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Graylog vs VMware Aria Operations for Logs 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

Graylog
Ranking in Log Management
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Aria Operations for ...
Ranking in Log Management
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
28
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 VMware Aria Operations for Logs is 1.2%, down from 1.3% 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.
LarsChristensen - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient troubleshooting with precise log filtering and an easy setup
The tool could benefit from improved filter settings and dashboarding. While there are dashboards available, they are often created by community members and may not work after updates. It would be beneficial to have a roadmap for these dashboards to ensure consistent functionality. It would also be advantageous if the tool could process even large amounts of data faster, though this may be more related to data movement challenges rather than the software itself.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This had increased productivity for the dev and support teams, because we are directly notifying them."
"Message forwarding through the in-built module."
"The product is scalable. The solution is stable."
"I am very proud of how very stable the solution is."
"One of the most valuable features is that you are able to do a very detailed search through the log messages in the overview."
"Graylog's search functionality, alerting functionality, user management, and dashboards are useful."
"Everything stands out as valuable, including the fact that I can quantify and qualify the logs, create pipelines and process the logs in any way I like, and create charts or data maps."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its new interface."
"We are using it because we have a VMware product. It has its own built in dashboards for VMware products, and that's a good thing."
"The solution is quite user-friendly."
"Overall, I would recommend VMware Aria Operations for Logs because it is a good tool with many valuable features."
"The most valuable features are log centralization and long-term retention for logs."
"vRealize Log Insight has been running without any issues."
"The ability to narrow into a specific time to filter heavy hitters and anomalies is extremely valuable."
"Our current costs are too high, and this tool will help us to better optimize our infrastructure."
"The root cause analysis feature is very valuable."
 

Cons

"I would like to see a default dashboard widget that shows the topology of the clusters defined for the graylog install."
"It would be great if Graylog could provide a better Python package in order to make it easier to use for the Python community."
"More customization is always useful."
"More complex visualizations and the ability to execute custom Elasticsearch queries would be great."
"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."
"Graylog needs to improve their authentication. Also, the fact that Graylog displays logs from the top down is just ridiculous."
"Dashboards, stream alerts and parsing could be improved."
"I would like to see more tutorials or at least an introduction video from the supplier, so you can become proficient and get the most out of the solution. You might not get the full benefit from a logging or reporting solution because you might not have a particular tool enabled. You could leave something out of your analysis because you aren't aware of it or you don't know how to set it up."
"The response time and quality need improvement. It takes too long to prove a problem and get a solution."
"VMware Aria Operations for Logs is not a cost-effective tool. Additionally, it is expensive, especially given the current economic conditions in Turkey."
"The solution isn't user-friendly for admins."
"The tool does not provide a centralized pane for monitoring."
"The product's price falls on the higher end of the spectrum, making it an area of concern."
"It's great for VMware, but it would be good if they had third-party logins."
"From an improvement perspective, the tool needs to be made more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you want something that works and do not have the money for Splunk or QRadar, take Graylog.​​"
"We're using the Community edition."
"Consider Enterprise support if you have atypical needs or setup requirements.​"
"I use the free version of Graylog."
"It's an open-source solution that can be used free of charge."
"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."
"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."
"The licensing cost for vRealize Log Insight is a little higher, so in terms of cost, it all depends upon what kind of environment you have. If you have a complete virtualized environment, or at least you're using a ninety-five percent virtualized environment, then vRealize Log Insight will play a very good role because it is a VMware component, so it has very tight integration with other VMware components and systems. This means you don't have to procure any other monitoring and management tool, and you don't need a separate automation tool. vRealize Log Insight will have an upper hand if your environment is purely virtualized on VMware. If you're using a mix of physical and virtual components, for example, a 50:50 ratio, then you need to have a third-party component to manage overall monitoring."
"Pricing is good because it is part of the suite package. It comes in a bundle for us."
"Pricing could always be lower. If it were free, I would be more satisfied."
"I think it is a reasonably priced product."
"The pricing has been updated recently."
"The product's price is reasonable, but when it comes to SQL licensing, it's a bit expensive."
"I am not sure what the exact cost is. However, I believe the vRealize suite costs $2,500.00 per year."
"I rate the product's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
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?
We are using the free version of the product. However, the paid version is expensive.
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...
What do you like most about vRealize Log Insight?
The events are notably more descriptive, aiding in security and event analysis. We've also integrated Sky Collector, providing valuable insights and solutions for troubleshooting.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vRealize Log Insight?
Pricing for VMware Aria Operations for Logs can depend on several variables, including the workload and the customer. The price has risen significantly, and for smaller customers, the cost can be u...
What needs improvement with vRealize Log Insight?
It is not the main tool in my stack. I can do similar tasks using solutions like Grafana ( /products/grafana-reviews ). My focus is mainly on finding alternatives for hypervisor and automation purp...
 

Also Known As

Graylog2
vRealize Log Insight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Cross Blue Shield, eBay, Cisco, LinkedIn, SAP, King.com, Twilio, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Wildlands Adventure Zoo, Medic Mobile, IBM, Seventy Seven Energy, Baystate Health, Osis, Oxford University, Columbia University, Siemens, Cardinal Health, Ashdod Port, Vasakronan, Sydney Adventist Hospital, University of Derby
Find out what your peers are saying about Graylog vs. VMware Aria Operations for Logs and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.