Wazuh vs Splunk

How we compare:This comparison is based on official documentation, public pricing, community discussions, and aggregated user feedback, not hands-on testing by our team. We organize what real users and practitioners are saying across the web.

Wazuh

Wazuh is a free, open-source security platform that provides unified XDR and SIEM protection. It offers log analysis, intrusion detection, file integrity monitoring, vulnerability detection, and compliance monitoring across on-premises and cloud workloads.

Pros
  • Completely free and open source
  • Unified SIEM + XDR in one platform
  • Active community with 20M+ annual downloads
  • Agent-based with multi-platform support
  • Strong compliance reporting (PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR)
Cons
  • Requires significant infrastructure expertise to deploy
  • UI less polished than commercial alternatives
  • Community support only (paid support available)
  • Can be resource-intensive at scale

Pricing: Free (Open Source)

Splunk

Splunk is a leading SIEM and security analytics platform that collects, indexes, and correlates machine-generated data for security monitoring, threat detection, and incident response. Now part of Cisco, Splunk provides real-time visibility across IT and security operations with powerful search, analysis, and visualization capabilities.

Pros
  • Strong search and analytics
  • Massive ecosystem of apps and integrations
  • Powerful SPL query language
  • Strong enterprise support and training
  • Comprehensive security content library
Cons
  • Very expensive at scale
  • Complex licensing and pricing model
  • Steep learning curve for SPL
  • Heavy infrastructure requirements
  • Vendor lock-in with proprietary format

Pricing: From $1,800/year (workload pricing) / Enterprise custom