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Security Onion vs Wazuh comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 25, 2025

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
19th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Wazuh
Ranking in Log Management
1st
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (2nd), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Security Onion is 4.5%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Wazuh is 12.2%, down from 15.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Wazuh12.2%
Security Onion4.5%
Other83.3%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Jörg Kippe - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Ebenezer Okoh - PeerSpot reviewer
Innovative platform enables proactive threat hunting and endpoint monitoring
I have not seen Wazuh moving in the direction of AI-driven threat detection projects myself, but since the market is moving that way, I wouldn't be surprised if they implemented it soon. My plans to increase the usage of Wazuh or switch to another tool depend on what my boss decides. We don't refer to any community support specifically, as we rely on other platforms such as GitHub or Discord, depending on the application. I recommend that as more companies come on board with Wazuh, it will motivate those who contribute to it, but I am also cautious that as it gains attention, a large company might buy it and change its course of business. Overall, I rate Wazuh a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Security Onion is the most mature solution in the market."
"Wazuh automatically scans the host for CIS benchmarks for the latest updates and vulnerabilities and gives a host score. It provides a percentage of perceived risk due to of non patches or any missing patches on that work."
"I recommend Wazuh to everyone and believe more platforms, not just SIEM and XDR capability platforms, should be open source, allowing people to leverage these tools for the greater good."
"The product is easy to customize."
"Wazuh offers an enhanced HDR version that outperforms its competitors."
"Some of the strengths of Wazuh that stand out for us include its scalability when deployed on Azure, its open-source nature, which allows for customization based on our needs, and its compatibility with various security solutions like threat intelligence platforms."
"I would recommend Wazuh to others."
"The deployment is easy and they provide very good documentation."
"Wazuh's best features are syscheck, its ability to immediately resolve vulnerabilities, and that it's open source."
 

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."
"An issue I noticed is with tag values in certain rules not functioning properly."
"Adding the flexibility to integrate various plug-ins or modules into its core system would enhance functionality."
"The support team could be more responsive and provide quicker replies during our working hours in Indonesia, which would be a significant improvement."
"We would like to see more improvements on the cloud."
"Wazuh should come up with more in-built rules and integrations for the cloud."
"It would be better if they had a vulnerability assessment plug-in like the one AlienVault has. In the next release, I would like to have an app with an alerting mechanism."
"Alerts should be specific rather than repeatedly triggered by integrating multiple factors. This issue needs improvement to create a more efficient alert system."
"They need to go towards integrating with more cloud applications and not just OS like Windows and Linux."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Security Onion is an open-source solution."
"Security Onion is a free solution."
"It is an open-source solution."
"Wazuh is a cheaply priced product."
"Wazuh is a good tool, but the open-source version has scalability limitations."
"We use the free version of Wazuh."
"My client uses the open-source version of Wazuh."
"The solution's cost is above the average."
"Wazuh is not an expensive solution."
"It is an open-source product."
"Wazuh is totally free and open source. There are no licensing costs, only support costs if you need them."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Security Onion?
The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Security Onion?
Security Onion is an open-source solution. On a scale from one to ten, where ten is expensive and one is cheap, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten.
What needs improvement with Security Onion?
The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult.
What do you like most about Wazuh?
Wazuh is its flexibility and open-source nature, which allows us to tailor threat detection and response across diverse client environments. Its integration capabilities with SOAR, cloud platforms,...
What needs improvement with Wazuh?
The lack of AI features is an issue at the moment in the industry. Forti provides user behavior capabilities, which I would want to see in Wazuh. In FortiSIEM, they provide user behavior understand...
What is your primary use case for Wazuh?
At the moment, I'm working in software integration, so we are working with FortiGate. To research and get an idea, I did some investigation into Wazuh. They have already used Fortinet products. The...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Wazuh All-In-One Deployment
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Security Onion vs. Wazuh and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,655 professionals have used our research since 2012.