Wazuh

Wazuh has built genuine credibility as the leading fully open source SIEM alternative, combining file integrity monitoring, vulnerability detection, and log analysis in a single lightweight agent that costs nothing to deploy for organisations willing to self-host. The active community and continuously maintained MITRE ATT&CK aligned detection content mean Wazuh is not a stripped-down toy alternative to commercial SIEMs, it is genuinely comprehensive detection capability at zero licensing cost. For engineering-led teams with tight budgets and the capacity to manage their own infrastructure, this is a real option rather than a compromise.

The honest trade-off mirrors every open source infrastructure tool. Self-hosted deployment requires real engineering investment for scaling and ongoing maintenance, behavioural UEBA capability is less mature than Securonix or Exabeam's dedicated commercial focus, and there is no Gartner Magic Quadrant presence for procurement processes that require it.

The verdict: Wazuh is right for engineering-led security teams wanting genuinely free, comprehensive open source SIEM capability with the engineering capacity to operate it. Organisations without dedicated infrastructure engineering should evaluate Rapid7 InsightIDR or Microsoft Sentinel instead.

Last reviewed: September 2026

Strongest: Log source coverage

Watch out for: SOAR & automation

Best for

Engineering-led security teams wanting genuinely free, fully open source SIEM capability with strong file integrity and vulnerability detection built in, and the capacity to operate self-hosted infrastructure.

Not suitable for: Organisations without dedicated engineering resources to operate self-hosted infrastructure, or those needing enterprise-grade UEBA and formal analyst validation.