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Graylog vs SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 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

Graylog
Ranking in Log Management
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server
Ranking in Log Management
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Graylog is 6.5%, up from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is 1.6%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Ivan Kokalovic - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Muhammad Anas - PeerSpot reviewer
Shows login failures and server issues but search functions and filters could be improved
Kiwi Syslog shows login failures and server issues. I'm using version 9.8.1. It's deployed on-premises. There are four people in my organization who are using this solution. They're all infrastructure engineers The best thing about Kiwi Syslog is that it filters logs into different levels. It's…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Graylog is very handy."
"UDP is a fast and lightweight protocol, perfect for sending large volumes of logs with minimal overhead."
"We're using the Community edition, but I know that it has really good dashboarding and alerts."
"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."
"Message forwarding through the in-built module."
"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."
"Open source and user friendly."
"We are very happy with the stability of the solution."
"Simplicity is the most valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the alerting based on the security logs."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is its performance and management. Additionally, the solution integrates well."
"I appreciate that with Kiwi Syslog, we can segregate the logs based on the display, such as using different colors and fonts, which helps greatly in identifying logs by their severity."
"Overall, I rate SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server ten out of ten."
"I appreciate that with Kiwi Syslog, we can segregate the logs based on the display, such as using different colors and fonts, which helps greatly in identifying logs by their severity."
"The best thing about Kiwi Syslog is that it filters logs into different levels."
 

Cons

"Dashboards, stream alerts and parsing could be improved."
"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-"
"There should be some user groups and an auto sign-in feature.​"
"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."
"More complex visualizations and the ability to execute custom Elasticsearch queries would be great."
"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."
"The infrastructure cost is the main issue. I like the rest. If the infrastructure costs could be lower, it would be fantastic."
"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 Windows log forwarder is not functioning properly."
"SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server could improve by reducing the price."
"The Windows log forwarder is not functioning properly. This is a significant concern, as it led to losing a deal due to the inability to provide Windows logs effectively."
"I would like to have email notifications for emergency logs."
"There is a need for an on-premises solution, which could lead to easier sales in larger markets."
"SolarWinds pricing is perceived as very high in the market, which can be a barrier for many customers."
"Technical support could definitely be better."
"I would like to see better search functions and better filters in the next release."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"We're using the Community edition."
"I am using a community edition. I have not looked at the enterprise offering from Graylog."
"I use the free version of Graylog."
"It's an open-source solution that can be used free of charge."
"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."
"If you want something that works and do not have the money for Splunk or QRadar, take Graylog.​​"
"The price of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server could improve."
"We subscribe and pay directly on the website."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
7%
University
7%
Government
16%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Graylog?
The product is scalable. The solution is stable.
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...
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 ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server?
SolarWinds pricing is perceived as very high in the market, which can be a barrier for many customers.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server?
The Windows log forwarder is not functioning properly. This is a significant concern, as it led to losing a deal due to the inability to provide Windows logs effectively. It should be more user-fri...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server?
Our primary use case for Kiwi Syslog is for gathering logs necessary for auditing purposes.
 

Also Known As

Graylog2
Kiwi Syslog Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Cross Blue Shield, eBay, Cisco, LinkedIn, SAP, King.com, Twilio, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Holy Cross Energy, West Texas A&M University, Medium Enterprise Industrial Manufacturing Company
Find out what your peers are saying about Graylog vs. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,390 professionals have used our research since 2012.