Graylog Enterprise vs Logstash comparison

Graylog and Elastic are both solutions in the Log Management category. Graylog is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.0, while Elastic is ranked #24 with an average rating of 9.0. Graylog holds a 6.0% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Elastic’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Graylog users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 75% of Elastic users who would recommend it.

Graylog Enterprise

Read 21 Graylog Enterprise reviews

8,356 Views
8,356 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Logstash

Read 5 Logstash reviews

836 Views
836 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

Graylog Enterprise

Logstash

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 8, 2025

Graylog Enterprise and Logstash compete in the log management space, with Graylog having the upper hand due to its enhanced real-time analysis capabilities and straightforward deployment process, while Logstash benefits from superior integration within the ELK stack.

Features: Graylog Enterprise provides advanced search, analytics capabilities, enriched alerting, and operation insights. Logstash features versatility in data integration, robust data ingestion frameworks, and transformation capabilities for different formats.

Room for Improvement: Graylog Enterprise could improve by expanding its plugin ecosystem, refining its user interface for more intuitive navigation, and enhancing native machine learning capabilities. Logstash could benefit from a more user-friendly setup process, streamlined scaling options, and improved documentation for first-time users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Graylog Enterprise offers a streamlined deployment process with extensive customer support, allowing fast scaling and efficient pipelines. Logstash offers extensive documentation and community support but might require more configuration effort for scalability.

Pricing and ROI: Graylog Enterprise operates on a subscription model offering cost-effective scalability and clear ROI through reduced troubleshooting time. Logstash, being open-source, starts with low initial costs but may incur additional expenses for configuration and integration within the ELK stack.

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

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise vs. Logstash

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

Logstash

Ranking in Log Management

24th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

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 Logstash is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Graylog Enterprise	6.0%
Logstash	0.7%
Other	93.3%

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.

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PRANIL CHANDARKAR

Associate Consultant at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Open-source accessibility and ease of implementation empower adaptable log management

As both a customer and an integrator, I think the best features in Logstash are that people prefer it because it is open to all, as it is an open-source version. The functionality of Logstash is quite easy to implement. I can say that the plugin ecosystem of Logstash is great. I have used some plugins for shell script monitoring and for SQL monitoring, and these are all working well with Logstash. The real-time processing capabilities of Logstash are also pretty fine with the tool. When I use the community edition, I have to do many things manually. If I am using enterprise Elastic, then that is taken care of by the Elastic native machine learning.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

"I am very proud of how very stable the solution is."

"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."

"It has data adapters and lookup tables that utilize HTTP calls to APIs."

"Allowing us to set up alerts and integrate with platforms we already use, such as Slack and OpsGenie to alert users of these errors proactively, is also a very useful feature."

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

"I like the correlation and the alerting."

"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."

More Graylog Enterprise pros

"I can collect logs from various data sources, including hardware."

"The transformation means we ship the logs in the way that we want them to be presented in Kibana, which is the main function we use Logstash for."

"We have three or four Logstash servers for high availability."

"Everything aligns well with improving our organization."

"Logstash has numerous plugins for inputs and outputs, allowing it to work well in environments that do not contain other Elastic components."

Cons

"Over six months, I had two similar issues where searches were performed on field "messages". It exhausted all the memory of the ES node causing an ES crash and a Graylog halt."

"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."

"With technical support, you are on your own without an enterprise license."

"The area in Graylog that needs to be improved or enhanced would be the integrations."

"Graylog could improve the process of creating rules. We have to create them manually by doing parses and applying them. Other SIEM solutions have basic rules and you can create and get more events of interest."

"Lacks sufficient documentation."

"I would like to see a default dashboard widget that shows the topology of the clusters defined for the graylog install."

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

More Graylog Enterprise cons

"We still have a problem with importing the log system."

"Elastic does not provide proper support for Logstash worldwide, and I rate their technical support as one out of ten."

"An enhancement we could implement is the ability to cluster Logstash to exist in more than one node."

"The product needs to improve its compatibility."

"There can be a UI to implement with Logstash. Currently, I have to work with config files and everything."

"Almost all the research can be very bad. We still have a problem with importing the log system."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I use the free version of Graylog."

"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."

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

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

"Consider Enterprise support if you have atypical needs or setup requirements."

"Having paid official support is wise for projects."

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

"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."

More Graylog Enterprise pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

10%

University

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Graylog?

The product is scalable. The solution is stable.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Logstash?

I can collect logs from various data sources, including hardware.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Logstash?

Customization can be automated with Logstash, but it is at the developer's disposal. The developer has to do it, not the tool as such. There is scope for optimization, but that is all outside the t...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Logstash?

The purposes for which I am using Logstash largely include log aggregation and application monitoring.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 6% of the time

Fortinet FortiAnalyzer vs Graylog Enterprise

Compared 3% of the time

More Graylog Enterprise Competitors

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Compared 39% of the time

Grafana Loki vs Logstash

Compared 18% of the time

syslog-ng vs Logstash

Compared 17% of the time

Wazuh vs Logstash

Compared 14% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Log Management

October 2025

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Also Known As

Graylog2

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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

Logstash is a versatile data processing pipeline that ingests data from multiple sources, transforms it, and sends it to preferred destinations, enabling seamless data utilization across systems.

Logstash provides an efficient and flexible way to manage data flow, supporting diverse input sources and offering a rich set of plugins. Its real-time processing capability and ease of integration with Elasticsearch make it advantageous for businesses looking to enhance data analytics. While valuable, Logstash can benefit from improvements like scalability enhancements and more robust error-handling mechanisms.

What are the key features of Logstash?

Input Plugin Support: Connects to a wide range of data sources for seamless ingestion.
Filter Plugin: Processes and enriches logs before output.
Output Plugin Flexibility: Delivers data to various endpoints efficiently.
Real-Time Pipeline: Processes data in real-time for immediate insights.

What benefits does Logstash provide?

Enhanced Data Processing: Streamlines data ingestion and transformation workflows.
Improved Analytics: Facilitates deeper insights through seamless Elasticsearch integration.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces total expenses by optimizing data handling processes.
Scalability: Adapts to diverse data volumes and use cases.

Industries like finance and e-commerce leverage Logstash for managing extensive log data and improving decision-making by feeding enriched data into analytics platforms. Its ability to handle diverse formats and integrate with Elastic Stack has proven crucial in implementing comprehensive data strategies.

Elastic

Sample Customers

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

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise vs. Logstash

September 2025

Free Report: Graylog Enterprise vs. Logstash

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