When Open Source Isn't Enough Anymore

Paid vs. Free: Smarter, Scalable, Secure

Graylog Open is a powerful, self-managed solution — and for many, it’s enough. But as your environment grows, DIY workarounds and manual processes can slow you down.

Graylog’s Log Management Solution (Graylog Enterprise) and Graylog’s SIEM (Graylog Security) are built on what you love, with added automation, deeper visibility, and streamlined efficiency—all without losing flexibility or control.

Automate routine tasks and alerts
Accelerate search and analysis at scale
Pay only for active data, not everything you store
Deploy your way — on-prem, hybrid, or cloud
Upgrade without vendor lock-in or forced migrations
Built-in ready parsers, dashboards with Illuminate

Scale smart. Run Graylog your way — when you’re ready.

See What You're Missing

Compare Features: Open, Enterprise, & Security

Feature Category	Graylog Open	Graylog Enterprise	Graylog Security
DATA MANAGEMENT	Basic Storage Only	✓ Tiered Storage ✓ Data Lake ✓ Snapshots ✓ Selective Retrieval	✓ All Enterprise Features
ACCESS CONTROL	Internal users only	✓ AD/LDAP ✓ SSO (OIDC, OKTA, etc.) ✓ Teams Management	✓ All Enterprise Features
DETECTION & ALERTS	Basic Triggers Basic Rules	✓ Correlation Engine ✓ Advanced Notifications	✓ All Enterprise Features + ✓ Sigma Rules ✓ MITRE ATT&CK ✓ UEBA
RISK MANAGEMENT	—	—	✓ Threat & Asset Scoring ✓ Adversary Campaign Intel ✓ Threat Coverage Tools
CONTENT & ENRICHMENT	Basic Parsers Manual Set-up	✓ Illuminate Ops Content ✓ Input Wizard ✓ Content Hub	✓ All Enterprise Features + ✓ Threat Intel Lookups ✓ Asset Data Enrichment
COMPLIANCE	—	✓ Compliance Reports ✓ Audit Logs	✓ All Enterprise Features

Feature Category	Graylog Open	Graylog Enterprise	Graylog Security
DATA MANAGEMENT	Basic Storage Only	✓Tiered Storage ✓Data Lake ✓Snapshots ✓Selective Retrieval	✓All Enterprise Features
ACCESS CONTROL	Internal users only	✓AD/LDAP ✓SSO (OIDC, OKTA, etc.) ✓Teams Management	✓All Enterprise Features
DETECTION & ALERTS	Basic Triggers Basic Rules	✓Correlation Engine ✓Advanced Notifications	✓All Enterprise Features + ✓Sigma Rules ✓MITRE ATT&CK ✓UEBA
RISK MANAGEMENT	—	—	✓Threat & Asset Scoring ✓Adversary Campaign Intel ✓Threat Coverage Tools
CONTENT & ENRICHMENT	Basic Parsers Manual Set-up	✓Illuminate Ops Content ✓Input Wizard ✓Content Hub	✓All Enterprise Features + ✓Threat Intel Lookups ✓Asset Data Enrichment
COMPLIANCE	—	✓Compliance Reports ✓Audit Logs	✓All Enterprise Features

Want to deep dive into the feature comparison? View the comprehensive list here.

Ready for Next Steps?

6 Reasons To Upgrade

Cut Costs, Scale with Ease, and Get Commercial-Grade Security

1. Lower Costs — Without Losing Coverage

The Trade-Off: Dropping data to cut costs risks missing something critical.

With Graylog Subscription: Keep all your logs — not just the ones you can afford to store. Route processed lower-priority data to a built-in data lake that doesn’t count toward your license. Use Data-Lake-Preview to search standby data before bringing it into active storage. Restore only what you need with selective retrieval, and gain full visibility without second-guessing what you dropped. Graylog Illuminate gives you ready-to-use parsing and dashboards from day one.

2. High-Fidelity Detection — Without the Noise

The Trade-Off: More alerts often means more noise, not more insight.

With Graylog Subscription: Cut through the noise with smarter correlation and risk-based prioritization. Adversary Campaign Intelligence connects related alerts, surfaces high-risk behavior, and factors in asset value and recent vulnerabilities to calculate threat severity. And with Graylog Illuminate, you get ready-to-use parsers, dashboards, alerts, and detection rules for dozens of the most common IT and cybersecurity platforms — all curated and maintained by Graylog experts.

3. Fast Investigations — Without the Backlog

The Trade-Off: Deep investigations delay response — or get skipped entirely.

With Graylog Subscription: Pivot from alert to action in seconds. Timeline views, case management, and easy evidence capture help analysts move faster — without missing context. Investigate once. Generate full investigation reports instantly with our AI-assisted writer. Move on.

4. Always Audit-Ready — Without Manual Workarounds

The Trade-Off: Compliance eats up time with scripts and spreadsheets.

With Graylog Subscription: Meet regulatory requirements without the busywork. Role-based access control, audit logging, and automated compliance reports simplify enforcement, reduce risk, and free your team from manual processes. Graylog Illuminate gives you ready-made content to build and automate reports with ease.

5. Expert Onboarding — Without Starting Over

The Trade-Off: Stay stuck on an outdated setup, or risk breaking what works by upgrading alone.

With Graylog Subscription: Our onboarding isn’t one-size-fits-all. For existing Open users, we offer expert-led architecture reviews, deployment tuning, and best-practice guidance tailored to your current setup. Graylog can even incorporate custom sources during the Onboarding Program. You’ll streamline ingestion, boost performance, and get more value from what you’ve already built — faster

6. Enterprise-Grade Support — Without the Risk of Going It Alone

The Trade-Off: Running an unsupported open source tool in production can put your team — and your compliance posture — at risk.

With Graylog Subscription: Paid subscriptions include 24/5 enterprise support with access to product experts who can help you resolve critical issues fast. You’ll also gain access to on-demand training through Graylog Academy, with the option to purchase live sessions, customized training, or a Technical Account Manager (TAM) for ongoing strategic guidance. Need deeper help? Professional services are also available to support complex use cases and accelerate results.

What Our Customers Are Saying

"My overall experience with Graylog has been excellent. They were extremely helpful in providing us with the information we needed to make the decision to purchase Graylog Enterprise, including providing honest comparisons to other products we were considering. "

"Working with the Graylog team from start to finish has been nothing but fantastic. They assisted us with implementation, followed up to make sure the experience was what we expected, and offered us grace (i.e., free licensing) while we worked through some issues. Overall, it was just a fantastic experience. "

"Implementing Robust Tasks Effortlessly: A Seamless Approach — It was perfect, perfect down to the last minute detail. The experience was so subtle and serene I ended up recommending it to all community events I go for. "

Still using Graylog Open? Without advanced threat detection, automation, and compliance tools, your team is working harder than they need to. Upgrade now and experience the difference.

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"The most powerful and flexible SIEM and centralized log management system I know."

– T-IN in the Healthcare Industry