Elastic Observability vs Security Onion comparison

Elastic and Security Onion Solutions, LLC are both solutions in the Log Management category. Elastic is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.8, while Security Onion Solutions, LLC is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.0. Elastic holds a 1.1% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Security Onion Solutions, LLC’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Elastic users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 66% of Security Onion Solutions, LLC users who would recommend it.

Elastic Observability

Read 29 Elastic Observability reviews

8,483 Views
2,036 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Security Onion

Read 3 Security Onion reviews

8,067 Views
6,776 Comparison Views

66% willing to recommend

Elastic Observability

Security Onion

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Elastic Observability and Security Onion compete in observability and network security. Elastic Observability has an edge in deployment speed and integration, whereas Security Onion is favored for its robust security features.

Features: Elastic Observability offers versatile monitoring, strong integration across tools, and real-time data analysis. Security Onion provides comprehensive network security, threat detection, and intrusion detection systems.

Room for Improvement: Elastic Observability can enhance its analytics dashboard, simplify configuration, and improve user interface. Security Onion needs better system updates, enhanced scalability, and streamlined process improvements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Elastic Observability is known for straightforward deployment and responsive support. Security Onion requires more complex setup but offers detailed documentation.

Pricing and ROI: Elastic Observability is cost-effective with competitive pricing and high ROI. Security Onion is free but may incur additional infrastructure costs, with ROI linked to robust security.

To learn more, read our detailed Elastic Observability vs. Security Onion Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. Security Onion

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

Elastic Observability

Ranking in Log Management

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (10th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (15th), Container Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (10th)

Security Onion

Ranking in Log Management

22nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Elastic Observability is 1.1%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Security Onion is 3.4%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Elastic Observability	1.1%
Security Onion	3.4%
Other	95.5%

Log Management

Featured Reviews

Mohammed-Abdelalim

Assistant Vice President at QualityKiosk Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Has provided powerful customization for unique monitoring needs but needs more out-of-the-box capabilities

In my opinion, the best features of Elastic Observability are their flexibility to integrate with other existing systems and the ability to build a unified monitoring tool that can integrate with existing ones and end-to-end user journeys which require a lot of customizations. The greatest feature in Elastic is the ability to customize. This is similar to my comments about customizable dashboards in Elastic because it's visible to the analyst. However, it's very great. Customizing these dashboards can meet the customer's specific use cases and specific stories that they have in their environment, their special environment that doesn't look like other environments. The dashboarding in Elastic is highly customizable to the level of logos. If the customer wants his company logo in the dashboard, it can be done.

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Anish Bajracharya

Postgraduate at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Provides good threat hunting by finding infected ports, but its initial setup is difficult

The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports. I have used the Squert tool within Security Onion the most for threat hunting The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult. I have been using Security Onion for one year.…

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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

"The tool's most valuable feature is centralized logging. Elastic Common Search helps us to search for the logs across the organization."

"It is very stable, and I would rate it ten out of ten based on my interaction with it."

"I think Elastic Observability is already in very good shape."

"We use AppDynamics and Elastic. The reason why we're using Elastic APM is because of the license count. It's very favorable compared to AppDynamics. It's inexpensive; it's economical."

"Its diverse set of features available on the cloud is of significant importance."

"The most valued feature of Elastic is its log analytics capabilities."

"We can view and connect different sources to the dashboard using it."

"The solution has been stable in our usage."

More Elastic Observability pros

"We use Security Onion for internal vulnerability assessment."

"Security Onion is the most mature solution in the market."

"The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports."

Cons

"Elastic Observability needs to improve the retrieval of logs and metrics from all the instances."

"The cost must be made more transparent."

"Elastic Observability could improve asset discovery as the current requirement to push the agent is not ideal."

"There is room for improvement regarding its APM capabilities."

"The solution needs to use more AI. Once the product onboards AI, users would more effectively be able to track endpoints for specific messages."

"If we had some pre-defined templates for observability that we could start using right away after deploying it – instead of having to build or to change some of the dashboards – that would be helpful."

"There could be more low-code features included in the product."

"It lacked some capabilities when handling on-prem devices, like network observability, package flow analysis, and device performance data on the infrastructure side."

More Elastic Observability cons

"Security Onion's user interface could be improved."

"The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult."

"The product is not easy to learn."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product’s pricing needs improvement."

"So far, there are just the standard licensing fees. Several of the components are embedded in the license or are even open source. They're even free depending on what you use, which makes it even more appealing to someone that is discussing pricing of the solution."

"There are two types: cloud and SaaS. They charge based on data ingestion, ingest rate, hard retention, and warm retention. I believe it costs around $25,000 annually to ingest 30GB of data daily. That is the SaaS version. There is also a self-managed license where the customer manages their own infrastructure on-prem. In such cases, there are three license tiers that respectively cost $5,000 annually per node, $7,000 per node, and $12,500 per node."

"Users have to pay for some features, like the alerts on different channels, because they are unavailable in different source versions."

"The price of Elastic Observability is expensive."

"Elastic Observability is cheaper than other similar solutions, such as Dynatrace. Its license calculation is based on various factors like data volume and physical infrastructure, particularly related to RAM capacity."

"Since we are a huge company, Elastic Observability is an affordable solution for us."

"The product is not that cheap."

More Elastic Observability pricing and cost advice

"It is an open-source solution."

"Security Onion is an open-source solution."

"Security Onion is a free solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

University

12%

Government

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	16

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Elastic Observability?

Elastic Observability significantly improves incident response time by providing quick access to logs and data across various sources. For instance, searching for specific keywords in logs spanning...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Elastic Observability?

The problem is their licensing model, which is a bit confusing. Many customers struggle to understand their total cost of ownership because Elastic licensing is not dependent on easy, quantifiable ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Elastic Observability?

After careful consideration about areas for improvement in Elastic Observability, aspects such as pricing, customization, implementation, and scalability could be improved. As a user of the system,...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Security Onion?

The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs Elastic Observability

Compared 7% of the time

Sentry vs Elastic Observability

Compared 6% of the time

Grafana vs Elastic Observability

Compared 6% of the time

New Relic vs Elastic Observability

Compared 6% of the time

Datadog vs Elastic Observability

Compared 5% of the time

More Elastic Observability Competitors

Wazuh vs Security Onion

Compared 43% of the time

Elastic Stack vs Security Onion

Compared 12% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Security Onion

Compared 10% of the time

Graylog Enterprise vs Security Onion

Compared 7% of the time

Logstash vs Security Onion

Compared 1% of the time

More Security Onion Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability

January 2026

Download Elastic Observability product report

Buyer's Guide

Log Management

January 2026

Download Security Onion product report

Overview

Elastic Observability offers a comprehensive suite for log analytics, application performance monitoring, and machine learning. It integrates seamlessly with platforms like Teams and Slack, enhancing data visualization and scalability for real-time insights.

Elastic Observability is designed to support production environments with features like logging, data collection, and infrastructure tracking. Centralized logging and powerful search functionalities make incident response and performance tracking efficient. Elastic APM and Kibana facilitate detailed data visualization, promoting rapid troubleshooting and effective system performance analysis. Integrated services and extensive connectivity options enhance its role in business and technical decision-making by providing actionable data insights.

What are the most important features of Elastic Observability?

Centralized Logging: Streamlines the collection, analysis, and storage of log data.
Powerful Search: Provides robust search capabilities for quick access to relevant information.
Scalability: Supports growing data needs across diverse environments.
Real-time Telemetry: Ensures up-to-date insights and monitoring.
Platform Integration: Seamlessly connects with services like Teams and Slack.
Data Visualization: Enhances visibility with Elastic APM and Kibana.

What benefits and ROI should users explore in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers significant savings through efficient data management.
Rapid Incident Response: Minimizes downtime with quick troubleshooting tools.
Comprehensive Insights: Supports better business decisions with detailed data analysis.
Performance Tracking: Enables assessment of system effectiveness and improvements.

Elastic Observability is employed across industries for critical operations, such as in finance for transaction monitoring, in healthcare for secure data management, and in technology for optimizing application performance. Its data-driven approach aids efficient event tracing, supporting diverse industry requirements.

Elastic

Security Onion is an open-source Linux distribution for intrusion detection, network security monitoring, and log management. It offers comprehensive solutions for enterprises seeking to enhance their cybersecurity infrastructure.

Security Onion provides a full suite of tools to detect and respond to cybersecurity threats efficiently. As a robust and versatile distribution, it includes capabilities for real-time analysis, network visibility, and threat detection, making it indispensable for security operations centers. Users value this tool for its integration of open-source software with advanced analytics, affording professionals a detailed overview of network traffic and potential intrusions.

What are Security Onion’s most important features?

Intrusion Detection: Utilizes Suricata or Zeek for effective threat monitoring.
Network Security Monitoring: Offers powerful visualization tools for network analysis.
Log Management: Centralizes log collection and analysis.
Comprehensive Dashboards: Provides integrated dashboards for threat visibility.

What benefits or ROI should you look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Reduced cybersecurity costs due to its open-source nature.
Improved Threat Detection: Enhanced ability to identify and respond to threats quickly.
Integration Capability: Seamless integration with existing security infrastructures.
Scalability: Support for scaling network security operations as needed.

Security Onion finds extensive application in industries such as finance, healthcare, and government sectors, where robust network monitoring is critical. Its ability to integrate with existing security tools makes it a preferred choice for organizations looking to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.

Security Onion Solutions, LLC

Sample Customers

PSCU, Entel, VITAS, Mimecast, Barrett Steel, Butterfield Bank

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. Security Onion

December 2025

Free Report: Elastic Observability vs. Security Onion

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