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Check Point Security Management 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

Check Point Security Manage...
Ranking in Log Management
10th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (13th), Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (4th)
syslog-ng
Ranking in Log Management
17th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
3.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Check Point Security Management is 1.0%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of syslog-ng is 1.3%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Check Point Security Management1.0%
syslog-ng1.3%
Other97.7%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

RL
TI at a security firm with 51-200 employees
Simplified threat detection and reduced policy deployment time
The standout features of Check Point Security Management are unified policy management, real-time visibility, and automation capabilities, making it a powerful tool for security management. Consistency across environments with Check Point Security Management helps me ensure that instead of maintaining separate rules for firewalls, cloud workloads, and data centers, we apply one unified policy that covers them all. This reduces misconfigurations and ensures compliance, proving to be a time-saver because rolling out a new rule or updating an existing one takes minutes, not hours, because it is propagated everywhere automatically. Automation is one of the most valuable aspects of Check Point Security Management, and it often does not get enough attention compared to headline features like unified policies or visibility. With policy automation, routine tasks such as rule creation, compliance checks, or policy updates can be automated, reducing human error and saving hours of manual work. Check Point Security Management has simplified administration in my organization because instead of juggling multiple consoles, everything is managed from a single pane of glass. This has reduced complexity and saved significant time for our IT team, improving our operational efficiency. For a policy update, I used to spend two or three hours across multiple consoles. Now, with unified management in Check Point Security Management, it takes thirty to forty minutes, resulting in about a seventy percent reduction in effort, greatly boosting productivity.
OC
IT Infrastructure & Cloud Security Manager at Thux
Has ensured compliance by centralizing log data and supporting secure connections
We currently do not use that feature. We currently have just an open-source release, not a premium release. My boss has indicated that he wants to buy a premium syslog-ng version next month. I think we can use other features of this tool in the future. In syslog-ng, I think a GUI would be beneficial. I am unsure if the premium module has a GUI to administer it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We are now able to monitor the different VPN communities in real-time."
"Good control, good visibility, and a single console to manage all the security gateways in our organization are the best features of Check Point Security Management."
"Check Point Security Management Server offers a wide range of security features, including firewall, intrusion prevention, VPN, application control, and threat prevention capabilities."
"The log dashboard in the SmartConsole is very useful and convenient for monitoring and tracking."
"It's a great solution for management. We can manage a lot at the same time with one security management system. Also, each gateway depends on the other, which is helpful."
"We can track logs of each firewall which is very helpful."
"Check Point Security Management is one-stop for all operation-related activity on the Check Point Security Gateway (firewalls)."
"Our cybersecurity posture is stronger than it has ever been with the addition of the Check Point appliance."
"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."
"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."
"What I appreciate most about syslog-ng is its configuration; its C-style config is much easier to understand, read, and write than other popular solutions such as syslog or rsyslog."
"We chose syslog-ng because it is easy to install, easy to maintain, easy to update, and due to the fact that all data arrive in raw format, we can manipulate it as we want."
"Syslog-ng has a separate config file in addition to the core configuration."
"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."
"The ability to extract and store the logs is the most valuable feature of syslog-ng."
 

Cons

"The web administration tool that allows administration in the browser must be developed even more."
"Check Point Security Management could be improved by enhancing the documentation, as Check Point needs to create more and easier documentation."
"We'd like to see more and more integration possibilities between Checkpoint and other vendor security solutions such as Malwarebytes, SIEM solution providers, and standalone vulnerability scanners."
"You need some technical expertise to use the solution. I don't think it's accessible to the typical end-user. You need to access the box and use some command lines or the web interface. It would be nice to have a user-friendly dashboard and comprehensive reporting."
"The migration from R77 Manager to R80 is a major upgrade. It's not very easy to do. There should be some kind of Wizard for a direct upgrade from the R77 to the R80. There should be an easy way for the customers to do the upgrade."
"The documentation of Check Point Security Management is not intuitive because it is for advanced technical support, and when I need to deploy different features, it is complicated for junior support or technical personnel."
"Even though the platform is simple, and creating security policies is a fairly quick task, creating a bulk of policies at once (ie. for a migration) could be a useful tool. This is probably possible through scripting, however, having an easy-to-use "import CSV" button would be beneficial."
"Check Point could possibly lighten up the software code so that it is not as resource-intensive and will run more smoothly on a variety of hardware and cloud or virtual machine platforms."
"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."
"There is room for improvement in terms of observability."
"The filtering has room for improvement."
"There is always the potential for additional integration and protocol extensions."
"In syslog-ng, I think a GUI would be beneficial. I am unsure if the premium module has a GUI to administer it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Do the homework because Check Point is rather expensive."
"The solution is expensive and there is an annual license."
"The solution is expensive."
"Check Point is much cheaper than the competition ($4/server as compared to $17/server)."
"If one will be very expensive, and ten means low price, I rate the tool's price as a three out of ten."
"The pricing can be estimated around 3 or 4 out of 10 in terms of expense."
"This product can be used for 25 security gateways on a basic license."
"Price-wise, it is an expensive solution."
"Syslog-ng is a free open-source solution."
"Syslog-ng is open-source."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Construction Company
8%
Security Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business54
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise43
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Check Point Security Management?
Based on my experience with Check Point Security Management, I do not see anything lacking. It is currently managing all the gateways, and we are able to achieve what we want from our perspective. ...
What is your primary use case for Check Point Security Management?
I am using Check Point Security Management in our day-to-day operations to centrally manage all Check Point Security Gateways within my organization. All of these Check Point Security Gateways are ...
What advice do you have for others considering Check Point Security Management?
I advise anyone having multiple security gateways that are managed stand-alone to deploy Check Point Security Management and manage all security gateways from a central console and central team. Th...
What needs improvement with syslog-ng?
We currently do not use that feature. We currently have just an open-source release, not a premium release. My boss has indicated that he wants to buy a premium syslog-ng version next month. I thin...
What is your primary use case for syslog-ng?
In Italy, we have to be compliant with the Garante for privacy. We have to log every login, logout, or login failure made by a system administrator. We store all syslog data of the infrastructure. ...
What advice do you have for others considering syslog-ng?
When it comes to parsing, I can parse both structured and unstructured data, though our data are only structured. Currently, we collect all data we receive as raw data. Each file is stored for each...
 

Also Known As

R80.10, R80, R77.30, R77, Check Point R80.10 Security Management, R80 Security Management
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hedgetec, Geiger
Tecnocom, University of Victoria, University of Exeter, Datapath
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point Security Management vs. syslog-ng and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.