Management category. Elastic is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.5, while Security Onion Solutions, LLC is ranked #23 with an average rating of 7.0. Elastic holds a 3.0% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Security Onion Solutions, LLC’s 3.1% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of Elastic users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 66% of Security Onion Solutions, LLC users who would recommend it.
Elastic Security
Read 66 Elastic Security reviews
  • 11,636 Views
  • 5,469 Comparison Views
86% willing to recommend
Security Onion
Read 3 Security Onion reviews
  • 7,830 Views
  • 6,577 Comparison Views
66% willing to recommend
 

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.

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To learn more, read our detailed Elastic Security vs. Security Onion Report (Updated: February 2026).
Buyer's Guide
Elastic Security vs. Security Onion
February 2026
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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
9th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (5th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (15th), Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (7th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (8th)
Security Onion
Ranking in Log Management
23rd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Elastic Security is 3.0%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Security Onion is 3.1%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Elastic Security3.0%
Security Onion3.1%
Other93.9%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Laurentiu Popescu - PeerSpot reviewer
Laurentiu Popescu
Chief Product Officer at ClusterPower
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
Anish Bajracharya - PeerSpot reviewer
Anish Bajracharya
Postgraduate at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Provides good threat hunting by finding infected ports, but its initial setup is difficult
The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports. I have used the Squert tool within Security Onion the most for threat hunting The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult. I have been using Security Onion for one year.…
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

"It is an extremely stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature for me is Discover."
"Elastic provides the capability to index quickly due to the reverse indexes it offers. This data is crucial as it contains critical information. The reverse index allows fast data indexing because of Elastic's efficient search engine."
"It's not very complicated to install Elastic."
"Enables monitoring of application performance and the ability to predict behaviors."
"What customers found most valuable in Elastic Security feature-wise is the search capability, in particular, the way of writing the search query and the speed of searching for results."
"The most valuable feature is the scalability. We are in Indonesia, more engineers understand Elastic Security here. So it is easier to scale and also develop. In features, the discovery to query all the logs is very important to us. It is very easy, especially with the query function and the feature to generate alerts and create tools. Sometimes we use the alert security dashboard to monitor our clients."
"The solution has a good community surrounding it for lots of helpful documentation for troubleshooting purposes."
More Elastic Security pros
"Security Onion is the most mature solution in the market."
"We use Security Onion for internal vulnerability assessment."
"The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports."
 

Cons

"Anything that supports high availability or ease of deployment in a highly available environment would help to improve this solution."
"This type of monitoring is not very mature just yet. We need more real-time information in a way that's easier to manage."
"I want to find an automatic security system in the tool, like a SOAR solution. I am looking forward to seeing a SOAR system in the tool."
"Upgrades currently released as stacks when it should be a plugin or an extension to save removal and reinstallation."
"An area for improvement in Elastic Security is the pricing. It could be better. Right now, when you increase the volume of logs to be collected, the price also increases a lot."
"Email notification should be done the same way as Logentries does it."
"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)."
"Elastic Security consumes a lot of resources, requiring a substantial deployment setup."
More Elastic Security cons
"Security Onion's user interface could be improved."
"The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult."
"The product is not easy to learn."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared to other products such as Dynatrace, this is one of the cheaper options."
"The solution is not expensive and costs around ten dollars a month."
"I find it better than Splunk in terms of cost-effectiveness. For cost-effectiveness, I would rate it a nine out of 10."
"The price is reasonable. It probably costs the same as ArcSight and LogRhythm SIEM. FortiSIEM might cost less than Elastic Security. There are no hidden or additional costs."
"It's a monthly cost with Elastic SIEM, but I am not sure of the exact cost."
"Its price is fine. Its licensing works on a yearly basis. We have to renew the license every year. I also have a good experience with Darktrace. When we buy Darktrace, we get training free of cost, which is not there in Elastic. We have to pay extra for training. There is certainly room for improvement."
"We use the open-source version, so there is no charge for this solution."
"The pricing is in the middle. I think it is not an expensive experience if we compare it with big names, for example, QRadar, and also Oxide. I think Elastic Security is quite cheap. I would rate the pricing of this solution a five out of ten."
More Elastic Security pricing and cost advice
"Security Onion is an open-source solution."
"Security Onion is a free solution."
"It is an open-source solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
12%
Government
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business40
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise15
No data available
 

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 do you like most about Elastic Security?
Elastic provides the capability to index quickly due to the reverse indexes it offers. This data is crucial as it contains critical information. The reverse index allows fast data indexing because ...
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 do you like most about Security Onion?
The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Security Onion?
Security Onion is an open-source solution. On a scale from one to ten, where ten is expensive and one is cheap, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Security Onion?
The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult.
See all answers
 

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Elastic Stack vs Security Onion Logo
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Compared 12% of the time
Splunk Enterprise Security vs Security Onion Logo
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Compared 9% of the time
Graylog Enterprise vs Security Onion Logo
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Compared 1% of the time
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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Elastic Security
February 2026
Elastic Security reportDownload Elastic Security product report
Buyer's Guide
Log Management
February 2026
Security Onion reportDownload Security Onion product report
 

Also Known As

Elastic SIEM, ELK Logstash
No data available
 

Overview

Elastic Security is a robust, open-source security solution designed to offer integrated threat prevention, detection, and response capabilities across an organization's entire digital estate. Part of the Elastic Stack (which includes Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana), Elastic Security leverages the power of search, analytics, and data aggregation to provide real-time insight into threats and vulnerabilities. It is a comprehensive platform that supports a wide range of security needs, from endpoint protection to cloud and network security, making it a versatile choice for organizations looking to enhance their cybersecurity posture.


Elastic Security combines the features of a security information and event management (SIEM) system with endpoint protection, allowing organizations to detect, investigate, and respond to threats in real time. This unified approach helps reduce complexity and improve the efficiency of security operations.

Additional offerings and benefits:

  • The platform utilizes advanced analytics, machine learning algorithms, and anomaly detection to identify threats and suspicious activities.
  • It offers extensive integration options with other tools and platforms, facilitating a more cohesive and comprehensive security ecosystem.
  • With Kibana, users gain access to powerful visualization tools and dashboards that provide real-time insight into security data.

Finally, Elastic Security benefits from a global community of users who contribute to its threat intelligence, helping to enhance its detection capabilities. This collaborative approach ensures that the solution remains on the cutting edge of cybersecurity, with up-to-date information on the latest threats and vulnerabilities.

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
February 2026
Free Report: Elastic Security vs. Security Onion
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