Graylog Enterprise vs VMware Aria Operations for Logs comparison

Graylog and VMware are both solutions in the Log Management category. Graylog is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.0, while VMware is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.2. Graylog holds a 6.2% mindshare in Log Management, compared to VMware’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Graylog users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Graylog Enterprise

Read 21 Graylog Enterprise reviews

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8,755 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Read 28 VMware Aria Operations for Logs reviews

2,061 Views
2,040 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Graylog Enterprise

VMware Aria Operations for ...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 8, 2025

VMware Aria Operations for Logs and Graylog Enterprise are competitive solutions in log management. VMware Aria stands out in environments with substantial VMware systems due to its deep integration with VMware products, while Graylog Enterprise offers flexibility and customization, especially in open-source deployments.

Features: VMware Aria Operations for Logs integrates seamlessly with vSphere and vRealize, providing virtualization support, log analytics, and dashboards. It benefits users by simplifying management tasks within VMware infrastructures. Graylog Enterprise offers real-time log processing, built on open-source foundations, with Elasticsearch integration. Its ease in setting up alerts and searching logs is appreciated by users.

Room for Improvement: VMware Aria Operations for Logs could improve scalability and third-party integration while simplifying operations and licensing structures. Enhancements in user-friendliness and better documentation are desired. Graylog Enterprise needs to address challenges in retention policy management and infrastructure costs due to Elasticsearch dependency. Users suggest improvements in stream alerts and support for containerized environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware Aria Operations for Logs predominantly offers on-premises deployment with reliable technical support, though responsiveness could improve. Graylog Enterprise supports both on-premises and hybrid cloud environments. Its open-source version minimizes costs but offers limited support. Users find the free version straightforward to deploy, though the enterprise support could be more individualized compared to VMware.

Pricing and ROI: VMware Aria Operations for Logs is viewed as expensive, especially for smaller businesses not heavily invested in VMware's suite, but can offer good ROI when extensively used. Graylog Enterprise's open-source nature is appealing for cost-effective solutions, yet scaling can increase costs due to infrastructure needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Graylog Enterprise vs. VMware Aria Operations for Logs Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise vs. VMware Aria Operations for Logs

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

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Ranking in Log Management

13th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

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 VMware Aria Operations for Logs is 1.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
VMware Aria Operations for Logs	1.3%
Graylog	6.2%
Other	92.5%

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

LarsChristensen

Advisory Solution Consultant at ServiceNow

Efficient troubleshooting with precise log filtering and an easy setup

The tool could benefit from improved filter settings and dashboarding. While there are dashboards available, they are often created by community members and may not work after updates. It would be beneficial to have a roadmap for these dashboards to ensure consistent functionality. It would also be advantageous if the tool could process even large amounts of data faster, though this may be more related to data movement challenges rather than the software itself.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

"The product is scalable. The solution is stable."

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

"Storing logs in Elasticsearch means log retrieval is extremely fast, and full text search is available by default."

"Open source and user friendly."

"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."

"I am very proud of how very stable the solution is."

"It is used as a log manager/SIEM. It provides visibility into the infrastructure and security related events."

More Graylog Enterprise pros

"I like the interface."

"Overall, I would recommend VMware Aria Operations for Logs because it is a good tool with many valuable features."

"vRealize Log Insight has been running without any issues."

"I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten."

"It gives the customer a quick overview, so they don't have to dig. There's a clear dashboard with many sensors in a single space. He gets a helicopter view of his environment, but he can investigate further if there are serious issues. It's pretty user-friendly."

"The trace log is the solution's most valuable feature. It's very helpful in troubleshooting problems."

"Our current costs are too high, and this tool will help us to better optimize our infrastructure."

"One of the things I like about it is its interface. When it comes to generating reports on VMs and stuff, it's very quick. This is very handy for the technical team, who need to generate reports quickly. So that's really good."

More VMware Aria Operations for Logs pros

Cons

"The infrastructure cost is the main issue. I like the rest. If the infrastructure costs could be lower, it would be fantastic."

"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."

"Since container orchestration systems are popular and Graylog fits the niche well, perhaps they could officially support running in docker containers on Kubernetes as a StatefulSet as a use case. That way, the declarative nature of Kubernetes config files would document their best case deployment scenario-"

"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."

"More complex visualizations and the ability to execute custom Elasticsearch queries would be great."

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

"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."

More Graylog Enterprise cons

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Paid or free does not matter, but it is complex to find good training material for vRealize Log Insight."

"Customer service and support have declined. Six months ago, I would have rated it as an eight or nine. Currently, it feels more like a four, five, or six."

"I don't use the solution on a day to day basis, so I'm not sure what specifically can be improved."

"The tool could be cheaper."

"Log retention should have more options for user control."

More VMware Aria Operations for Logs cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"We are using the free version of the product. However, the paid version is expensive."

"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."

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

"I use the free version of Graylog."

"Consider Enterprise support if you have atypical needs or setup requirements."

"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."

"If you want something that works and do not have the money for Splunk or QRadar, take Graylog."

More Graylog Enterprise pricing and cost advice

"I think it is a reasonably priced product."

"Pricing could always be lower. If it were free, I would be more satisfied."

"It is not cheap. But it is worth it."

"The product's price is reasonable, but when it comes to SQL licensing, it's a bit expensive."

"Pricing is good because it is part of the suite package. It comes in a bundle for us."

"I rate the product's price a six on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

"The license cost for any other monitoring tool is too high compared to this product."

"The pricing has been updated recently."

More VMware Aria Operations for Logs pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Government

University

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

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	7
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	12

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 do you like most about vRealize Log Insight?

The events are notably more descriptive, aiding in security and event analysis. We've also integrated Sky Collector, providing valuable insights and solutions for troubleshooting.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vRealize Log Insight?

The cost of using VMware Aria Operations for Logs was very high, around two to three million dollars, although the exact figure is uncertain. The price was proving to be too much, especially with t...

See all answers

What needs improvement with vRealize Log Insight?

VMware Aria Operations for Logs is not a cost-effective tool. Changing any telemetry requires creating a new template, such as changes to the VM disk size. Always having to create a new template ma...

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Compared 17% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

LogRhythm SIEM vs VMware Aria Operations for Logs

Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise

August 2025

Download Graylog Enterprise product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Operations for Logs

August 2025

Download VMware Aria Operations for Logs product report

Also Known As

Graylog2

vRealize Log Insight

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

Manage data at scale with centralized log management, deep operational visibility and intelligent analytics for troubleshooting and auditing across private, hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

VMware

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

Buyer's Guide

Graylog Enterprise vs. VMware Aria Operations for Logs

July 2025

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