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USM Anywhere vs syslog-ng 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

syslog-ng
Ranking in Log Management
17th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
2.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
USM Anywhere
Ranking in Log Management
46th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (31st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (52nd), Compliance Management (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of syslog-ng is 2.5%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of USM Anywhere is 0.4%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

RyanVargas - PeerSpot reviewer
It's a user-friendly open-source solution that can replace or augment a commercial product in some cases
I rate syslog-ng 10 out of 10. It's free and easy to use. It has built-in tools that help us index the various logs sent to it. It's a solid log product. If you're looking for a SIEM solution, syslog-ng will work as a stopgap measure at beginning of the project. It can also work as an injector for a true SIEM solution. You can send all the logs to syslog-ng and forward all the data to the SIEM solution after you've cleaned up the data and got the pertinent information. It's a good front end for a commercial SIEM solution, which becomes more expensive as you load more data into it. I would highly recommend syslog-ng for that use case. However, if you lack the expertise, you might need to go with a cloud-based SIEM instead. You need some in-house expertise or an outside consultant to manage it and set it up.
Kris Nawani - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software
USM Anywhere is used for threat detection and investigation. It provides a solution with built-in threat intelligence and various other investigation tools The solution offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software, as it is maintained by the vendor. It helps in saving…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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 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."
"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."
"The ability to extract and store the logs is the most valuable feature of syslog-ng."
"The most valuable features of AT&T AlienVault USM are the ease of management and knowledge of what is on the network of my customers. It's easy to understand the problems, and management our alarms and events."
"The solution has all the features that we need, however they do not work correctly."
"We're using it more for reporting, that's all. We're using it to help our customers to pass any kind of audits that they receive."
"Easy to use, scalable, stable, and very intuitive platform that provides protection against security threats."
"The pricing is amazing and really cheap."
"It has streamlined log aggregation and analysis to meet organizational and regulatory needs."
"The other big selling feature for us was its integration capabilities with all the other security-based products."
"It has allowed us to see what is happening on our servers."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"There is always the potential for additional integration and protocol extensions."
"The filtering has room for improvement."
"There is room for improvement in terms of observability."
"We would like more plugins. This being the main point of improvement which would benefit the users."
"USM Anywhere relies a lot on the community putting the data in. Often, you'll right-click on the attack, but nothing will be found. That's a weakness of it."
"The reporting tools are a bit lacking for building reports to give directly to customers, but support has been helpful in giving our requests for new features to the development team and following up with us."
"We develop additional rules and scripts to make it more usable."
"AlienVault cannot automatically respond to threats like other SIEM solutions, such as Sentinel and LogRhythm. Most of our clients are far away, so it's often challenging to handle alerts when they come up on our dashboard."
"they seem to have bugs from time to time that go unfixed for a while and that is frustrating. I'm not saying the product needs to be bug-free, but they need to be responsive to bugs."
"For creating new rules, you have to be familiar with regular expressions. I feel there could be something built-in to make sure that process is easier."
"There are scalability issues due to a 60 TB limit, which restricts its use for large customers like banks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Syslog-ng is a free open-source solution."
"Syslog-ng is open-source."
"So far, it has been a good solution for a tight budget."
"So far, I feel the product's pricing is a good value. The technology is decent. You get what you pay for. I think it's fair."
"It is a product that is priced in a medium range, making it neither a cheap nor a costly product."
"It's saved security costs."
"The pricing is a good value. The key thing is that for the new product, the licensing of it, is subscription-based and it's based on data. Clients need to be really careful when thinking about that, because odds are they're going to need to put a lot more data into it than what they initially estimate, which is going to drive their subscription costs up."
"Do the one month trial and try to work out the kinks during it, as it has free support and service hours."
"The licensing fees are dependent on usage."
"Negotiate the best package for your environment."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about syslog-ng?
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for syslog-ng?
The pricing is in the middle. I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with one being expensive and ten being cheap.
What needs improvement with syslog-ng?
There is room for improvement in terms of observability. Additionally, a possible new feature could be Kafka integration.
What do you like most about AT&T AlienVault USM?
The most valuable feature of the solution is the ease of deployment that it provides to users. The integrations that the product has with third-party applications are useful.
What needs improvement with AT&T AlienVault USM?
There are scalability issues due to a 60 TB limit, which restricts its use for large customers like banks. It is also limited when used with bigger products and has complex password requirements.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
AT&T AlienVault USM, AlienVault, AlienVault USM, Alienvault Cybersecurity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tecnocom, University of Victoria, University of Exeter, Datapath
Abel & Cole, Bank of Ireland, Bluegrass Cellular, CareerBuilder, Claire's, Hays Medical Center, Hope International, McCurrach, McKinsey & Company, Party Delights, Pepco Holdings, Richland School District, Ricoh, SaveMart, Shake Shack, Steelcase, TaxAct, Taylor Morrison, Vonage and Zoom
Find out what your peers are saying about USM Anywhere vs. syslog-ng and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,490 professionals have used our research since 2012.