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USM Anywhere vs syslog-ng 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

syslog-ng
Ranking in Log Management
17th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
2.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
USM Anywhere
Ranking in Log Management
46th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (31st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (52nd), Compliance Management (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of syslog-ng is 2.5%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of USM Anywhere is 0.4%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

RyanVargas - PeerSpot reviewer
It's a user-friendly open-source solution that can replace or augment a commercial product in some cases
I rate syslog-ng 10 out of 10. It's free and easy to use. It has built-in tools that help us index the various logs sent to it. It's a solid log product. If you're looking for a SIEM solution, syslog-ng will work as a stopgap measure at beginning of the project. It can also work as an injector for a true SIEM solution. You can send all the logs to syslog-ng and forward all the data to the SIEM solution after you've cleaned up the data and got the pertinent information. It's a good front end for a commercial SIEM solution, which becomes more expensive as you load more data into it. I would highly recommend syslog-ng for that use case. However, if you lack the expertise, you might need to go with a cloud-based SIEM instead. You need some in-house expertise or an outside consultant to manage it and set it up.
Kris Nawani - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software
USM Anywhere is used for threat detection and investigation. It provides a solution with built-in threat intelligence and various other investigation tools The solution offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software, as it is maintained by the vendor. It helps in saving…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Syslog-ng has built-in features that we can use to create alerts for a SIEM solution. It isn't a true SIEM solution, but it's sufficient for the time being."
"Syslog-ng has a separate config file in addition to the core configuration."
"For us, the most valuable feature is the use of compound search for searching logs at a specific time, by a specific user, or specific behavior."
"The ability to extract and store the logs is the most valuable feature of syslog-ng."
"Syslog-ng provides easy access to all my logs. It helps me show managers and other clients precisely where an incident occurred. I also like it because you can integrate syslog-ng with multiple solutions to allow real-time monitoring."
"The solution has all the features that we need, however they do not work correctly."
"The ease of implementation is the most valuable feature."
"Asset discovery seems to be good."
"As we have to service several servers, we can manage them in a economical way, which is beneficial to our team and business."
"The AlienVault solution has enabled us to create a SOC on a budget with smaller than usual staff requirements, offering a wider range of solutions for our customers."
"OTX is a great module that lets staff maintain and monitor updates regarding events in the infrastructure and takes decision to improve the security perimeter."
"The asset management of nodes has been a large help in terms of being able to track applications with more detail and have changes made being monitored into one source."
"The dashboards are very descriptive and contain just the right amount of information. The activity alarms and events contain a plethora of data that is very descriptive and useful."
 

Cons

"There is always the potential for additional integration and protocol extensions."
"There is room for improvement in terms of observability."
"Syslog-ng has built-in features that we can use to create alerts for a SIEM solution. It isn't a true SIEM solution, but it's sufficient for the time being."
"It's hard to find people who know how to use syslog-ng. I often find problems with configurations, and solutions aren't integrated correctly with syslog-ng. For example, there might be data with extra decimals, or the collector agents are incorrectly named. It isn't a problem with the solution; it's a lack of professionals."
"The filtering has room for improvement."
"It would be nice to see some machine learning and monitoring of the configuration in network devices."
"they seem to have bugs from time to time that go unfixed for a while and that is frustrating. I'm not saying the product needs to be bug-free, but they need to be responsive to bugs."
"The vulnerability scanning feature is one of the areas where the product has certain shortcomings and needs to improve. The tool has vulnerability scanning, but it is not that efficient."
"AlienVault cannot automatically respond to threats like other SIEM solutions, such as Sentinel and LogRhythm. Most of our clients are far away, so it's often challenging to handle alerts when they come up on our dashboard."
"It should be able to communicate with other security solutions to stop threats."
"Their threat intelligence platform needs to be broadened. They should integrate it with more threat intelligence platforms. For the threat feed that they get from open intelligence, I would like them to add a few premium threat intelligence platforms. They can provide a bundle in which AlienVault has the threat intelligence background of other premium products."
"In the future, I would like to see all these features of the solution working properly."
"There are many reports included but would be nice to have better access to the data."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Syslog-ng is open-source."
"Syslog-ng is a free open-source solution."
"I don't think the product's pricing is a good value because they try to raise the price 50 percent every year... AlienVault needs to understand that not all customers are huge enterprises... Their sales team is way too aggressive. The price they advertise is not always the price you get."
"The licensing fees are dependent on usage."
"It allows you to do a lot with a small price tag... The pricing is the best on the market."
"Its price is in the medium to upper range."
"We pay around $12,000 a year including storage."
"The ROI is quite good."
"Do the one month trial and try to work out the kinks during it, as it has free support and service hours."
"The price of this solution is reasonable, which is one of the reasons why we selected it over other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about syslog-ng?
For us, the most valuable feature is the use of compound search for searching logs at a specific time, by a specific user, or specific behavior.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for syslog-ng?
The pricing is in the middle. I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with one being expensive and ten being cheap.
What needs improvement with syslog-ng?
There is room for improvement in terms of observability. Additionally, a possible new feature could be Kafka integration.
What do you like most about AT&T AlienVault USM?
The most valuable feature of the solution is the ease of deployment that it provides to users. The integrations that the product has with third-party applications are useful.
What needs improvement with AT&T AlienVault USM?
There are scalability issues due to a 60 TB limit, which restricts its use for large customers like banks. It is also limited when used with bigger products and has complex password requirements.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
AT&T AlienVault USM, AlienVault, AlienVault USM, Alienvault Cybersecurity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tecnocom, University of Victoria, University of Exeter, Datapath
Abel & Cole, Bank of Ireland, Bluegrass Cellular, CareerBuilder, Claire's, Hays Medical Center, Hope International, McCurrach, McKinsey & Company, Party Delights, Pepco Holdings, Richland School District, Ricoh, SaveMart, Shake Shack, Steelcase, TaxAct, Taylor Morrison, Vonage and Zoom
Find out what your peers are saying about USM Anywhere vs. syslog-ng and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,481 professionals have used our research since 2012.