
Splunk Enterprise
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
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 d...Read more
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
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
Firewall Analyzer by ManageEngine is an on-premise log management solution that caters to businesses across various industries. Key features include network administration, compliance reporting, data visualization, event and web l...Read more
EndGame is a cloud-based and on-premise endpoint security solution, which assists medium to large organizations with threat detection and malware attack prevention. Key features include incident tracking, runtime analysis, role-ba...Read more
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
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
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
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
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
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:
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.
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. |
Most log analysis software buyers belong to one of the following categories:
The key benefits of implementing a log analysis tool include:
Here are a few considerations to help plan your software purchase:
Here’s a recent trend in the log analysis software market that you should know:
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.