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Security Onion 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

Security Onion
Ranking in Log Management
27th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
VMware Aria Operations for ...
Ranking in Log Management
26th
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 April 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Security Onion is 2.6%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Logs is 1.4%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware Aria Operations for Logs1.4%
Security Onion2.6%
Other96.0%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Jörg Kippe - PeerSpot reviewer
Scientist at a educational organization with 10,001+ employees
A mature and affordable solution that is easy to install and easy to update
The product takes time to learn, it's not that easy. In the beginning we had a lot of questions. If you want to use such a tool in an real (industrial) environment, you have to ask how to get the network data. Can we do a full packet capture? Can we provide agents to our end systems? There are no simple solutions to these questions. It's a general problem when running such systems in an industrial environment.
reviewer2668767 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Solution Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Dashboard personalization enhances troubleshooting capabilities
A valuable feature of VMware Aria Operations for Logs is its ability to allow personalization of dashboards and requests. This personalization capability is crucial because it helps tailor the tool to specific needs. It also has many effective features for log analysis, making it a competent tool despite not having a comprehensive comparison with other tools.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Security Onion is the most mature solution in the market."
"We use Security Onion for internal vulnerability assessment."
"The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports."
"The most valuable feature is server virtualization, it's been very useful."
"I like the interface."
"The solution's simplicity, flexibility, and extensibility are valuable features as we can integrate everything in vRealize."
"It gives the customer a quick overview, so they don't have to dig. There's a clear dashboard with many sensors in a single space. He gets a helicopter view of his environment, but he can investigate further if there are serious issues. It's pretty user-friendly."
"vRealize Log Insight has been running without any issues."
"It allows us to gain a comprehensive overview of our infrastructure."
"It provides multiple platforms, you can use a Windows Operating System, you can Mac, and you can use Linux on a particular server."
"However, Log Insight is quite good and very useful."
 

Cons

"The product is not easy to learn."
"The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult."
"Security Onion's user interface could be improved."
"Documentation is lacking, including some guide as to how to use the expressions. It is not clear how to look for a log, for example. Some examples in the documentation might be helpful. I think that VMware had good documentation, but it's no longer hosted. The documentation is not as easy to understand as it was before."
"My experience, however, is that Log Insight is not user friendly."
"The pricing of the solution could be improved."
"The tool does not provide a centralized pane for monitoring."
"Integration with other vendors is something that could be improved, they could add more vendors."
"Technical support should be improved."
"Paid or free does not matter, but it is complex to find good training material for vRealize Log Insight."
"I give it a seven because it isn't easy to scale, and the cost is too high, but it's a good product overall."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an open-source solution."
"Security Onion is a free solution."
"Security Onion is an open-source solution."
"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."
"I think it is a reasonably priced product."
"I am not sure what the exact cost is. However, I believe the vRealize suite costs $2,500.00 per year."
"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."
"It is not cheap. But it is worth it."
"The license cost for any other monitoring tool is too high compared to this product."
"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
University
12%
Government
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vRealize Log Insight?
The cost of using VMware Aria Operations for Logs was very high, around two to three million dollars, although the exact figure is uncertain. The price was proving to be too much, especially with t...
What needs improvement with vRealize Log Insight?
VMware Aria Operations for Logs is not a cost-effective tool. Changing any telemetry requires creating a new template, such as changes to the VM disk size. Always having to create a new template ma...
What is your primary use case for vRealize Log Insight?
I work as a Server Virtualization and Data Storage Solutions specialist for Debilisim. We use VMware products, and as an outsourced personnel, I transitioned our virtualization platform to Proxmox ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
vRealize Log Insight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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 Security Onion vs. VMware Aria Operations for Logs and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
886,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.