Graylog vs Logstash comparison

Graylog and Elastic are both solutions in the Log Management category. Graylog is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.0, while Elastic is ranked #25 with an average rating of 9.3. Graylog holds a 6.5% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Elastic’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Graylog users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 66% of Elastic users who would recommend it.

Graylog

Read 21 Graylog reviews

9,223 Views
5,549 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Logstash

Read 4 Logstash reviews

772 Views
362 Comparison Views

66% willing to recommend

Graylog

Logstash

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Graylog and Logstash based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Log Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Graylog vs. Logstash Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Graylog vs. Logstash

June 2025

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Helped 860,592 peers since 2012

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

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

Logstash

Ranking in Log Management

25th

Average Rating

9.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Graylog is 6.5%, up from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Logstash is 0.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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

Mustafa Husny

Senior System Engineer at Techline-eg

Helps to collect logs from various data sources, including hardware

I use Logstash primarily for connecting logs from hardware. This is the main use case. The second use case involves making correlations between logs from various sources. I can collect logs from various data sources, including hardware. The product needs to improve its compatibility. I rate…

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

"This had increased productivity for the dev and support teams, because we are directly notifying them."

"What I like about Graylog is that it's real-time and you have access to the raw data. So, you ingest it, and you have access to every message and every data item you ingest. You can then build analytics on top of that. You can look at the raw data, and you can do some volumetric estimations, such as how big traffic you have, how many messages of data of a type you have, etc."

"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."

"It has data adapters and lookup tables that utilize HTTP calls to APIs."

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

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

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

"Real-time UDP/GELF logging and full text-based searching."

More Graylog pros

"I can collect logs from various data sources, including hardware."

"We have three or four Logstash servers for high availability."

"Logstash has numerous plugins for inputs and outputs, allowing it to work well in environments that do not contain other Elastic components."

"The transformation means we ship the logs in the way that we want them to be presented in Kibana, which is the main function we use Logstash for."

"Everything aligns well with improving our organization."

Cons

"More customization is always useful."

"There should be some user groups and an auto sign-in feature."

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

"Lacks sufficient documentation."

"I hope to see improvements in Graylog for more interactivity, user-friendliness, and creating alerts. The initial setup is complex."

"I would like to see a default dashboard widget that shows the topology of the clusters defined for the graylog install."

"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."

More Graylog cons

"The product needs to improve its compatibility."

"An enhancement we could implement is the ability to cluster Logstash to exist in more than one node."

"Elastic does not provide proper support for Logstash worldwide, and I rate their technical support as one out of ten."

"We still have a problem with importing the log system."

"Almost all the research can be very bad. We still have a problem with importing the log system."

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."

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

"It's an open-source solution that can be used free of charge."

"I use the free version of Graylog."

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

"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."

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

More Graylog pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Comms Service Provider

10%

University

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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...

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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 Logstash?

I can collect logs from various data sources, including hardware.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Logstash?

Logstash lacks a graphical user interface, necessitating a strong programming background to handle it effectively. It is challenging for business users who need a skilled team for its operation. Ch...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Logstash?

I am considered an expert in Elastic Observability ( /products/elastic-observability-reviews ) in the Middle East. During my experience, I have worked heavily on Logstash ( /products/logstash-38586...

See all answers

Comparisons

Grafana Loki vs Graylog

Compared 36% of the time

Wazuh vs Graylog

Compared 25% of the time

syslog-ng vs Graylog

Compared 11% of the time

Security Onion vs Graylog

Compared 6% of the time

Fortinet FortiAnalyzer vs Graylog

Compared 3% of the time

More Graylog Competitors

Cribl vs Logstash

Compared 42% of the time

Grafana Loki vs Logstash

Compared 17% of the time

syslog-ng vs Logstash

Compared 17% of the time

Wazuh vs Logstash

Compared 14% of the time

More Logstash Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Graylog

June 2025

Download Graylog product report

Buyer's Guide

Log Management

May 2025

Download Logstash product report

Also Known As

Graylog2

No data available

Overview

Graylog is purpose-built to deliver the best log collection, storage, enrichment, and analysis. Graylog is:

Considerably faster analysis speeds.
More robust and easier-to-use analysis platform.
Simpler administration and infrastructure management.
Lower cost than alternatives.
Full-scale customer service.
No expensive training or tool experts required.

Graylog

Logstash is a versatile data processing pipeline that ingests data from multiple sources, transforms it, and sends it to preferred destinations, enabling seamless data utilization across systems.

Logstash provides an efficient and flexible way to manage data flow, supporting diverse input sources and offering a rich set of plugins. Its real-time processing capability and ease of integration with Elasticsearch make it advantageous for businesses looking to enhance data analytics. While valuable, Logstash can benefit from improvements like scalability enhancements and more robust error-handling mechanisms.

What are the key features of Logstash?

Input Plugin Support: Connects to a wide range of data sources for seamless ingestion.
Filter Plugin: Processes and enriches logs before output.
Output Plugin Flexibility: Delivers data to various endpoints efficiently.
Real-Time Pipeline: Processes data in real-time for immediate insights.

What benefits does Logstash provide?

Enhanced Data Processing: Streamlines data ingestion and transformation workflows.
Improved Analytics: Facilitates deeper insights through seamless Elasticsearch integration.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces total expenses by optimizing data handling processes.
Scalability: Adapts to diverse data volumes and use cases.

Industries like finance and e-commerce leverage Logstash for managing extensive log data and improving decision-making by feeding enriched data into analytics platforms. Its ability to handle diverse formats and integrate with Elastic Stack has proven crucial in implementing comprehensive data strategies.

Elastic

Sample Customers

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

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Graylog vs. Logstash

June 2025

Free Report: Graylog vs. Logstash

Find out what your peers are saying about Graylog vs. Logstash and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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