Find the best Log Analysis Software

Overview
ON THIS PAGE

Compare Products

Showing 1 - 20 of 56 products

ManageEngine Log360

Log360 is a SIEM or security analytics solution that helps you combat threats on premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment. It also helps organizations adhere to compliance mandates such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR and more. ...Read more about ManageEngine Log360

Datadog

Datadog is the monitoring, security and analytics platform for developers, IT operations teams, security engineers and business users in the cloud age. Datadog's SaaS platform integrates and automates infrastructure monitoring, ...Read more about Datadog

Site24x7

Site24x7 is a cloud-based website and server monitoring platform that helps small to large size businesses monitor websites, servers, clouds, networks, applications and real-time users. The platform enables users to derive insight...Read more about Site24x7

Sumo Logic

Sumo Logic is a cloud-based log management platform that helps small to large businesses create, manage and archive event logs for auditing, issue tracking and compliance. The centralized platform comes with real-time analytics mo...Read more about Sumo Logic

Learn More

Logz.io

Logz.io is a cloud-based log management and log analysis solution with alerts and machine-learning algorithms. It based on open-source log analysis platform the ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana). Key features include ale...Read more about Logz.io

Learn More

Splunk Enterprise

The Splunk Enterprise platform allows users to process and index most forms of data in their native format. It includes data indexing tools, which enable users to locate specific data across large data sets. The software is desi...Read more about Splunk Enterprise

Learn More

LogicMonitor

LogicMonitor’s SaaS-based observability and IT operations data collaboration platform helps ITOps, developers, MSPs and business leaders gain visibility into and predictability across the technologies that modern organizations dep...Read more about LogicMonitor

Learn More

Chaossearch

CHAOSSEARCH is a fully-managed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that helps organizations build log analytics on Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). The solution transforms S3 into a searchable data repository, allowing users ...Read more about Chaossearch

4.7 (3 reviews)

Mezmo

LogDNA is a cloud-based log management solution that enables DevOps and engineering teams to aggregate multiple system and application logs into a centralized platform. It provides various features including filters, search, timef...Read more about Mezmo

Learn More

Elastic Stack

Built on a foundation of free and open, Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, and Beats pave the way for diverse use cases that start with logging and span as far as your imagination takes you. Elastic features like machine learning, s...Read more about Elastic Stack

Learn More

BusinessLOG

Business LOG DISCOVER THE MAIN FUNCTIONS AND VERSIONS OF BUSINESS LOG, LOG MANAGEMENT SUITE FOR IT SECURITY AND CORPORATE COMPLIANCE. FULL MONITORING OF HOST AND SERVICE STATUS, ANALYSIS OF PROBLEMS IN THE SYSTEM, PREVENT DATA LO...Read more about BusinessLOG

5.0 (5 reviews)

Graylog

Graylog elevates cybersecurity and IT operations through its comprehensive SIEM, Centralized Log Management, and API Security solutions. Graylog provides the edge in Threat Detection & Incident Response across diverse attack surfa...Read more about Graylog

Learn More

VirtualMetric

VirtualMetric is an all-in-one infrastructure monitoring and reporting solution that combines advanced IT management tools with agentless monitoring to track the performance and reliability of all aspects within any IT infrastruct...Read more about VirtualMetric

5.0 (1 reviews)

Logit.io

Logit is a log management solution that delivers a fully customized logging and metrics service. The platform is built on various open-source tools such as Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibana to help manage costs generated from run...Read more about Logit.io

5.0 (1 reviews)

Alert Logic MDR

Alert Logic Log Manager is a cloud-based log management solution. The solution provides security as a service for various environments including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and hybrid environment. ...Read more about Alert Logic MDR

ServicePilot

ServicePilot is a high-performance IT monitoring system supporting highly detailed observability of critical applications, surveillance of thousands of devices, and analysis of millions of events. Combining real-time and historica...Read more about ServicePilot

4.5 (6 reviews)

LogPoint

LogPoint provides a quick analysis of your enterprise data to help businesses securely detect and respond to threats with real-time application of correlation rules. LogPoint enables organizations to identify advanced threats and...Read more about LogPoint

Logtail

Better Stack - Logtail is a log management software that helps businesses store, analyze and create actionable dashboards out of log data. The platform enables managers to identify, troubleshoot and resolve issues with IT infrastr...Read more about Logtail

No reviews yet

Observe

Observe is a SaaS Observability product which enables IT professionals to investigate modern distributed applications 10X faster. Traditional approaches focus on fragmented tooling and fragile dashboards which causes the need for ...Read more about Observe

No reviews yet

NMSaaS

NMSaaS is a SaaS network monitoring solution with Discovery, inventory, configuration, performance, and fault management in one product. This is the industry's most scalable network infrastructure performance and fault monitoring ...Read more about NMSaaS

4.9 (8 reviews)

Buyers Guide

Last Updated: March 16, 2023

Your IT applications, systems, servers, and networks generate large volumes of log data. But do you know how much of that data is analyzed? Most teams have a log management tool that deals only with data collection, storage, and retention but requires manual intervention to analyze and make sense of what’s causing problems in running your IT infrastructure correctly.

Log analysis software allows you to analyze the log data generated by IT resources, such as hardware and software systems, to detect and troubleshoot issues. It analyzes system-generated log files to understand the root cause of performance issues. This helps reduce troubleshooting time and identify anomalies that would otherwise go undetected.

In this buyers guide, we explain what log analysis software is, its common features and benefits, and the considerations and market trends you should keep in mind when buying software.

Here's what we'll cover:

What is log analysis software?

Log analysis software is a software tool that analyzes system-generated log files to help detect and troubleshoot IT issues. It not only identifies system or network errors, vulnerabilities, and threats but also pinpoints the root cause of these issues. It documents the log files for record-keeping, helps identify trends or patterns in log activity, and offers log monitoring capabilities to predict and prevent issues in the future.

A log analyzer allows businesses to understand performance failures, remediate them, and learn how to prevent them in the future, with the overall goal of improving system and application performance and reliability. The tool is mostly used by DevOps teams, system and web server administrators, and IT security analysts.

Audit-trail-of-system-logs-in-Logz.io

Audit trail of system logs in Logz.io (Source)

Common features of log analysis software

Software features vary by product or vendor, but most log analyzer tools offer the following overlapping features:

Activity dashboard

Access a centralized dashboard to organize, view, and monitor log data and related performance metrics in real time.

Data visualization

Use interactive charts, graphs, tables, maps, and other elements to visualize log data.

Log analysis

Analyze log data to detect and troubleshoot issues, extract insights, identify trends or patterns in log activity, and much more.

Reporting/analytics

Access detailed reports to identify the root cause of log events such as software install or update failure, unauthorized system access, application crash, and hacking attempts.

Anomaly detection

Automatically identify unusual activity or anomalies in log files. An anomaly is any deviation from the consistent structure of a log entry or a group of entries.

Search/filter logs

Search and filter through the log database to find specific entries and quickly fix issues such as system errors or vulnerabilities.

Alerts

Receive alerts and notifications about system errors, potential cyberattacks, or any unusual log event.

Log collection

Collect and store log files from servers, networks, firewalls, systems, applications, users, and other IT resources.

Pattern detection and recognition

Analyze log messages to identify patterns and trends in log activity and detect anomalies such as unauthorized system access.

Audit trail

Record the sequence of events and changes in your IT systems and applications. Log messages contain information that can be traced back to errors or anomalies.

What type of buyer are you?

Most log analysis software buyers belong to one of the following categories:

  • Small and midsize companies (up to 500 employees): Compared to the big players, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) have smaller IT teams and lack dedicated security professionals. A feature-rich log analyzer is desirable but could be an overkill for SMBs that have few staff members and tight IT security budgets. Instead, these buyers should opt for a tool that provides just enough functionality to collect and monitor event logs from multiple sources, including applications, systems, and networking devices. A free or open source cloud-based platform with log collection, search, filtering, and reporting functionality would be suitable for them.

  • Large enterprises (over 500 employees): Large enterprises need extensive IT security management because they have more users and devices in their IT infrastructure. They’re often the prime targets of data breaches, so they also have to comply with various industry standards and regulations. These buyers need more than just basic log analysis capabilities. They should opt for an all-in-one platform that not only monitors and analyzes proprietary log data but also offers threat detection, real-time log monitoring, user activity monitoring, pattern detection and recognition, and detailed log analytics, among other advanced features.

Benefits of log analysis software

The key benefits of implementing a log analysis tool include:

  • Enhanced regulatory compliance: Log files are the best way to demonstrate your business is complying with regulations such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can use the stored log data to track if you’re meeting industry benchmarks and compliance requirements over time. The collected logs can also come in handy as evidence during audits.

  • Improved performance: Your employees rely on IT resources such as systems and software applications to complete their daily tasks. Log analysis tools continuously monitor the log files generated by these resources to spot errors or vulnerabilities and fix them quickly. This proactive approach ensures your business doesn’t face any service disruption or downtime.

  • Greater security: With a log analysis tool, you can track down suspicious requests and vulnerabilities, block malicious traffic, and limit access to protect your IT infrastructure from threats. The software sends real-time alerts about failed authentication attempts or other security events to help you act quickly. The trends and patterns detected from log files can also help predict and prevent future attacks.

  • Better troubleshooting: A log analysis tool can troubleshoot your servers, networks, and systems for various issues—from application crashes and configuration errors to hardware failure. Troubleshooting with log analysis is often used for production monitoring, as it lets your DevOps teams detect and solve critical system errors faster.

Key considerations

Here are a few considerations to help plan your software purchase:

  • Functionality: Different businesses use log analysis software for different purposes. Most use it because they don’t want to spend a lot of time wading through volumes of log files to detect threats. Others rely on the tool to spot unknown or hidden errors, understand the reasons for recurring crashes, and spot trends or patterns. These tools are also used to monitor access to enterprise data and prevent frauds. Therefore, assess your requirements and then select a tool that offers the log management functionality you want.

  • Scalability and speed: As your business grows, the volume of data it generates will also increase. Therefore, select a log analysis tool that has the scalability to support your future data growth. Another thing to keep in mind is speed. When an issue occurs, you can’t afford to wait for a minute or two until a query returns results. So, select a tool that gives instant results, regardless of the volume of log data you’re collecting or querying.

Market trends to understand

Here’s a recent trend in the log analysis software market that you should know:

  • Machine learning (ML) algorithms are making IT systems smarter. The use of ML technology in log management software can make IT systems smarter. Systems become proactive in detecting and reacting to anomalies and unusual patterns, much before the end users experience them. By applying ML algorithms, tech teams can categorize application logs rapidly, identify issues automatically, and get alerts about threats and vulnerabilities in real time, among other benefits. An ML-powered log management solution can also eliminate routine, repeatable tasks so users can focus on tasks that need human assistance, such as problem-solving.

Note: The application selected in this guide is an example to show a feature in context and is not intended as an endorsement or a recommendation. It has been taken from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.