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LogRhythm SIEM vs syslog-ng comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

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

LogRhythm SIEM
Ranking in Log Management
14th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
174
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (8th)
syslog-ng
Ranking in Log Management
17th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
2.1
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of LogRhythm SIEM is 2.1%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of syslog-ng is 2.5%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Mokhammad Rakhman - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly dashboard and machine learning capabilities improve threat hunting efficiency
LogRhythm SIEM has strong machine-learning capabilities with behavioral rules and analysis. The seamless integration for case management, along with a user-friendly dashboard user interface, makes tasks like threat hunting more efficient. Analytics and behavioral analysis help me save time with rule creation. Its scalability allows me to add components as needed. Overall, LogRhythm SIEM offers end-to-end visibility with a reasonable price.
RyanVargas - PeerSpot reviewer
It's a user-friendly open-source solution that can replace or augment a commercial product in some cases
I rate syslog-ng 10 out of 10. It's free and easy to use. It has built-in tools that help us index the various logs sent to it. It's a solid log product. If you're looking for a SIEM solution, syslog-ng will work as a stopgap measure at beginning of the project. It can also work as an injector for a true SIEM solution. You can send all the logs to syslog-ng and forward all the data to the SIEM solution after you've cleaned up the data and got the pertinent information. It's a good front end for a commercial SIEM solution, which becomes more expensive as you load more data into it. I would highly recommend syslog-ng for that use case. However, if you lack the expertise, you might need to go with a cloud-based SIEM instead. You need some in-house expertise or an outside consultant to manage it and set it up.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the main features that I like about LogRhythm NextGen SIEM is that there are a lot of pre-built pieces. Like with our AV, we didn't have to tell it how to read the logs; they already had it pre-made. So, we essentially just had to follow their guide to get the logs imported in and set up some rules for it. We've only had to manually create the parsing rules for a few of our vendors so that we could interpret the logs correctly. Most of them had already been pre-created for us."
"It's positively affected our overall rate of efficiency."
"The AI Engine can take an event and correlate it into something else giving us meaningful context regarding what is going on. We integrated it in with our ticketing system, so if an alarm fires, it raises a ticket in our system."
"SOAR is integrated with the dashboard that we use for threat management. Because it's all integrated, it is useful for us when we deploy something on-prem."
"The user interface is pretty good compared to other SIEM tools."
"Our clients enjoy having one dashboard to monitor their environments in real time."
"The daily alerts allow me to quickly find security and operations issues which need to be addressed."
"The alarm functions have helped us cut down on the manual work. They bubble things up to us instead of our having to go look for stuff. Also, from an operational perspective, day to day, the Case Management functions are really useful for us. They allow us to track what we see in the incidents that we have."
"The ability to extract and store the logs is the most valuable feature of syslog-ng."
"For us, the most valuable feature is the use of compound search for searching logs at a specific time, by a specific user, or specific behavior."
"Syslog-ng has built-in features that we can use to create alerts for a SIEM solution. It isn't a true SIEM solution, but it's sufficient for the time being."
"Syslog-ng has a separate config file in addition to the core configuration."
"Syslog-ng provides easy access to all my logs. It helps me show managers and other clients precisely where an incident occurred. I also like it because you can integrate syslog-ng with multiple solutions to allow real-time monitoring."
 

Cons

"In the next release, I would certainly like to see more HIPAA compliance. I would also like to see more integration with Palo Alto Networks, particularly their Traps, which is their endpoint solution."
"We had a little bit of difficulty implementing a disaster recovery situation because it was leveraging only Microsoft native DNS and it wouldn't work with our Infoblox DNS deployment that we use in our environment. They've been working on that behind the scenes."
"I would like a more fuller implementation of STIX/TAXII so I can pull in some of the government lists without having to go implement a whole new STIX/TAXII platform."
"I don't think the cloud model in LogRhythm is developed enough."
"I have Windows administrators who will remove the agent when they think that that's what's fouling up their upgrade or their install or their reconfiguration, etc. The first thing they do is to turn off the antivirus, turn down the firewall, and take off anything else. They don't realize that the LogRhythm agent is just sitting there monitoring. Most antivirus products have application protection features built-in where, if I'm an admin on a box, I can't uninstall antivirus. I need to have to the antivirus admin password to do that."
"For our market, the solution is quite expensive. It would be ideal if they could work on and improve their existing pricing plans to help make it more affordable in our country."
"I think there is room for improvement because the system is still running on the Windows Server platform. The problem with running on Windows is that it is not that good for scaling and providing for big deployment environments."
"I would really love to be able to take some of the data and not have to export it to a CSV file, so I can pull it into Excel to turn it into some other kind of graph."
"The filtering has room for improvement."
"It's hard to find people who know how to use syslog-ng. I often find problems with configurations, and solutions aren't integrated correctly with syslog-ng. For example, there might be data with extra decimals, or the collector agents are incorrectly named. It isn't a problem with the solution; it's a lack of professionals."
"Syslog-ng has built-in features that we can use to create alerts for a SIEM solution. It isn't a true SIEM solution, but it's sufficient for the time being."
"There is room for improvement in terms of observability."
"There is always the potential for additional integration and protocol extensions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the tool's pricing around eight out of ten."
"We work with French-speaking African countries, and it costs more than the average SIEM solution. Also, the pricing isn't too flexible. AlienVault, Splunk, and IBM QRadar are more suitable for customers on a tight budget."
"We did a five-year agreement. We pay close to a quarter of a million dollars for our solution."
"In comparison to the competition, they are more affordable. This allows us to do more with less."
"If you don't have your staff, absolutely look into the co-pilot and factor that into your cost evaluation."
"When it comes time to renew, they say, "This is what you are using. This is what we can do for you." So, they work with you on pricing."
"I think the tool is reasonably priced. There is a need to pay per year towards the licensing costs of the tool."
"Look for whatever will give you the most value. That's the main point. It is not one size fits all."
"Syslog-ng is a free open-source solution."
"Syslog-ng is open-source."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is the difference between log management and SIEM?
Rony, Daniel's answer is right on the money. There are many solutions for each in the market, a lot depends upon your ability to manage such tools and your budget. A small operation may be best s...
What needs improvement with LogRhythm NextGen SIEM?
I cannot think of any specific features that LogRhythm SIEM can improve upon since it supports a wide variety of major vendors. However, they need to improve their parsing techniques; the tool shou...
What do you like most about LogRhythm SIEM?
I find LogRhythm's log management capabilities to be beneficial.
What do you like most about syslog-ng?
For us, the most valuable feature is the use of compound search for searching logs at a specific time, by a specific user, or specific behavior.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for syslog-ng?
The pricing is in the middle. I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with one being expensive and ten being cheap.
What needs improvement with syslog-ng?
Something could potentially be improved, though it works effectively for me. In the early stages, over 10 years ago, syslog-ng was lacking some features, so I created a patch for it. I used a patch...
 

Also Known As

LogRhythm NextGen SIEM, LogRhythm, LogRhythm Threat Lifecycle Management, LogRhythm TLM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Macy's, NASA, Fujitsu, US Air Force, EY, Abbott, HD Supply, SAB Miller, UCLA, Raytheon, Amtrak, Cargill
Tecnocom, University of Victoria, University of Exeter, Datapath
Find out what your peers are saying about LogRhythm SIEM vs. syslog-ng and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.