The best cloud log management services make it simple and easy to monitor, process, analyze, and visualize logs via the cloud.
1. Best for ease-of-use
2. Best for analytics
3. Best for affordability
4. Best for enterprises
5. Best free version
6. FAQs
Information technology (IT) is critical for every business. Virtually every company now incorporates some form of digitization; you can hardly exist in the 21st century without it. It’s no surprise that IT is one of the fastest-growing sectors, especially the cloud computing segment.
IT infrastructure encompasses all the hardware and software a business uses to run its operations. It starts from the servers hosting a company’s apps down to the workstations the staff uses. It’s necessary to keep tabs on every hardware or software component connected to the network to detect the inevitable issues and fix them before they cause serious harm. That’s why we have dedicated log management tools that collect data on every component and aggregate them in a central dashboard you can easily monitor.
Log management tools collect, centralize, analyze, and visualize log data, making it easy for a company's IT team to monitor their digital infrastructure. There are many log management tools out there, and we ran rigorous tests to select the best ones. We chose the five best tools based on important factors including features, pricing, customer support, performance, etc.
We've also highlighted the best cloud brokers.
The best cloud log management service of 2024 in full:
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Best for ease-of-use
Datadog is a popular IT monitoring and log management tool. It enables you to collect, monitor, and analyze large volumes of logs for your IT infrastructure. This platform provides a central dashboard to keep all the logs no matter how large your IT infrastructure is.
One of the best things about Datadog is that it’s a very intuitive tool. It offers a simple and uncluttered interface that’s easy to use despite packing many features. Users have access to interactive dashboards to monitor their logs, and they can create custom visualizations via a drag-and-drop interface.
Datadog makes it easy to search, filter, and analyze your logs; you don't need any complex query language to do this. This helps a lot when you're searching through logs to troubleshoot bugs, optimize infrastructural performance, or investigate security mishaps.
Datadog comes out of the box with log processing pipelines for dozens of common technologies, e.g., Kubernetes, Kafka, and Java. You can centralize your processed logs and route them to third-party tools, thanks to Datadog’s integrations. The main drawback of Datadog is that it’s an expensive tool, with pricing starting from $0.1 monthly for every GB of ingested logs.
Best for analytics
Sumo Logic is a unified log management tool that enables users to monitor every section of their IT infrastructure. You can choose the cloud-based version or run the software on-premise. A common complaint is that Sumo Logic is challenging to set up, especially the on-premise version. But the company offers sufficient help to users facing any challenge.
Sumo Logic collects logs from every part of your IT infrastructure and delivers them to you in a central dashboard. You can view raw data to troubleshoot and investigate any IT issues that arise. This platform has built-in predictive analytics to help users identify trends and spot issues.
Sumo Logic offers a user-friendly interface. It has interactive dashboards, and users can create custom visualizations for their logs. You can monitor logs in real-time and get email alerts for specific triggers. Sumo Logic offers extra security tools to help protect your IT infrastructure.
The main drawback we observed is that this platform has a steep learning curve. Your IT staff might need significant time to get used to it.
Best for affordability
ManageEngine is an IT management software suite offered by Zoho, an Indian company famous for building affordable alternatives to popular software tools. Log360 is a dedicated log management software that Zoho offers to its enterprise customers under the ManageEngine suite.
Pricing for this tool depends on your custom technical infrastructure, but customers often commend it for being affordable compared to the competition. There’s also a free plan albeit with limited features.
Just like other log management tools, Log360 collects logs from every part of your IT infrastructure (servers, workstations, routers, etc.) and delivers them to you in a central dashboard. This dashboard lets you easily sort through logs to troubleshoot systems or investigate any issue.
Log360 comes with a built-in threat intelligence tool to detect intruders on your network and block them immediately. It'll alert you to any malicious traffic it detects so that you can take immediate action.
Log360 stores your logs for a long time, so you can always retrieve them when you want. You can request a demo to test the features before making any payment.
Best for enterprises
New Relic is one of the best log management services out there. It gives users deep visibility into their IT infrastructure by logging information about every device connected to the network.
New Relic is ideal for large businesses collecting an enormous volume of logs. This platform makes it easy to sift through large volumes of data to extract insights. You can make search queries and get responses within seconds or partition data to make it easy to filter through. You can save searches to repeat them again when you want. You can create custom dashboards and alerts to help you detect and solve issues quickly.
This platform automatically scales alongside your infrastructure, so you won’t have issues keeping logs as your business grows. It offers a free version that lets you ingest up to 100 GB of logs each month. If you surpass that limit, you'll have to pay $0.30 monthly for each extra GB and between $49 and $99 monthly for each extra user account.
New Relic is an effective log management tool but an expensive one.
Best free version
Graylog is a popular log management platform for enterprises. This platform offers a free version that unlocks access to sophisticated log management features. You can download this free version and run it on your own servers. It provides effective logging and monitoring and enables you to detect IT issues before they morph into something more serious.
There’s also a paid, cloud-based version that comes with more advanced features and dedicated support. It starts from $1,250 per month, which is costly.
Graylog makes it possible to collect and search through terabytes of logs to extract insights. It provides visual dashboards to help you understand the logs that it ingests. You can get real-time email and SMS alerts based on specific triggers. You can also generate detailed log reports to present to external stakeholders, e.g., security auditors.
The paid version includes integrated threat detection and general cybersecurity tools to keep your IT infrastructure safe. It incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to analyze and extract insights from your logs.
We've also featured the best cloud orchestration services.
FAQs
How to choose a log management tool
Cost
Cost is the first thing to consider when choosing a log management tool. You should pick a platform that you can afford in the long term to avoid headaches. The pricing for log management tools is usually convoluted, so ensure you get an accurate estimate of what you’ll pay before making your final decision. Read the fine print thoroughly to see if there are any hidden costs. Use a free trial (where available) to test the features before paying.
Ease of use
You need a tool that makes it easy to sift through the logs you collect. The platform should allow you to search logs and receive swift responses and should also provide visualizations to help you understand your logs. A platform with a complex interface can frustrate your staff and cause serious mistakes.
Customer support
Issues can arise at any time, making you need external support from your log management vendor. You may even need support when setting up the platform initially. Hence, choose a tool with a good reputation for customer service; check user reviews to confirm this.
Essential features of a log management tool
1. Log collection and aggregation
The tool should be able to collect logs about each device connected to your organization’s network, including servers, routers, firewalls, PCs, smartphones, etc. It should aggregate all the logs in a central dashboard where you can search and sift through them.
2. Alerting
You should be able to receive alerts based on specific log triggers, e.g., when a server is down and not producing any logs. You can receive the alerts via email, SMS, or workplace communication apps like Slack.
3. Visualization
You should be able to generate visuals to understand your logs better. For example, you can visualize the number of requests sent to a particular server and compare the metrics against other servers. Your tool should offer interactive dashboards that you can customize to extract insights. You should also be able to generate and download log reports to present to external stakeholders.
4. Retention
Your log management tool should retain the logs it collects for a long time, e.g., up to a year. This way, you can always retrieve logs in case of audits and investigations. Most tools offer a standard retention time and let you pay for extra time.
How we test
We test by evaluating numerous factors. To start with, we look at the feature set, the range of tools available, and what size of businesses this would be ideal for. We consider how easy the setup is, the simplicity of the interface, and whether there's sufficient documentation and tutorials for users to utilize necessary options optimally.
We assess how well the service integrates with other relevant apps, and check the overall scalability of the service. We also analyze whether there are collaboration features for multiple users, and lastly, we judge the quality of the customer service and the different pricing plans available.
Read more on how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar.
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