Graylog Enterprise vs Splunk Enterprise Security comparison

Graylog and Splunk are both solutions in the Log Management category. Graylog is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.0, while Splunk is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. Graylog holds a 6.0% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Splunk’s 7.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Graylog users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

Graylog Enterprise

Read 21 Graylog Enterprise reviews

8,356 Views
8,356 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Splunk Enterprise Security

Read 369 Splunk Enterprise Security reviews

23,960 Views
13,418 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Graylog Enterprise

Splunk Enterprise Security

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 8, 2025

Splunk Enterprise Security and Graylog Enterprise both operate in the domain of log management and data analytics. Based on feature depth, Splunk appears to have an upper hand, boasting extensive capabilities, especially for large-scale operations.

Features: Splunk Enterprise Security provides robust features including log aggregation, log management, and advanced threat hunting. It integrates seamlessly with various tools, supports large-scale operations, and offers comprehensive data analytics. In contrast, Graylog Enterprise focuses on simplicity and is open-source, offering core functionalities like log management and basic search capabilities, making it user-friendly and affordable.

Room for Improvement: Splunk is critiqued for its high costs, complex data processing, and the need for better user interface updates. Archival data management and AI integrations are additional areas for enhancement. Meanwhile, Graylog needs improvements in alerting and visualization capabilities, with users desiring more intuitive dashboards and flexible alert thresholds.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk supports wide-ranging deployments across on-premises and cloud setups but comes with a steep learning curve and a complex initial setup. Customer support is mixed, with reports of delays. Graylog is straightforward to deploy, especially on-premises, but relies heavily on community support, which can be challenging for users needing immediate assistance.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk's pricing is based on data volume, which can be prohibitive to smaller organizations despite extensive capabilities justifying the cost for larger entities. Graylog, being open-source, is more cost-effective, offering a reasonable ROI for smaller organizations needing efficient log management without the extensive features of Splunk.

To learn more, read our detailed Graylog Enterprise vs. Splunk Enterprise Security Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise vs. Splunk Enterprise Security

September 2025

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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

Graylog Enterprise

Ranking in Log Management

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Splunk Enterprise Security

Ranking in Log Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

369

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (1st), IT Operations Analytics (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Graylog Enterprise is 6.0%, up from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Enterprise Security is 7.7%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Splunk Enterprise Security	7.7%
Graylog Enterprise	6.0%
Other	86.3%

Log Management

Featured Reviews

Ivan Kokalovic

DevOps Engineer at Proton Technologies

Facilitates backend service monitoring with efficient log retrieval and API flexibility

Graylog is valuable because it bridges technical knowledge to non-technical teams, presenting complex backend processes in a simple timeline. It boosts the knowledge of sales and customer support teams by allowing them to see the backend operations without needing to read the code. Its API is flexible for visualization, and its powerful search engine efficiently handles large volumes of log data. Moreover, its stability, fast search capabilities, and compatibility with languages like ANSI SQL enhance its utility in IT infrastructure.

Read full review

Kyle Vernham

Threat Analyst at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Built-in searches and unified data access streamline alert investigation and boosts analyst efficiency

The two features I appreciate the most in Splunk Enterprise Security are the built-in searches, which have been very easy for us to get started with right out of the box, and the fact that it accesses all of our other systems. You can access it as a pane of glass rather than having to search individually. We also have the option to compare our analysts from our service to service. Splunk Enterprise Security helps our SOC team prioritize and investigate high-fidelity alerts more effectively by providing a more in-depth look and the ability to access a lot more of our data. Instead of jumping from several segmented systems, it allows us to have everything brought together in one place. For example, you have to move from our purview to our build system and to Splunk Enterprise Security, and it enables us to streamline that process. The built-in features of Splunk Enterprise Security, which we recently procured, have given us a good starting point and demonstrated the value of the product, providing an easy way to sell it to our company. The ease of getting everything into our purview helps us, and it serves as a good start for the investigation part in one location rather than what we usually have, which is jumping from system to system to system. Splunk Enterprise Security plays a role in our company's strategy to combat insider threats and advanced persistent threats by currently being in its technical test phase. We are still rolling it out, and it should help us find any insider threats based on information that our policy states should not be present in our system. Splunk Enterprise Security's risk-based alerting (RBA) has impacted our alert volume and analyst productivity because we've got many different systems feeding into it. However, it has helped to make it easier for our analysts to go through a set of events rather than 100 alerts. RBA allows us to streamline the process and customize it for our analysts. When it comes to leveraging Splunk Enterprise Security's dashboards and visualizations to communicate security posture to executives, it's pretty straightforward for any type of information. The visualization is easy to understand, but I haven't had any direct conversations with our executives.

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 ability to write custom alerts is key to information security and compliance."

"The best feature of Graylog is the Elasticsearch integration. We can integrate and we can run filters, such as an event of interest, and those logs we can send to any SIEM tool or as an analytic. Additionally, there are clear and well-documented implementation instructions on their website to follow if needed."

"Everything stands out as valuable, including the fact that I can quantify and qualify the logs, create pipelines and process the logs in any way I like, and create charts or data maps."

"What I like about Graylog is that it's real-time and you have access to the raw data. So, you ingest it, and you have access to every message and every data item you ingest. You can then build analytics on top of that. You can look at the raw data, and you can do some volumetric estimations, such as how big traffic you have, how many messages of data of a type you have, etc."

"Storing logs in Elasticsearch means log retrieval is extremely fast, and full text search is available by default."

"Graylog is valuable because it bridges technical knowledge to non-technical teams, presenting complex backend processes in a simple timeline."

"It is used as a log manager/SIEM. It provides visibility into the infrastructure and security related events."

"We're using the Community edition, but I know that it has really good dashboarding and alerts."

More Graylog Enterprise pros

"Splunk is extremely flexible, which allows us to create custom visualizations along with other customizations."

"Its alerting is most valuable. We have alerts set up in our environment for certain attacks, such as an SQL injection attempt. We have a front-facing server for the website. It is out there, and anybody can access it. When those SQL injection attempts come in, we are able to detect that with the alert."

"The most valuable feature of Splunk Enterprise Security is the threat intelligence integration because essentially having to go out and correlate all the data on our own becomes convoluted."

"Splunk has give us the capability to easily track problems and their status."

"The logs on the solution are excellent."

"The most valuable feature is the custom dashboard feature."

"It has the ability to correlate data, analyze and review it."

"The features of Splunk Enterprise Security that I appreciate the most include the SPL search."

More Splunk Enterprise Security pros

Cons

"Dashboards, stream alerts and parsing could be improved."

"When it comes to configuring the processing pipeline, writing the rules can be very tedious, especially since the documentation isn't extensive on how the functions provided for these rules work."

"We ran into problems with Elasticsearch throwing a circuit-breaking exception due to field data size being too large. It turned out that the heap size directly impacted this size in a high-throughput environment, causing unexplained instability in Graylog. We were able to troubleshoot on the Elasticsearch size, but we should have been able to reference some minimum requirements for Graylog to know that our settings weren't sufficient."

"The biggest problem is the collector application, as we wanted to avoid using Graylog Collector Sidecar due to its architecture."

"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."

"I would like to see some kind of visualization included in Graylog."

"Its scalability gets complicated when we have to update or edit multiple nodes."

"Since container orchestration systems are popular and Graylog fits the niche well, perhaps they could officially support running in docker containers on Kubernetes as a StatefulSet as a use case. That way, the declarative nature of Kubernetes config files would document their best case deployment scenario-"

More Graylog Enterprise cons

"Delays in responses from the technical team can pose challenges for both vendors and clients, especially considering that Splunk applications and machine solutions are critical assets."

"I would like to see the asset and identity lookups be more automatic and less manual."

"I have not seen ROI with Splunk Enterprise Security."

"Over time I will have more requirements and I can foresee the solution could improve the search algorithm to run and output the data faster."

"They can incorporate the SOAR solution within the actual product so that we do not require two different products, two different installations, and two different pricing methods. In regards to UBA, I am familiar with the UBA that existed two years ago. I am not updated about it today, but two years ago, UBA required such an amount of data that from a cost perspective, it was not worth it. When you compare it to what you get out of the box with Microsoft Sentinel without additional costs, there is no match."

"The price of the solution could be cheaper."

"Customizing our commands should be simpler. Creating custom commands in Splunk requires a long, complex process. For example, we have a command to add all the column data, but we don't have a command to get the average of the column data at the end. It would be useful to have a blank at the end to create our commands and leave the rest to others."

"The setup time is quite long."

More Splunk Enterprise Security cons

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."

"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."

"I use the free version of Graylog."

"If you want something that works and do not have the money for Splunk or QRadar, take Graylog."

"Having paid official support is wise for projects."

"You get a lot out-of-the-box with the non-enterprise version, so give it a try first."

"I am using a community edition. I have not looked at the enterprise offering from Graylog."

"It's an open-source solution that can be used free of charge."

More Graylog Enterprise pricing and cost advice

"Splunk can be expensive, as its licensing is based on the daily data ingestion volume."

"I think the price could be improved."

"Splunk differs from other SIEM solutions by using a gigabyte-based pricing model, rather than the agent-based licenses common with its competitors."

"Splunk Enterprise Security's pricing is competitive."

"As a team, we prefer the old pricing model with a perpetual license. We are still evaluating the whole subscription-based model."

"I think that most of the log analytics solutions are expensive and I'm not sure if it's worth it."

"Our ROI is high."

"Splunk has always been on the expensive side."

More Splunk Enterprise Security pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

Vinod Shankar

Manager, Enterprise Risk Consulting at Deloitte & Touche

Feb 26, 2015

HP ArcSight vs. IBM QRadar vs. McAfee Nitro vs. Splunk vs. RSA Security vs. LogRhythm

We at Infosecnirvana.com have done several posts on SIEM. After the Dummies Guide on SIEM, we are following it up with a SIEM Product Comparison – 101 deck. So, here it is for your viewing pleasure. Let me know what you think by posting your comments below. The key products compared here are…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Educational Organization

University

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	110
Midsize Enterprise	50
Large Enterprise	257

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Graylog?

The product is scalable. The solution is stable.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Graylog?

I am not familiar with the pricing details of Graylog, as I was not responsible for that aspect. It was determined that we didn't need an enterprise plan, which is more suited for clients with less...

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What needs improvement with Graylog?

An improvement I would suggest is in Graylog's user interface, such as allowing for font size adjustments. A potential enhancement could be the integration with Ollama to run large language models ...

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What SOC product do you recommend?

For tools I’d recommend: -SIEM- LogRhythm -SOAR- Palo Alto XSOAR Doing commercial w/o both (or at least an XDR) is asking to miss details that are critical, and ending up a statistic. Also, rememb...

See all answers

What is a better choice, Splunk or Azure Sentinel?

It would really depend on (1) which logs you need to ingest and (2) what are your use cases Splunk is easy for ingestion of anything, but the charge per GB/Day Indexed and it gets expensive as log ...

See all answers

How does Splunk compare with Azure Monitor?

Splunk handles a high amount of data very well. We use Splunk to capture information and as an aggregator for monitoring information from different sources. Splunk is very good at alerting us if we...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 31% of the time

Wazuh vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 25% of the time

syslog-ng vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 11% of the time

Security Onion vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 6% of the time

Elastic Security vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 2% of the time

More Graylog Enterprise Competitors

IBM Security QRadar vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 8% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 6% of the time

Wazuh vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 6% of the time

Datadog vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 5% of the time

Security Onion vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 4% of the time

More Splunk Enterprise Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise

October 2025

Download Graylog Enterprise product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Enterprise Security

September 2025

Download Splunk Enterprise Security product report

Also Known As

Graylog2

No data available

Overview

Graylog Enterprise, recognized for log collection, real-time search, and enriched data handling, offers an open-source framework that integrates seamlessly with Elasticsearch. Its user-centric interface streamlines data correlation and log aggregation, supporting both backend services and comprehensive monitoring needs.

Graylog Enterprise stands out for its stability and powerful log management capabilities, facilitating efficient log aggregation, real-time updates, and data analytics. Users benefit from its plugin-based alerting, user-friendly interface, and support for microservices, including Docker integration. The ability to search in detail, flexible API integration, and data enrichment features are highly valued. Challenges include collector application issues, desired visualization enhancements, and authentication integration improvements. Users seek advancements in UI customization, backup functions, and easier rule creation.

What are Graylog Enterprise's most important features?

Log Collection: Efficiently aggregates and handles diverse logs.
Real-Time Search: Provides immediate log data access.
Custom Alerts: Plugin-based alerting for tailored notifications.
Dashboard Enhancements: Improved visualization for data insights.
Data Enrichment: Adds value through detailed log analysis.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Audit Trail Support: Essential for compliance in financial sectors.
Security Event Correlation: Enables incident analysis and response.
Faster Issue Identification: Speeds up troubleshooting with detailed visualization.
API Flexibility: Seamless integration across systems and environments.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Centralized log management enhances oversight.

In industrial use, Graylog Enterprise is crucial for audit trailing in financial sectors, facilitating security event identification and error monitoring. Backend teams leverage real-time analytics for swift issue resolution, while developers appreciate the comprehensive log visualization enabled by Docker integration for microservice management.

Graylog

Splunk Enterprise Security delivers powerful log management, rapid searches, and intuitive dashboards, enhancing real-time analytics and security measures. Its advanced machine learning and wide system compatibility streamline threat detection and incident response across diverse IT environments.

Splunk Enterprise Security stands out in security operations with robust features like comprehensive threat intelligence and seamless data integration. Its real-time analytics and customizable queries enable proactive threat analysis and efficient incident response. Integration with multiple third-party feeds allows detailed threat correlation and streamlined data visualization. Users find the intuitive UI and broad compatibility support efficient threat detection while reducing false positives. Despite its strengths, areas such as visualization capabilities and integration processes with cloud environments need enhancement. Users face a high learning curve, and improvements in automation, AI, documentation, and training are desired to maximize its potential.

What Are the Key Features of Splunk Enterprise Security?

Log Management: Efficiently manages and organizes a vast amount of logs for better data handling.
Rapid Data Search: Quickly retrieves relevant data for fast decision-making.
Flexible Dashboards: Customizable dashboards provide clear data visualization.
Comprehensive Threat Intelligence: Offers detailed insights to preemptively defend against threats.
Real-Time Analytics: Analyzes data in real-time to enhance response times.
Integration with Third-Party Feeds: Streamlines information flow from multiple sources.

What Benefits Should Users Investigate in Reviews?

Efficient Incident Response: Enhances the ability to respond promptly to threats.
False Positive Reduction: Minimizes incorrect threat alarms, making monitoring more efficient.
Threat Detection Speed: Accelerates the identification and evaluation of security threats.
Cost-Effectiveness: Potential savings through better licensing options and operational efficiency.
User Adaptability: Enhancements in documentation and training resources aid in overcoming the learning curve.

In specific industries like finance and healthcare, Splunk Enterprise Security is instrumental for log aggregation, SIEM functionalities, and compliance monitoring. Companies leverage its capabilities for proactive threat analysis and response, ensuring comprehensive security monitoring and integration with various tools for heightened operational intelligence.

Splunk

Sample Customers

Blue Cross Blue Shield, eBay, Cisco, LinkedIn, SAP, King.com, Twilio, Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Splunk has more than 7,000 customers spread across over 90 countries. These customers include Telenor, UniCredit, ideeli, McKenney's, Tesco, and SurveyMonkey.

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise vs. Splunk Enterprise Security

September 2025

Free Report: Graylog Enterprise vs. Splunk Enterprise Security

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