Graylog vs SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server comparison

Graylog and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Log Management category. Graylog is ranked #16 with an average rating of 6.5, while SolarWinds is ranked #25 with an average rating of 8.5. Graylog holds a 6.7% mindshare in Log Management, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Graylog users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Graylog

Read 20 Graylog reviews

9,555 Views
8,400 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

Read 7 SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server reviews

2,960 Views
2,592 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Graylog

SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 7, 2024

Graylog and SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server are strong competitors in syslog management. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server seems to have an edge due to its robust features, justifying its higher cost.

Features: Graylog offers scalability, efficient log search, and flexible log management. On the other hand, SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is recognized for its reliability, extensive integrations, and robust feature set, catering to different user needs.

Room for Improvement: Graylog needs a more intuitive setup process, enhanced user onboarding, and streamlined complex configurations. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server requires better analytics capabilities, improved data analysis tools, and enhancements in its integration processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Graylog is easy to deploy but can be challenging with complex configurations. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server provides straightforward deployment and exceptional customer service, ensuring a smoother user experience.

Pricing and ROI: Graylog is valued for its cost-effectiveness and satisfactory ROI. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server may have higher initial costs, but its comprehensive features are considered worth the investment over time.

To learn more, read our detailed Graylog vs. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Graylog vs. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

April 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

Ranking in Log Management

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

Ranking in Log Management

25th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Graylog is 6.7%, up from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is 1.6%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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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Muhammad Anas

Assistant Manager NOC and Infrastructure at NiFT

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…

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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

"Storing logs in Elasticsearch means log retrieval is extremely fast, and full text search is available by default."

"The best feature of Graylog is the Elasticsearch integration. We can integrate and we can run filters, such as an event of interest, and those logs we can send to any SIEM tool or as an analytic. Additionally, there are clear and well-documented implementation instructions on their website to follow if needed."

"This had increased productivity for the dev and support teams, because we are directly notifying them."

"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."

"Open source and user friendly."

"I like the correlation and the alerting."

"Graylog is very handy."

"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."

More Graylog pros

"We are very happy with the stability of the solution."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the alerting based on the security logs."

"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."

"Simplicity is the most valuable feature."

"The best thing about Kiwi Syslog is that it filters logs into different levels."

"The most valuable features of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server include its ability to provide network mapping and deliver information to my customers about their networks through various methods."

More SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server pros

Cons

"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."

"More customization is always useful."

"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."

"Graylog needs to improve their authentication. Also, the fact that Graylog displays logs from the top down is just ridiculous."

"Lacks sufficient documentation."

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

"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-"

"I would like to see a date and time in the Graylog Grok patterns so that I can save time when searching for a log. I like how the streams and the search query work, but adding a date and time will allow me to pull out a log in a milli-second."

More Graylog cons

"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."

"Technical support could definitely be better."

"The Windows log forwarder is not functioning properly."

"I would like to see a more user-friendly and customizable dashboard."

"I would like to see better search functions and better filters in the next release."

"There is a need for an on-premises solution, which could lead to easier sales in larger markets."

"SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server could improve by reducing the price."

"SolarWinds pricing is perceived as very high in the market, which can be a barrier for many customers."

More SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We're using the Community edition."

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

"Having paid official support is wise for projects."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"It's an open-source solution that can be used free of charge."

More Graylog pricing and cost advice

"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

18%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Educational Organization

Government

16%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Graylog?

We are using the free version of the product. However, the paid version is expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Graylog?

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. P...

See all answers

What do you like most about SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server?

Simplicity is the most valuable feature.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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Compared 1% of the time

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Product Reports

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Graylog

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Log Management

April 2025

Download SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server product report

Also Known As

Graylog2

Kiwi Syslog Server

Overview

Graylog is purpose-built to deliver the best log collection, storage, enrichment, and analysis. Graylog is:

Considerably faster analysis speeds.
More robust and easier-to-use analysis platform.
Simpler administration and infrastructure management.
Lower cost than alternatives.
Full-scale customer service.
No expensive training or tool experts required.

Graylog

A syslog server is a logging server that allows for the centralized collection of syslog messages, known as events, from a variety of networking devices such as routers, switches, and firewalls, in addition to servers running a variety of operating systems.

SolarWinds

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

Buyer's Guide

Graylog vs. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

April 2025

Free Report: Graylog vs. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

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