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Graylog Enterprise vs VMware Aria Operations for Logs comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

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
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Graylog Enterprise is 2.5%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Logs is 1.2%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Graylog Enterprise2.5%
VMware Aria Operations for Logs1.2%
Other96.3%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Merit Ronald - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Absa Bank Uganda
Centralized log insights have reduced investigation time and improve security response
One improvement I want to see in Graylog Enterprise is artificial intelligence to help us automatically identify unusual patterns and suggest possible causes. I also want to see more ready-made dashboards and alert templates for common security use cases to help us gain value from the platform faster after deployment. Lastly, I want to see improvements in handling very large volumes of data, especially after searching, and a more user-friendly log management system, particularly in large environments. I give Graylog Enterprise a 9 out of 10 because it has a limitation of a steep learning curve for new users due to the many configuration options. It takes considerable time to become comfortable with creating searches, dashboards, and alerts. Additionally, in very large environments with large volumes of logs, it requires careful planning, and its data retention is quite limited.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is used as a log manager/SIEM. It provides visibility into the infrastructure and security related events."
"Open source and user friendly."
"The product is scalable. The solution is stable."
"I am very proud of how very stable the solution is."
"UDP is a fast and lightweight protocol, perfect for sending large volumes of logs with minimal overhead."
"It is easier to find some issues, and if I find some issues, then it is easier to resolve them."
"Troubleshooting is straightforward with Graylog Enterprise."
"Graylog Enterprise positively impacts the organization by helping the team and analysts investigate incidents faster since logs from servers, endpoints, cloud, and firewalls are available in one place."
"I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten."
"VMware Aria Operations for Logs is a very stable product."
"The solution's simplicity, flexibility, and extensibility are valuable features as we can integrate everything in vRealize."
"Our current costs are too high, and this tool will help us to better optimize our infrastructure."
"The trace log is the solution's most valuable feature. It's very helpful in troubleshooting problems."
"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."
"Overall, I would recommend VMware Aria Operations for Logs because it is a good tool with many valuable features."
"It provides multiple platforms, you can use a Windows Operating System, you can Mac, and you can use Linux on a particular server."
 

Cons

"The documentation for Graylog Enterprise can be improved, as this has been a pain point."
"Graylog can improve the index rotation as it's quite a complex solution."
"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."
"Lacks sufficient documentation."
"I would like to see a date and time in the Graylog Grok patterns so that I can save time when searching for a log. I like how the streams and the search query work, but adding a date and time will allow me to pull out a log in a milli-second."
"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."
"Graylog Enterprise performs well overall; however, the UI could be improved because the SOC team creates multiple dashboards based on their use cases, and creating dashboards is complex."
"The problem was with the complexity and the cost to add extensions."
"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."
"But the license cost is too much."
"If data migration occurs during a search, it alters performance, causing delays."
"I give it a seven because it isn't easy to scale, and the cost is too high, but it's a good product overall."
"The monitoring landscape is getting bigger. When it comes to infrastructure monitoring, we need more visibility. VMware needs to integrate more related applications and third-party products. That would make it more appealing to an audience beyond the VMware team."
"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 could be cheaper."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I use the free version of Graylog."
"If you want something that works and do not have the money for Splunk or QRadar, take Graylog.​​"
"Having paid official support is wise for projects."
"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."
"It's an open-source solution that can be used free of charge."
"I am using a community edition. I have not looked at the enterprise offering from Graylog."
"The pricing has been updated recently."
"The product's price is reasonable, but when it comes to SQL licensing, it's a bit expensive."
"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 license cost for any other monitoring tool is too high compared to this product."
"I think it is a reasonably priced product."
"Pricing could always be lower. If it were free, I would be more satisfied."
"Pricing is good because it is part of the suite package. It comes in a bundle for us."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
University
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise13
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Graylog?
I am not sure about the pricing, setup cost, and licensing because that was dealt with by a different team that handled the licensing and procurement.
What needs improvement with Graylog?
Graylog Enterprise performs well overall; however, the UI could be improved because the SOC team creates multiple dashboards based on their use cases, and creating dashboards is complex. If there w...
What is your primary use case for Graylog?
Graylog Enterprise is used primarily for log management and to perform security analytics. It helps the organization collect logs from different sources and centralize them in one place. We can sea...
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.
 

Also Known As

Graylog2
vRealize Log Insight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Cross Blue Shield, eBay, Cisco, LinkedIn, SAP, King.com, Twilio, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Graylog Enterprise vs. VMware Aria Operations for Logs and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.