Graylog Enterprise vs SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server comparison

Graylog and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Log Management category. Graylog is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.0, while SolarWinds is ranked #23 with an average rating of 8.5. Graylog holds a 6.2% mindshare in Log Management, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Graylog users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Graylog Enterprise

Read 21 Graylog Enterprise reviews

8,755 Views
8,755 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

Read 7 SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server reviews

2,692 Views
2,665 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Graylog Enterprise

SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 8, 2025

Graylog Enterprise and SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server are both key players in the syslog server market. Graylog Enterprise stands out with its ability to handle complex data management, while SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is preferred for its affordability and ease of use.

Features: Graylog Enterprise offers advanced log collection, powerful correlation capabilities, and a configurable open-source foundation suited for large-scale operations. It supports Elasticsearch integration and real-time data processing, making it ideal for handling extensive log data. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server provides essential log management features, supports multiple protocols, and offers color-coded log displays for easier event monitoring, making it appealing for small to mid-sized organizations.

Room for Improvement: Graylog Enterprise could benefit from streamlined deployment processes and reduced initial setup complexity. Enhanced user documentation for beginners would also be valuable. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server might improve by expanding its feature set to include more robust analytics, offering more advanced data correlation tools, and providing a more powerful alerting system.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is known for quick deployment and minimal configuration, making it easy to get started. It also provides reliable customer service for straightforward setup. Graylog Enterprise, while more complex in deployment, offers comprehensive support and detailed documentation, aiding enterprises with elaborate setup needs.

Pricing and ROI: Graylog Enterprise entails higher initial costs due to its rich feature set but offers significant long-term ROI for large-scale implementations. It is a cost-intensive solution that pays off for businesses needing in-depth analytics. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server presents a cost-effective option with lower upfront expenses, offering a compelling ROI for businesses seeking basic log monitoring without advanced functionalities.

To learn more, read our detailed Graylog Enterprise vs. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise vs. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

July 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

Graylog Enterprise

Ranking in Log Management

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

Ranking in Log Management

23rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Graylog Enterprise is 6.2%, up from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is 1.7%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Graylog	6.2%
SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server	1.7%
Other	92.1%

Log Management

Featured Reviews

Ivan Kokalovic

DevOps Engineer at Proton Technologies

Facilitates backend service monitoring with efficient log retrieval and API flexibility

Graylog is valuable because it bridges technical knowledge to non-technical teams, presenting complex backend processes in a simple timeline. It boosts the knowledge of sales and customer support teams by allowing them to see the backend operations without needing to read the code. Its API is flexible for visualization, and its powerful search engine efficiently handles large volumes of log data. Moreover, its stability, fast search capabilities, and compatibility with languages like ANSI SQL enhance its utility in IT infrastructure.

Read full review

Muhammad Anas

Assistant Manager NOC and Infrastructure at NiFT

Shows login failures and server issues but search functions and filters could be improved

Kiwi Syslog shows login failures and server issues. I'm using version 9.8.1. It's deployed on-premises. There are four people in my organization who are using this solution. They're all infrastructure engineers The best thing about Kiwi Syslog is that it filters logs into different levels. It's…

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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 ability to write custom alerts is key to information security and compliance."

"The Graylog features that have proven to be most beneficial for our data analysis in particular are that we tend to use it as a big data store, so we have the correlation rules that, if something matches under certain conditions, it raises an alarm."

"We're using the Community edition, but I know that it has really good dashboarding and alerts."

"We have scaled from a single machine installation (a VM with a Graylog + ES + MongoDB) to (2 Graylog + 2 ES + 3 MongoDB). This was done smoothly with a minimal impact on logging."

"Allowing us to set up alerts and integrate with platforms we already use, such as Slack and OpsGenie to alert users of these errors proactively, is also a very useful feature."

"One of the most valuable features is that you are able to do a very detailed search through the log messages in the overview."

"Graylog's search functionality, alerting functionality, user management, and dashboards are useful."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its new interface."

More Graylog Enterprise pros

"Overall, I rate SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server ten out of ten."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the alerting based on the security logs."

"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."

"Simplicity is the most valuable feature."

"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."

"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."

"We are very happy with the stability of the solution."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server is its performance and management. Additionally, the solution integrates well."

More SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server pros

Cons

"Its scalability gets complicated when we have to update or edit multiple nodes."

"Elasticsearch recommendations for tuning could be better. Graylog doesn't have direct support for running the system inside of Kubernetes, so it can be challenging to fill in the gaps and set up containers in a way that is both performant and stable."

"When it comes to configuring the processing pipeline, writing the rules can be very tedious, especially since the documentation isn't extensive on how the functions provided for these rules work."

"Graylog needs to improve their authentication. Also, the fact that Graylog displays logs from the top down is just ridiculous."

"Over six months, I had two similar issues where searches were performed on field "messages". It exhausted all the memory of the ES node causing an ES crash and a Graylog halt."

"The biggest problem is the collector application, as we wanted to avoid using Graylog Collector Sidecar due to its architecture."

"Graylog could improve the process of creating rules. We have to create them manually by doing parses and applying them. Other SIEM solutions have basic rules and you can create and get more events of interest."

"With technical support, you are on your own without an enterprise license."

More Graylog Enterprise cons

"I would like to see better search functions and better filters in the next release."

"The Windows log forwarder is not functioning properly."

"Technical support could definitely be better."

"I would like to see a more user-friendly and customizable dashboard."

"SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server could improve by reducing the price."

"SolarWinds pricing is perceived as very high in the market, which can be a barrier for many customers."

"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."

"I would like to have email notifications for emergency logs."

More SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am using a community edition. I have not looked at the enterprise offering from Graylog."

"I use the free version of Graylog."

"Graylog is a free open-source solution. The free version has a capacity limitation of 2 GB daily, if you want to go above this you have to purchase a license."

"You get a lot out-of-the-box with the non-enterprise version, so give it a try first."

"Having paid official support is wise for projects."

"We're using the Community edition."

"It's open source and free. They have a paid version, but we never looked into that because we never needed the features of the paid version."

"There is an open source version and an enterprise version. I wouldn't recommend the enterprise version, but as an open source solution, it is solid and works really well."

More Graylog Enterprise pricing and cost advice

"We subscribe and pay directly on the website."

"The price of SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server could improve."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Government

University

Government

15%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Graylog?

The product is scalable. The solution is stable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Graylog?

I am not familiar with the pricing details of Graylog, as I was not responsible for that aspect. It was determined that we didn't need an enterprise plan, which is more suited for clients with less...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Graylog?

An improvement I would suggest is in Graylog's user interface, such as allowing for font size adjustments. A potential enhancement could be the integration with Ollama to run large language models ...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise

August 2025

Download Graylog Enterprise product report

Buyer's Guide

Log Management

August 2025

Download SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server product report

Also Known As

Graylog2

Kiwi Syslog Server

Overview

Graylog Enterprise, recognized for log collection, real-time search, and enriched data handling, offers an open-source framework that integrates seamlessly with Elasticsearch. Its user-centric interface streamlines data correlation and log aggregation, supporting both backend services and comprehensive monitoring needs.

Graylog Enterprise stands out for its stability and powerful log management capabilities, facilitating efficient log aggregation, real-time updates, and data analytics. Users benefit from its plugin-based alerting, user-friendly interface, and support for microservices, including Docker integration. The ability to search in detail, flexible API integration, and data enrichment features are highly valued. Challenges include collector application issues, desired visualization enhancements, and authentication integration improvements. Users seek advancements in UI customization, backup functions, and easier rule creation.

What are Graylog Enterprise's most important features?

Log Collection: Efficiently aggregates and handles diverse logs.
Real-Time Search: Provides immediate log data access.
Custom Alerts: Plugin-based alerting for tailored notifications.
Dashboard Enhancements: Improved visualization for data insights.
Data Enrichment: Adds value through detailed log analysis.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Audit Trail Support: Essential for compliance in financial sectors.
Security Event Correlation: Enables incident analysis and response.
Faster Issue Identification: Speeds up troubleshooting with detailed visualization.
API Flexibility: Seamless integration across systems and environments.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Centralized log management enhances oversight.

In industrial use, Graylog Enterprise is crucial for audit trailing in financial sectors, facilitating security event identification and error monitoring. Backend teams leverage real-time analytics for swift issue resolution, while developers appreciate the comprehensive log visualization enabled by Docker integration for microservice management.

Graylog

A syslog server is a logging server that allows for the centralized collection of syslog messages, known as events, from a variety of networking devices such as routers, switches, and firewalls, in addition to servers running a variety of operating systems.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Blue Cross Blue Shield, eBay, Cisco, LinkedIn, SAP, King.com, Twilio, Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Holy Cross Energy, West Texas A&M University, Medium Enterprise Industrial Manufacturing Company

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise vs. SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server

July 2025

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