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Microsoft Purview Audit vs VMware Aria Operations for Logs comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 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

Microsoft Purview Audit
Ranking in Log Management
31st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (29th)
VMware Aria Operations for ...
Ranking in Log Management
18th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Purview Audit is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Logs is 1.5%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware Aria Operations for Logs1.5%
Microsoft Purview Audit0.9%
Other97.6%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

OK
Cloud Solution Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Integrated auditing has strengthened data retention and improved incident investigations
I have seen areas for improvement, specifically in Microsoft Purview Audit or in general about Microsoft. I have had a situation with documentation. I had a customer who wanted to create alerts and they had Microsoft 365 Business Premium. In the documentation, it was noted that this license is enough for creating alerts. When we tried to make them, we noticed they cannot do it with Microsoft 365 E3 because the customer had limited features to manage alerts. The customer had to buy E3. We created Microsoft support requests, and they confirmed that the documentation displayed not the real situation and they have been going to update documentation. The same situation occurred now with implementing Microsoft Purview Audit in the last autumn. eDiscovery was combined with search and content search, and the documentation was not clear at the beginning. It was a little difficult to describe to customers that now it is a part of eDiscovery. Content search is a very simple functionality, while eDiscovery is a little difficult. I am not entirely sure why Microsoft is going in the way of combining these services because they are the same. However, for a customer who has never seen these services, it is difficult to understand quickly. The same situation occurs with litigation holds and some other holds. For any mail, I am trying to keep data. For example, emails are held for a year or two years, ten years, it does not matter. It is difficult to understand where to find this data and where these emails are being held. I need to use eDiscovery to find out all deleted data that was kept somewhere in some hidden folders of the mailbox. Regular customers and regular administrators know that on-premises Exchange, for example, allows them to find the data in some repository and review the list of kept data. However, with this hold, we do not have any functionality to review the list of kept data. It is difficult to understand for customers how to work with this. I had a case where I spent three or four hours working deeply with a customer to explain how to work with eDiscovery, why Content Search is not there when it was before, what is an eDiscovery case, and why we are talking about all of this just to review a list of kept emails. This is difficult.
İÇ
Server, Virtualization and Data Storage Solutions Specialist at DE Bilişim Tek. A.Ş.
High costs and complex template management challenge us, though integration remains seamless
VMware Aria Operations for Logs is a very stable product. In my experience, its stability is one hundred percent when following best practices. Unfortunately, the real-time analytics capabilities are difficult to discuss in detail as I could not recall specific terminology. Stability and the real-time analytics capabilities are valuable when using VMware Aria Operations for Logs.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The overall user experience with Microsoft Purview Audit is of higher quality than when it was branded as Compliance Center, and Microsoft consistently updates and evolves functionalities and the overall experience."
"The main Microsoft feature is that it offers common integration of services, of data, of identity, meaning user accounts, user access, and privileged access."
"We're easily saving at least one hour per day using this solution."
"The platform has significantly enhanced our operational insight into the overall Microsoft 365 environment."
"The most valuable feature is server virtualization, it's been very useful."
"vRealize Log Insight has been running without any issues."
"Our current costs are too high, and this tool will help us to better optimize our infrastructure."
"One of the most valuable features of vRealize Log Insight is that it gives you a clear forecast about your existing machines, for example, how long your machines could be supported and how long the remaining capacity is to host your machines. This is one of the best options available within vRealize Log Insight. Another valuable feature of the solution is automation. My company deploys a lot of automation when required in a very, very short period, and in a very uniform manner, and even if the automation is being deployed for different processes and departments, it's pretty much the same across the environment, so vRealize Log Insight helps reduce a lot of ambiguities and helps my company manage operational efficiencies well."
"I believe it is a very useful solution if you have a large environment and C4 vCenter, or if you have thousands of virtual machines in your environment."
"It provides multiple platforms, you can use a Windows Operating System, you can Mac, and you can use Linux on a particular server."
"It allows us to gain a comprehensive overview of our infrastructure."
"It is very scalable and can handle a large workload."
 

Cons

"Areas for product improvement include enhancing customization options and integrating more comprehensive compliance features."
"I had a case where I spent three or four hours working deeply with a customer to explain how to work with eDiscovery, why Content Search is not there when it was before, what is an eDiscovery case, and why we are talking about all of this just to review a list of kept emails."
"We do have a Denial of Access happening."
"We are still in the early stages of leveraging Microsoft Purview Audit. Currently, it's primarily used for the audit function."
"I don't use the solution on a day to day basis, so I'm not sure what specifically can be improved."
"The solution is a very good tool, but it has a lot of limitations. One of the main issues is around how you define your retention policy, for instance, in Log Insight. It doesn't have it. You can't define a log retention policy. You also can't define the destination or location for your logs. All of the logs are in one index or one bucket."
"The tool could be cheaper."
"The solution should be more user-friendly."
"My experience, however, is that Log Insight is not user friendly."
"The tool could benefit from improved filter settings and dashboarding."
"What I'd like to improve in vRealize Log Insight is the licensing model. VMware provides vRealize Log Insight along with the VMware Cloud Foundation, but customers who would like to go for the native VMware would have to procure vRealize Log Insight separately. Today, vRealize Log Insight is offered on two different licenses, one is based on the number of VMs, and the other is based on the number of physical codes on the machine. If VMware can provide a bundle offer for customers who procure more than ten licenses, where you can have an option to run, for example, three hundred machines on vRealize Log Insight with no extra cost, this would encourage more people to adopt the solution. What I'd like to see in the next release of vRealize Log Insight is for a cloud option to be available, which would be a pay-as-you-go licensing model that would allow me to pick and choose what I'll monitor. For example, I have one thousand and three hundred critical servers, and the seven hundred servers for basic development, I don't want to monitor on vRealize Log Insight today, so I should be able to pick what I need to monitor on the solution and only pay for that specific instance. If VMware can apply these changes, it would help VMware customers to procure more or adopt more of vRealize Log Insight even in smaller projects."
"I don't use the solution on a day to day basis, so I'm not sure what specifically can be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing has been updated recently."
"I think it is a reasonably priced product."
"It is not cheap. But it is worth it."
"Pricing is good because it is part of the suite package. It comes in a bundle for us."
"I am not sure what the exact cost is. However, I believe the vRealize suite costs $2,500.00 per year."
"I rate the product's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"The product's price is reasonable, but when it comes to SQL licensing, it's a bit expensive."
"Pricing could always be lower. If it were free, I would be more satisfied."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Construction Company
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Audit?
It is not so expensive in comparison with other products, but I can tell you about an example.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Audit?
I have seen areas for improvement, specifically in Microsoft Purview Audit or in general about Microsoft. I have had a situation with documentation. I had a customer who wanted to create alerts and...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Audit?
I work with Defender for IoT by chance because I see that we have enough reviews for Defender for Office 365 today, and we need reviews for some Azure products. I work with Azure products such as L...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vRealize Log Insight?
The cost of using VMware Aria Operations for Logs was very high, around two to three million dollars, although the exact figure is uncertain. The price was proving to be too much, especially with t...
What needs improvement with vRealize Log Insight?
VMware Aria Operations for Logs is not a cost-effective tool. Changing any telemetry requires creating a new template, such as changes to the VM disk size. Always having to create a new template ma...
What is your primary use case for vRealize Log Insight?
I work as a Server Virtualization and Data Storage Solutions specialist for Debilisim. We use VMware products, and as an outsourced personnel, I transitioned our virtualization platform to Proxmox ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
vRealize Log Insight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Wildlands Adventure Zoo, Medic Mobile, IBM, Seventy Seven Energy, Baystate Health, Osis, Oxford University, Columbia University, Siemens, Cardinal Health, Ashdod Port, Vasakronan, Sydney Adventist Hospital, University of Derby
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Purview Audit vs. VMware Aria Operations for Logs and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,837 professionals have used our research since 2012.