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SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server vs Splunk Cloud Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (26th)
Splunk Cloud Platform
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Data Visualization (2nd), IT Alerting and Incident Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Systems Management solutions, they serve different purposes. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is designed for Log Management and holds a mindshare of 1.2%, down 1.6% compared to last year.
Splunk Cloud Platform, on the other hand, focuses on Data Visualization, holds 1.0% mindshare, up 0.9% since last year.
Log Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server1.2%
Splunk Enterprise Security6.9%
Wazuh4.6%
Other87.3%
Log Management
Data Visualization Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Splunk Cloud Platform1.0%
Tableau Enterprise10.1%
Qlik Sense4.9%
Other84.0%
Data Visualization
 

Featured Reviews

SJ
Network Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Valuable log segregation aids in auditing, but Windows integration needs enhancement
Our primary use case for Kiwi Syslog is for gathering logs necessary for auditing purposes 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. This feature is…
reviewer2805510 - PeerSpot reviewer
Partner Account Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 51-200 employees
Unified log analytics has transformed security monitoring and cuts breach detection to minutes
Splunk Cloud Platform has areas for improvement, including the fact that it is obviously an enterprise tool and can be expensive, which is the biggest complaint I have noted. Costs can rise due to high data ingestion and long retention periods, along with a complex licensing structure that makes pricing difficult to predict as usage grows, especially since more systems send logs. There are also performance concerns at scale where users have reported slower searches and expensive long-term storage needs, particularly in multi-terabyte environments. Additionally, operational complexity exists as enterprises still need to do data onboarding, create dashboards, handle retention policies, access control, and performance tuning. These are the three key areas of improvement I have identified.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, I rate SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server ten out of ten."
"The best thing about Kiwi Syslog is that it filters logs into different levels."
"I definitely recommend this solution."
"Simplicity is the most valuable feature."
"We are very happy with the stability of the solution."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is its performance and management. Additionally, the solution integrates well."
"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."
"The Splunk Cloud Platform has reduced our mean time to resolve. It has easily saved 20 to 30 minutes every time someone gets locked out. We get 10 or 15 instances per day where people get locked out. It definitely saves a few hours per day."
"The most valuable feature is the SPL because without it we wouldn't be able to correlate and build our use cases and manage what we have for our data inside Splunk."
"Dashboarding has been very powerful. I work with a lot of different customers, so being able to tailor the data for different customers has been valuable. I am able to make visuals and have reports where they can self-serve."
"This is a complete log reporting tool."
"As compared to other tools, it is very easy. It is very easy to learn. It also integrates well."
"Splunk Cloud has helped us to be able to focus on getting more information out of our data."
"In my organization, Splunk Cloud Platform has improved the issue revolving around transactions."
"Splunk Cloud Platform's ingest and visualization features have helped improve our data reporting, truly the best available in terms of customizability."
 

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."
"SolarWinds pricing is perceived as very high in the market, which can be a barrier for many customers."
"I would like to see a more user-friendly and customizable dashboard."
"I would like to have email notifications for emergency logs."
"There is a need for an on-premises solution, which could lead to easier sales in larger markets."
"Technical support could definitely be better."
"I would like to see better search functions and better filters in the next release."
"The Windows log forwarder is not functioning properly."
"They can streamline the process of creating custom apps."
"In my opinion, there isn't much to improve in Splunk Cloud Platform, but one suggestion would be to integrate AI or provide a more graphical query builder to reduce the learning curve for new users wanting to learn SPL."
"Its stability and performance can be better. Very rarely does a day go by when we do not see an error in the console, such as a health check error. Because it is cloud-hosted, we do not have access to the backend to figure it out ourselves. We are reliant on their support to figure it out, and a couple of days later, the error comes back or it is a different error. It is a never-ending cycle of support tickets. Their support is also not great."
"The queries and pulling out the exact reports is a little challenging."
"Some of the implementation is challenging. They're not very proxy-aware."
"Splunk support isn't so great. It takes a lot of time for them to respond."
"The overall experience is positive, but there are a few areas where I think Splunk Cloud Platform can improve."
"Regarding pricing for Splunk Cloud Platform, it is not cheap. It's cost-efficient if you are using it properly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We subscribe and pay directly on the website."
"The price of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server could improve."
"I do not personally deal with that side, but from discussions, I know that it is one of the more expensive tools. I do not have anything to compare it with."
"We were on ingest. We were on-prem, and when we switched to the cloud, we went to an SVC model, and that has been a huge help. We are now able to ingest more data than before."
"It was a good model."
"It is a touchy subject because we are locked into it. That goes back to the rehydrating data. We cannot have the retention that we want to store for legal and compliance purposes because that is seven years' worth of data for some of the indexes, so we ship them off into S3 buckets and install them there, at which point they are invisible to Splunk, so we have to rehydrate them, but we cannot rehydrate those pockets into Splunk Cloud. We have to rehydrate them into a self-hosted version of Splunk, which can take days to set up and get going. I would not call Splunk's licensing and pricing predatory, but they have made it very difficult to maintain the independence of your own data."
"I am familiar with the pricing and licensing model a little bit. I am not sure about the particulars of the actual price that we have, but I do like the idea of going towards a more CPU-based approach rather than the ingest approach because it allows us the ability to ingest more data if we need it."
"My company has a license for Splunk Cloud Platform. My company also has a license for Splunk Enterprise."
"It is not that expensive."
"The price is something that people complain about."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Construction Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise56
 

Questions from the Community

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.
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...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server?
Our primary use case for Kiwi Syslog is for gathering logs necessary for auditing purposes.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk Cloud Platform?
I don't know much about the pricing of Splunk Cloud Platform, but I know that it is very less as compared to what we thought to manage this platform. It is very less, but I don't know the exact num...
What needs improvement with Splunk Cloud Platform?
The dislike about Splunk Cloud Platform is the learning resources and the learning materials that they have. In the starting of my phase with Splunk Cloud Platform, I was very new to this, and I wa...
What is your primary use case for Splunk Cloud Platform?
The main use case is for logs monitoring to get a clear vision about all the products and all the services that we have. We are giving multiple APIs to multiple platforms, and we have multiple serv...
 

Also Known As

Kiwi Syslog Server
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Holy Cross Energy, West Texas A&M University, Medium Enterprise Industrial Manufacturing Company
Mindtouch
Find out what your peers are saying about Splunk, Wazuh, Cribl and others in Log Management. Updated: June 2026.
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