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VMware Aria Operations for Logs vs WhatsUp Gold 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

VMware Aria Operations for ...
Ranking in Log Management
20th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WhatsUp Gold
Ranking in Log Management
39th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (34th), Network Monitoring Software (21st), Server Monitoring (14th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (17th), Configuration Management (20th), Cloud Monitoring Software (25th), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Logs is 1.2%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware Aria Operations for Logs1.2%
WhatsUp Gold0.8%
Other98.0%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar21 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Delivery Manager at DXC Technology
Comprehensive monitoring has improved performance, capacity planning, and multi-source log analysis
VMware Aria Operations for Logs would be used to completely monitor the health of your environment. Second is to understand your existing capacity and forecast your capacity for the next year or so. Third would be on performance management, understanding how the environment is performing, and what has to be done to optimize it. We use VMware Aria Operations for Logs for these purposes. We also use VMware Aria Operations for Logs to monitor non-VMware components as well. VMware Aria Operations for Logs is now part of a bigger suite with several modules added. You have an option to collect logs from various sources and then you can do some sorts of analytics from it as well. All of this can be done with VMware Aria Operations for Logs.
EC
Technical Manager at Quan Hung Gourmet
Efficient monitoring with detailed customization, yet complexity remains
The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless. I have used the automated device discovery with this topology feature. The interactive map feature helps me manage the topology because sometimes we cannot draw the topology correctly, so we need to manually edit the connections. The alerting system is very tunable and customizable, but it's a little complicated to use. Many customers cannot manage it by themselves and need support from us, the provider. We always use the dashboards in the SOC, where we constantly display a dashboard or multiple dashboards. This allows us to know immediately if the connection or bandwidth is full or if the connection is broken.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are log centralization and long-term retention for logs."
"The interface of the solution is good."
"It is very scalable and can handle a large workload."
"It gives the customer a quick overview, so they don't have to dig, with a clear dashboard that has many sensors in a single space, providing a helicopter view of the environment while still allowing deeper investigation if there are serious issues, and it's pretty user-friendly."
"It provides multiple platforms, you can use a Windows Operating System, you can Mac, and you can use Linux on a particular server."
"The ability to narrow into a specific time to filter heavy hitters and anomalies is extremely valuable."
"We are using it because we have a VMware product. It has its own built in dashboards for VMware products, and that's a good thing."
"The solution is quite user-friendly."
"This product has aided us in procurement and is overall a well-priced solution."
"We primarily use the solution to check the state of the network, monitoring thousands of devices and all of the internal network, and it is the first tool we use to see the state of the network for real-time monitoring."
"It is stable."
"It is very good at monitoring the network and keeps us up to date on the status of internal devices."
"The most valuable feature of WhatsUp Gold is NetFlow and the virtualized maps."
"There is a flow monitor option, so we can trace the source IP, the destination IP, and top talker feature in this."
"The threshold alerting is the most valuable feature."
"The most valuable aspects of the solution are the application monitors that allow for discreet roaming on network devices."
 

Cons

"What I'd like to improve in vRealize Log Insight is the licensing model. VMware provides vRealize Log Insight along with the VMware Cloud Foundation, but customers who would like to go for the native VMware would have to procure vRealize Log Insight separately. Today, vRealize Log Insight is offered on two different licenses, one is based on the number of VMs, and the other is based on the number of physical codes on the machine. If VMware can provide a bundle offer for customers who procure more than ten licenses, where you can have an option to run, for example, three hundred machines on vRealize Log Insight with no extra cost, this would encourage more people to adopt the solution. What I'd like to see in the next release of vRealize Log Insight is for a cloud option to be available, which would be a pay-as-you-go licensing model that would allow me to pick and choose what I'll monitor. For example, I have one thousand and three hundred critical servers, and the seven hundred servers for basic development, I don't want to monitor on vRealize Log Insight today, so I should be able to pick what I need to monitor on the solution and only pay for that specific instance. If VMware can apply these changes, it would help VMware customers to procure more or adopt more of vRealize Log Insight even in smaller projects."
"The tool does not provide a centralized pane for monitoring."
"In the VMware environment, one area for improvement is the handling of VM failovers due to host failures, such as unexpected shutdowns from hardware issues. Currently, High Availability (HA) doesn't seem to recognize whether the VMs are online during failover, treating them as offline or unavailable."
"The solution is a very good tool, but it has a lot of limitations. One of the main issues is around how you define your retention policy, for instance, in Log Insight. It doesn't have it. You can't define a log retention policy. You also can't define the destination or location for your logs. All of the logs are in one index or one bucket."
"The solution should be more user-friendly. The user interface and dashboard could be simplified."
"I would like to see more tutorials or at least an introduction video from the supplier, so you can become proficient and get the most out of the solution. You might not get the full benefit from a logging or reporting solution because you might not have a particular tool enabled. You could leave something out of your analysis because you aren't aware of it or you don't know how to set it up."
"The pricing of the solution could be improved."
"The tool is expensive."
"My understanding is that there are better products out there that do a better job."
"I haven't had any issue with stability, except during the upgrade to 2017 when we encountered slow responses."
"Importing the maps and being able to customize them could be easier."
"Honestly, I do not particularly like WhatsUp Gold. I think we should get rid of it."
"The licensing model could be improved. Right now, the levels are too far apart. This causes the solution to be more expensive than it needs to be."
"This product should add other options for monitoring. It does not currently meet the broader needs of the banking industry in the version we have deployed."
"The technical support does not bother to respond."
"I would like to see better integration with switches so that you can see what is connected to each port, what the traffic is, and have a network map automatically generated."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think it is a reasonably priced product."
"The licensing cost for vRealize Log Insight is a little higher, so in terms of cost, it all depends upon what kind of environment you have. If you have a complete virtualized environment, or at least you're using a ninety-five percent virtualized environment, then vRealize Log Insight will play a very good role because it is a VMware component, so it has very tight integration with other VMware components and systems. This means you don't have to procure any other monitoring and management tool, and you don't need a separate automation tool. vRealize Log Insight will have an upper hand if your environment is purely virtualized on VMware. If you're using a mix of physical and virtual components, for example, a 50:50 ratio, then you need to have a third-party component to manage overall monitoring."
"I rate the product's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"The pricing has been updated recently."
"It is not cheap. But it is worth it."
"I am not sure what the exact cost is. However, I believe the vRealize suite costs $2,500.00 per year."
"The product's price is reasonable, but when it comes to SQL licensing, it's a bit expensive."
"Pricing could always be lower. If it were free, I would be more satisfied."
"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."
"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."
"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."
"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."
"This is a well priced solution."
"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."
"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."
"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vRealize Log Insight?
VMware Aria Operations for Logs does have device licenses. The license is perpetual and you do not have to pay monthly as it is a one time purchase. The only thing is if you are looking for support...
What needs improvement with vRealize Log Insight?
VMware periodically provides upgrades and updates to the product. They are also extending support to various third party hardware as well. I am not sure whether they have any ready made APIs for cl...
What is your primary use case for vRealize Log Insight?
We have been using this for the last five years.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?
Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...
What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?
It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.
What is your primary use case for WhatsUp Gold?
My use case for WhatsUp Gold includes all device availability checks, bandwidth usage, CPU, and memory usage, as well as alarm notifications.
 

Also Known As

vRealize Log Insight
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Wildlands Adventure Zoo, Medic Mobile, IBM, Seventy Seven Energy, Baystate Health, Osis, Oxford University, Columbia University, Siemens, Cardinal Health, Ashdod Port, Vasakronan, Sydney Adventist Hospital, University of Derby
Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof
Find out what your peers are saying about VMware Aria Operations for Logs vs. WhatsUp Gold and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,948 professionals have used our research since 2012.