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Graylog vs SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

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

Graylog
Ranking in Log Management
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server
Ranking in Log Management
25th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Graylog is 6.6%, up from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is 2.0%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Andrey Mostovykh - PeerSpot reviewer
Real-time analysis, easy setup, and open source
We stopped using it for analytics because of its price, and at the moment, we are using it mostly for log centralization. If you use it with high traffic for analytical purposes, as well as for the logs, the infrastructure costs are unbelievable. Graylog is a great product backed by Elasticsearch as the storage and query engine. It is just an interface on top of Elasticsearch and some Elasticsearch management. The indexes that are kept in Elasticsearch are managed by Graylog software. Elasticsearch is a decent product, but it's very infrastructure-heavy. It requires lots of resources, and if you make a mistake with provisioning, you are likely to not get a cluster back. We had a couple of outages like that, and we hated that. So, we ended up over-provisioning resources just to avoid such situations from happening. If you have a whole team trying to fix the Graylog instance for two days, that's a bit too much. That may be my Norwegian take on it, but the engineering resources are expensive. It's better to just provision the infrastructure. Overall, the product is great, and the features are just fine, but the infrastructure cost is what is killing it. The infrastructure cost is the main issue. I like the rest. If the infrastructure costs could be lower, it would be fantastic. I'm not sure if they can improve the infrastructure cost with the way Elasticsearch is. If they keep using Elasticsearch, maybe there are some opportunities there, or they can support other backends with cheaper storage. They could have a different backend to replace Elasticsearch or do some tweaks to Elasticsearch to reduce the costs. There could be partial parsing of logs or parsing on demand so that when you write data through Graylog to Elasticsearch, it doesn't need to crunch in every detail requiring that much CPU.
Muhammad Anas - PeerSpot reviewer
Shows login failures and server issues but search functions and filters could be improved
Kiwi Syslog shows login failures and server issues. I'm using version 9.8.1. It's deployed on-premises. There are four people in my organization who are using this solution. They're all infrastructure engineers The best thing about Kiwi Syslog is that it filters logs into different levels. It's…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This had increased productivity for the dev and support teams, because we are directly notifying them."
"It is used as a log manager/SIEM. It provides visibility into the infrastructure and security related events."
"The ability to write custom alerts is key to information security and compliance."
"One of the most valuable features is that you are able to do a very detailed search through the log messages in the overview."
"Storing logs in Elasticsearch means log retrieval is extremely fast, and full text search is available by default."
"We have scaled from a single machine installation (a VM with a Graylog + ES + MongoDB) to (2 Graylog + 2 ES + 3 MongoDB). This was done smoothly with a minimal impact on logging."
"UDP is a fast and lightweight protocol, perfect for sending large volumes of logs with minimal overhead."
"Open source and user friendly."
"We are very happy with the stability of the solution."
"Simplicity is the most valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is its performance and management. Additionally, the solution integrates well."
"The best thing about Kiwi Syslog is that it filters logs into different levels."
"Overall, I rate SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the alerting based on the security logs."
"The most valuable features of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server include its ability to provide network mapping and deliver information to my customers about their networks through various methods."
 

Cons

"Graylog needs to improve their authentication. Also, the fact that Graylog displays logs from the top down is just ridiculous."
"It would be great if Graylog could provide a better Python package in order to make it easier to use for the Python community."
"Elasticsearch recommendations for tuning could be better. Graylog doesn't have direct support for running the system inside of Kubernetes, so it can be challenging to fill in the gaps and set up containers in a way that is both performant and stable."
"The infrastructure cost is the main issue. I like the rest. If the infrastructure costs could be lower, it would be fantastic."
"There should be some user groups and an auto sign-in feature.​"
"I would like to see a date and time in the Graylog Grok patterns so that I can save time when searching for a log. I like how the streams and the search query work, but adding a date and time will allow me to pull out a log in a milli-second."
"More complex visualizations and the ability to execute custom Elasticsearch queries would be great."
"More customization is always useful."
"SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server could improve by reducing the price."
"SolarWinds pricing is perceived as very high in the market, which can be a barrier for many customers."
"I would like to see better search functions and better filters in the next release."
"Technical support could definitely be better."
"I would like to see a more user-friendly and customizable dashboard."
"There is a need for an on-premises solution, which could lead to easier sales in larger markets."
"I would like to have email notifications for emergency logs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Graylog is a free open-source solution. The free version has a capacity limitation of 2 GB daily, if you want to go above this you have to purchase a license."
"Consider Enterprise support if you have atypical needs or setup requirements.​"
"I use the free version of Graylog."
"There is an open source version and an enterprise version. I wouldn't recommend the enterprise version, but as an open source solution, it is solid and works really well."
"It's open source and free. They have a paid version, but we never looked into that because we never needed the features of the paid version."
"If you want something that works and do not have the money for Splunk or QRadar, take Graylog.​​"
"We are using the free version of the product. However, the paid version is expensive."
"I am using a community edition. I have not looked at the enterprise offering from Graylog."
"We subscribe and pay directly on the website."
"The price of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server could improve."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Graylog?
The product is scalable. The solution is stable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Graylog?
We are using the free version of the product. However, the paid version is expensive.
What needs improvement with Graylog?
Since it's a free tool, I don't have much to say. Troubleshooting is important to me. The initial setup is complex. I hope to see improvements in Graylog for more interactivity, user-friendliness, ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server?
SolarWinds pricing is perceived as very high in the market, which can be a barrier for many customers.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server?
The software as a service option is a challenge due to government requirements for on-premises solutions. There is a need for an on-premises solution, which could lead to easier sales in larger mar...
 

Also Known As

Graylog2
Kiwi Syslog Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Cross Blue Shield, eBay, Cisco, LinkedIn, SAP, King.com, Twilio, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Holy Cross Energy, West Texas A&M University, Medium Enterprise Industrial Manufacturing Company
Find out what your peers are saying about Graylog vs. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.