With accelerating global technological advancement, the amount of data produced is increasing exponentially. And while logs are not new to IT infrastructure, the applications generating these logs have become a lot more sophisticated over time. As a result, the creation of logs has become a lot easier, but the analysis that much more difficult. Before you get started, please take a look at this list of the 10 best log monitoring tools.
Monitoring and analyzing logs is a key process in troubleshooting and identifying security threats. Given that a vast amount of business infrastructure moved online in 2020, log monitoring has become that much more essential in terms of security.
Log monitoring tools can help diagnose any anomalies in the data that may indicate system errors or security threats. Given that most businesses build up a colossal amount of logs, these tools can help save time, money, and workforce with as much, if not more, accuracy and efficiency.
10 Best Log Monitoring Tools in 2022 (Open Source Included):
1. Cloudlytics
Cloudlytics is not a one-dimensional tool but an integrated SaaS program that simplifies analysis across logs, billing data, and the cloud. While Cloudlytics is a premium tool, it offers a wide range of features such as third-party integrations, real-time security updates, predefined dashboards, and alerts on critical events.
One of the best features of Cloudlytics is its security dashboard. The predefined security dashboard is customizable and intuitive, boasting premium design and accessibility. Cloudlytics offers an endless list of capabilities such as live event search, threat detection, 24×7 compliance monitoring, downloadable reports, and automated best practice checks.
Cloudlytics focuses on AWS and Azure but is also coming up with support for Google Cloud. Starting at $249 per month, Cloudlytics is an excellent investment for those looking for a wide range of capabilities in a single tool. They also offer a free trial for 14 days so that you can check out the solution before committing to it.
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2. Splunk
Splunk’s Log Observer is an analysis tool that helps you observe logs across cloud environments. Splunk’s design and function are all based on data. Splunk believes in making every decision data-backed, and the entire tool is designed with this philosophy in mind. One of its key USPs is that you can view data across your organization through Splunk. This comprehensive view of data makes a big difference in how decisions are made.
Splunk has one of the best UIs in terms of log tools. Their dashboard is intuitive and very well segmented to ensure that the sections are relevant and specific. Also, Splunk is compatible with Augmented Reality, which is a huge step up for log analysis and monitoring tools. Splunk offers various pricing models and a 14-day free trial.
3. Sematext Logs
Sematext Logs is probably one of the most trusted log management-as-a-service platforms out there. With centralized logging and scalable monitoring, Sematext offers a solid product used by some of the biggest companies in the market. Sematext Logs boasts of hosted ELK as a service, which saves the user the overheads arising out of managing ELK themselves.
Sematext offers real-time alerting on both metrics and logs, which provides end-to-end visibility for sysAdmins, DevOps, and IT admins. Along with this, they also provide role-based access control, which makes user access management a lot easier and your logs a lot more accessible.
Sematext Logs starts at $50 per month, and they also offer a 14-day free trial.
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4. SolarWinds Loggly
SolarWinds has several free and premium log tools, but Loggly is their best tool so far. Loggly is an end-to-end log management tool that not only monitors your logs but also investigates and troubleshoots them. One of the best features of Loggly is that it can aggregate and analyze logs from any source.
Loggly also offers full-stack observability, which ensures monitoring and visibility that goes beyond just your logs. Its dashboard is shareable, so you can collaborate with your team members while controlling dashboard access. Loggly offers a lite version which is free for single users. Their premium solutions start from $79 per month, and they offer a 14-day free trial as per the norm.
5. LogDNA
LogDNA is also a central log management tool that offers some exciting features such as automatic and custom parsing. The tool parses most major log line types automatically and also offers custom templates. LogDNA is a simple, functional tool that provides deployment in the cloud and on-premises.
With features like fast search and filter, real-time alerts, and a modern UI, LogDNA is easily one of the best log monitoring tools available. LogDNA also offers a free version and a 14-day free trial. For its premium products, LogDNA charges per GB rather than per month. Plans start from $1.50 per GB and can go up to $4 per GB.
6. Scalyr
Scalyr is a wholly integrated data solution that takes care of your metrics, logs, traces, and signals all on a single platform. It has an imposing design and a user-friendly interface. It makes use of colors and graphs to demonstrate data in one place visually.
Scalyr boasts of all the standard features available in most log monitoring tools like fast ingest and search, third-party integrations, bi-directional APIs, ease of collaboration, and real-time alerts. It charges slightly different from the others, but their plans start from $30 per GB. Scalyr offers a free trial with your own data as well as a demo with sample data.
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7. Logz.io
Logz.io is a powerful log management SaaS platform that not only offers end-to-end log management, monitoring, and analysis but also allows the use of cloud-native, open-source tools on the platform. It is based on the ELK stack and has granular dashboards that monitor predefined technologies.
Features such as real-time alerts, Kibana powered visuals, and hassle-free ELK make Logz.io a strong contender in the race. Logz.io offers a free trial, a free community version, and premium versions that start at $1.08 per GB.
8. Graylog
Handling terabytes of data is complex, and analyzing that much data from multiple sources? Even more so. To solve this problem, Graylog offers a log management solution like none other. Graylog is a centralized log management system designed to handle terabytes of data. Capable of pulling and analyzing data from different log sources and data centers, Graylog is built for versatility.
Driven by a powerful correlation engine, Graylog can create complex alerts based on underlying relationships between metrics. Apart from that, it can also collect, organize and analyze data.
Graylog is also quite affordable for small businesses, as it is free for up to 5 GB per day. Larger companies can invest in the Enterprise/Cloud solution and can take advantage of several additional features.
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9. NetWrix Auditor
Designed for IT audits, NetWrix Auditor is equipped to identify security threats and hardware issues. Built for remote access monitoring, this piece of software is the first and best line of defense against attacks. Featuring some intelligence-acquiring tools, NetWrix Auditor can spot things like behavioral anomalies, user account status changes, and even things like users logging in from multiple endpoints.
This software also features hardware malfunction analysis, a necessary tool for quick problem-solving. All in all, this piece of software does its job and does it well. Netwrix Auditor offers a 20-day free trial.
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10. Datadog
As the name suggests, Datadog is the perfect tool for sniffing out specific issues. Capable of filtering data by many parameters, this log analysis software is designed to handle large volumes of data. With real-time analysis, Datadog records logs, searches through them, filters them appropriately, and analyzes them too.
Its analytics dashboards are designed for ease of use, featuring a flexible drag-and-drop system, making it easy to compare metrics and spot trends over time. Its machine learning capabilities also enable it to alert the user in case of any abnormalities.
This software is also quite economical at $1.27 per million log events per month, including 7-day retention.
Conclusion
Log monitoring software solutions are one of the best pieces of tech a business can have. Proper analysis of logs can diagnose any problem quickly, whether it’s a security threat or a hardware issue. Depending on their requirements, all businesses should invest in log monitoring software. As such, selecting the perfect tool is a complex decision, and we hope that you now feel equipped to make an informed choice.
