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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
22nd
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
6.7
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (2nd), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Security Onion is 4.8%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Wazuh is 13.2%, down from 15.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Wazuh13.2%
Security Onion4.8%
Other82.0%
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.
Sandip_Patel - PeerSpot reviewer
Evaluating robust file monitoring with insights for community support improvements
Wazuh's most valuable features include file monitoring and compliance reporting, which do not require excessive costs. These aspects are vital as they provide alerts for changes and facilitate the monitoring of compliance. The platform is also relatively easy to set up and operate. Reports are straightforward to extract and prove useful for compliance requirements.

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."
"Regarding Wazuh, I find the SCA (Security Configuration Assessment) features most valuable. It's crucial for asset management and inventory, allowing us to monitorendpoints and servers' changes easily. This is particularly important for my customers, who aren't heavily focused on incident response but rely on asset management and inventories. Wazuh's compliance management features are very supportive, especially in regions like the Americas and Europe. However, it's less effective in the ANZ (Australia and New Zealand) region since Wazuh doesn't cater to the specific compliance standards there, such as those required in Australia. I appreciate that Wazuh fully complies with PCI DSS and GDPR standards, allowing us to generate necessary reports."
"Good for monitoring, active response, and for vulnerabilities."
"Integrates with various open-source and paid products, allowing for flexibility in customization based on use cases."
"Wazuh is free and easy to use. It is also adjustable, and we can use it on the cloud and on-premises."
"It allows you to aggregate all your logs in one place and provides a unified view to monitor your security environment."
"I find the PCI DSS feature the most valuable, along with the feature that monitors the compliance of Windows and the CIS benchmarks on other devices like Unix or Linux systems."
"It has efficient SCA capabilities."
"Wazuh's logging features integrate seamlessly with AWS cloud-native services. There are also Wazuh agent configurations for different use cases, like vulnerability scanning, host-based intrusion detection, and file integrity monitoring."
 

Cons

"The product is not easy to learn."
"Security Onion's user interface could be improved."
"The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult."
"Wazuh currently fails to provide its users with AI and ML."
"A lack of certain features creates limitations."
"There could be a hardware monitoring tool for the solution."
"Its configuration process is time-consuming."
"The deployment is a bit complex."
"An issue I noticed is with tag values in certain rules not functioning properly."
"Wazuh has a drawback with regard to Unix systems. The solution does not allow us to do real-time monitoring for Unix systems. If usage increases, it would be a heavy fall on the other SIEM solutions or event monitoring solutions."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Security Onion is a free solution."
"It is an open-source solution."
"Security Onion is an open-source solution."
"They have a good pricing strategy for market expansion."
"Wazuh is totally free and open source. There are no licensing costs, only support costs if you need them."
"There is not a license required for Wazuh."
"Wazuh is not an expensive solution."
"Wazuh is an open-source tool."
"It is a free-of-cost solution."
"Wazuh is an open-source tool, which means it is freely available for use."
"The current pricing is open source."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
University
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
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 Business25
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?
That would require me to discuss with the Wazuh team regarding areas that could be improved, as I have numerous ideas. From a developer's perspective, this is a Linux system with an active communit...
What is your primary use case for Wazuh?
Wazuh is a SIEM platform with various applications in today's environment. Compliance checks have helped with regulatory requirements. I pulled in PCI DSS to check for file integrity monitoring. I ...
 

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: July 2025.
866,088 professionals have used our research since 2012.