Splunk Enterprise Security vs syslog-ng comparison

Splunk and One Identity are both solutions in the Log Management category. Splunk is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while One Identity is ranked #17 with an average rating of 10.0. Splunk holds a 7.1% mindshare in Log Management, compared to One Identity’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Splunk users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of One Identity users who would recommend it.

Splunk Enterprise Security

Read 374 Splunk Enterprise Security reviews

24,784 Views
13,383 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

syslog-ng

Read 7 syslog-ng reviews

3,537 Views
3,537 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Splunk Enterprise Security

syslog-ng

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

Splunk Enterprise Security and syslog-ng compete in the security information and event management category. Splunk Enterprise Security holds an advantage in comprehensive analytics and scalability, while syslog-ng excels in data collection and cost-effectiveness.

Features: Splunk Enterprise Security provides advanced data correlation, customizable dashboards, and robust threat intelligence. Syslog-ng is known for lightweight log management, high-speed data transportation, and flexible input/output capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Splunk Enterprise Security could improve its deployment process, reduce high initial costs, and enhance user-friendliness. Syslog-ng might benefit from enhancing its analytics capabilities, expanding support for complex architectures, and improving its incident response features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk Enterprise Security involves a complex deployment but is supported by extensive documentation and responsive technical support. Syslog-ng offers a simpler setup with broad compatibility and easier integration into existing architectures.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk Enterprise Security necessitates higher initial setup costs but promises substantial ROI through its analytical capabilities. Syslog-ng presents a lower-cost option with a compelling cost-to-benefit ratio, delivering efficient log management and data handling for budget-conscious entities.

To learn more, read our detailed Splunk Enterprise Security vs. syslog-ng Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Enterprise Security vs. syslog-ng

December 2025

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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

Splunk Enterprise Security

Ranking in Log Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

374

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (1st), IT Operations Analytics (1st)

syslog-ng

Ranking in Log Management

17th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

3.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Splunk Enterprise Security is 7.1%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of syslog-ng is 2.0%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Splunk Enterprise Security	7.1%
syslog-ng	2.0%
Other	90.9%

Log Management

Featured Reviews

reviewer1469784

Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Helps us detect cyber threats quickly and integrate multiple feeds effectively

Overall, the product is good, but when it comes to some infrastructure issues, we have to dig into more logs. There is no straightforward indication of an issue. Health check kind of dashboards are not available. More AI would help us, and more optimization, since security products run more queries. The AI module could suggest solutions, optimizing queries or workload balancing. If the product itself advises on running queries during peak times, it would be similar to what ChatGPT currently offers. We see quite a few issues on stability. Even last week, we faced something, and identifying bottlenecks is not easy. We need more SMEs, and there is no mechanism to tell us about indexer or search head issues. Self-monitoring dashboards could be beneficial. The technical support still requires more improvement. Often, primary support takes a lot of time and forwards most solutions to the engineering side. The primary support team has very limited knowledge to provide.

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Oliver Castellucchio

IT Infrastructure & Cloud Security Manager at Thux

Has ensured compliance by centralizing log data and supporting secure connections

We currently do not use that feature. We currently have just an open-source release, not a premium release. My boss has indicated that he wants to buy a premium syslog-ng version next month. I think we can use other features of this tool in the future. In syslog-ng, I think a GUI would be beneficial. I am unsure if the premium module has a GUI to administer it.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would definitely recommend Splunk Enterprise Security because if you are really concerned about security and want to follow compliance rules, this product is really helpful."

"The most useful feature for me is the ability to create different kinds of alerts and set a different kind of denominator that will capture the real event. That is helpful for a power user like me."

"The logs on the solution are excellent."

"The search function for spam is like a google search. You just enter and it will quickly show you the results."

"The data representation options in the dashboards are excellent."

"Compared to IBM QRadar, Splunk Enterprise Security offers faster alert resolution."

"Splunk can deliver more information by going deeper. By creating a dashboard, we can identify the root cause of the threat. Let's say I have a firewall from Check Point. Splunk will find the dashboard for Check Point, implement it in our environment, and connect it to the Check Point firewall logs, which are shown on the dashboard. If we request a custom dashboard, the engineer will take longer to complete the task."

"Everything I'm seeing now in Splunk Enterprise Security is effective, especially the AI and the Attack Analyzer, which I found particularly impressive."

More Splunk Enterprise Security pros

"The ability to extract and store the logs is the most valuable feature of syslog-ng."

"We chose syslog-ng because it is easy to install, easy to maintain, easy to update, and due to the fact that all data arrive in raw format, we can manipulate it as we want."

"For us, the most valuable feature is the use of compound search for searching logs at a specific time, by a specific user, or specific behavior."

"Syslog-ng provides easy access to all my logs. It helps me show managers and other clients precisely where an incident occurred. I also like it because you can integrate syslog-ng with multiple solutions to allow real-time monitoring."

"What I appreciate most about syslog-ng is its configuration; its C-style config is much easier to understand, read, and write than other popular solutions such as syslog or rsyslog."

"Syslog-ng has a separate config file in addition to the core configuration."

"Syslog-ng has built-in features that we can use to create alerts for a SIEM solution. It isn't a true SIEM solution, but it's sufficient for the time being."

Cons

"Splunk is such a large product. Allowing it to be more easily used by people who have not had a lot of training on it would be an improvement."

"It is important to make sure that everything is built off of the threat models and all the underlying items within Splunk."

"Splunk Enterprise Security can be improved with more ease of configuration. It is pretty straightforward to get it started, however, to really check if my data is all available and how to activate the right use case and the right correlations is still sometimes a hassle."

"Having analysts put their notes directly within the investigation feature in the incident review would be beneficial."

"If you have to do your own stuff, such as customized charts, it is a little bit more work, but once you're familiar with the Splunk query language, you can pretty much do whatever you want. In terms of features, it should probably have the features that other competitors provide."

"Improving the infrastructure behind Splunk Enterprise Security is vital—enhanced cores, CPUs, and memory should be prioritized to support better processing power."

"The search could be improved. Now, it is a bit difficult to write search queries because they become quite long, then maintaining those long search queries is a quite challenging."

"Free-floating panels in the dashboards are like a glass table."

More Splunk Enterprise Security cons

"There is always the potential for additional integration and protocol extensions."

"It's hard to find people who know how to use syslog-ng. I often find problems with configurations, and solutions aren't integrated correctly with syslog-ng. For example, there might be data with extra decimals, or the collector agents are incorrectly named. It isn't a problem with the solution; it's a lack of professionals."

"There is room for improvement in terms of observability."

"The filtering has room for improvement."

"Syslog-ng has built-in features that we can use to create alerts for a SIEM solution. It isn't a true SIEM solution, but it's sufficient for the time being."

"In syslog-ng, I think a GUI would be beneficial. I am unsure if the premium module has a GUI to administer it."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think the price could be improved."

"Be upfront about your needs and expectations. Splunk is great to work with."

"I am not personally involved with the pricing of the solution."

"The price of Splunk Enterprise Security is high."

"It's a little bit expensive for a small to medium enterprise."

"The licensing costs are high for Splunk Enterprise Security."

"Splunk is expensive based on our current requirements, but it's obviously worth what we pay."

"Splunk Enterprise Security is expensive."

More Splunk Enterprise Security pricing and cost advice

"Syslog-ng is open-source."

"Syslog-ng is a free open-source solution."

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Comparison Review

Vinod Shankar

Manager, Enterprise Risk Consulting at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 26, 2015

HP ArcSight vs. IBM QRadar vs. McAfee Nitro vs. Splunk vs. RSA Security vs. LogRhythm

We at Infosecnirvana.com have done several posts on SIEM. After the Dummies Guide on SIEM, we are following it up with a SIEM Product Comparison – 101 deck. So, here it is for your viewing pleasure. Let me know what you think by posting your comments below. The key products compared here are…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	109
Midsize Enterprise	50
Large Enterprise	263

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What SOC product do you recommend?

For tools I’d recommend: -SIEM- LogRhythm -SOAR- Palo Alto XSOAR Doing commercial w/o both (or at least an XDR) is asking to miss details that are critical, and ending up a statistic. Also, rememb...

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What is a better choice, Splunk or Azure Sentinel?

It would really depend on (1) which logs you need to ingest and (2) what are your use cases Splunk is easy for ingestion of anything, but the charge per GB/Day Indexed and it gets expensive as log ...

See all answers

How does Splunk compare with Azure Monitor?

Splunk handles a high amount of data very well. We use Splunk to capture information and as an aggregator for monitoring information from different sources. Splunk is very good at alerting us if we...

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What needs improvement with syslog-ng?

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What is your primary use case for syslog-ng?

In Italy, we have to be compliant with the Garante for privacy. We have to log every login, logout, or login failure made by a system administrator. We store all syslog data of the infrastructure. ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering syslog-ng?

When it comes to parsing, I can parse both structured and unstructured data, though our data are only structured. Currently, we collect all data we receive as raw data. Each file is stored for each...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM Security QRadar vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 9% of the time

Wazuh vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 6% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 4% of the time

Datadog vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 3% of the time

Sentinel vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 3% of the time

More Splunk Enterprise Security Competitors

Graylog Enterprise vs syslog-ng

Compared 26% of the time

SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server vs syslog-ng

Compared 21% of the time

Cribl vs syslog-ng

Compared 7% of the time

Grafana Loki vs syslog-ng

Compared 7% of the time

Wazuh vs syslog-ng

Compared 2% of the time

More syslog-ng Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Enterprise Security

December 2025

Download Splunk Enterprise Security product report

Buyer's Guide

syslog-ng

December 2025

Download syslog-ng product report

Overview

Splunk Enterprise Security delivers powerful log management, rapid searches, and intuitive dashboards, enhancing real-time analytics and security measures. Its advanced machine learning and wide system compatibility streamline threat detection and incident response across diverse IT environments.

Splunk Enterprise Security stands out in security operations with robust features like comprehensive threat intelligence and seamless data integration. Its real-time analytics and customizable queries enable proactive threat analysis and efficient incident response. Integration with multiple third-party feeds allows detailed threat correlation and streamlined data visualization. Users find the intuitive UI and broad compatibility support efficient threat detection while reducing false positives. Despite its strengths, areas such as visualization capabilities and integration processes with cloud environments need enhancement. Users face a high learning curve, and improvements in automation, AI, documentation, and training are desired to maximize its potential.

What Are the Key Features of Splunk Enterprise Security?

Log Management: Efficiently manages and organizes a vast amount of logs for better data handling.
Rapid Data Search: Quickly retrieves relevant data for fast decision-making.
Flexible Dashboards: Customizable dashboards provide clear data visualization.
Comprehensive Threat Intelligence: Offers detailed insights to preemptively defend against threats.
Real-Time Analytics: Analyzes data in real-time to enhance response times.
Integration with Third-Party Feeds: Streamlines information flow from multiple sources.

What Benefits Should Users Investigate in Reviews?

Efficient Incident Response: Enhances the ability to respond promptly to threats.
False Positive Reduction: Minimizes incorrect threat alarms, making monitoring more efficient.
Threat Detection Speed: Accelerates the identification and evaluation of security threats.
Cost-Effectiveness: Potential savings through better licensing options and operational efficiency.
User Adaptability: Enhancements in documentation and training resources aid in overcoming the learning curve.

In specific industries like finance and healthcare, Splunk Enterprise Security is instrumental for log aggregation, SIEM functionalities, and compliance monitoring. Companies leverage its capabilities for proactive threat analysis and response, ensuring comprehensive security monitoring and integration with various tools for heightened operational intelligence.

Splunk

Optimizing SIEM
syslog-ng is the log management solution that improves the performance of your SIEM solution by reducing the amount and improving the quality of data feeding your SIEM.

Rapid search and troubleshooting
With syslog-ng Store Box, you can find the answer. Search billions of logs in seconds using full text queries with Boolean operators to pinpoint critical logs.

Meeting compliance requirements
syslog-ng Store Box provides secure, tamper-proof storage and custom reporting to demonstrate compliance.

Big data ingestion
syslog-ng can deliver data from a wide variety of sources to Hadoop, Elasticsearch, MongoDB, and Kafka as well as many others.

Universal log collection and routing
syslog-ng flexibly routes log data from X sources to Y destinations. Instead of deploying multiple agents on hosts, organizations can unify their log data collection and management.

Secure data archive
syslog-ng Store Box provides automated archiving, tamper-proof encrypted storage, granular access controls to protect log data. The largest appliance can store up to 10TB of raw logs.

One Identity

Sample Customers

Splunk has more than 7,000 customers spread across over 90 countries. These customers include Telenor, UniCredit, ideeli, McKenney's, Tesco, and SurveyMonkey.

Tecnocom, University of Victoria, University of Exeter, Datapath

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Enterprise Security vs. syslog-ng

December 2025

Free Report: Splunk Enterprise Security vs. syslog-ng

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