Top 7 Logmanager Alternatives in 2025: Features, Pricing & Best Picks

Logmanager is a cloud‑based log management and SIEM platform that streamlines log data aggregation, normalization, and analysis. As the global log management and SIEM market is projected to reach US$ 11.96 billion by 2030, and organizations handle large data volumes, Logmanager has positioned itself around compliance and reporting capabilities.

Despite its strengths in log aggregation and compliance, Logmanager lacks deeper observability capabilities—particularly in metrics, traces, infrastructure monitoring, and distributed tracing. Many teams also cite complex customization, scaling hurdles for cloud-native environments, and limited mobile and end-to-end insights. 

In that context, CubeAPM is the best Logmanager alternative for modern engineering teams. It offers full support for OpenTelemetry (OTEL), comprehensive MELT observability (Metrics, Events, Logs, and Traces), smart sampling, infrastructure and alerting dashboards, and even self-hosting options.

In this article, we’ll explore the top Logmanager alternatives to help you make a choice that fits your needs.

Top 7 Logmanager Alternatives

1. CubeAPM
2. Datadog
3. Dynatrace
4. New Relic
5. Splunk Appdynamics
6. Elastic Observability 
7. Graylog

Why Logs Alone Aren’t Enough: Log Management vs. APM in Modern Observability

Logs are useful for spotting errors and compliance events, but in today’s distributed systems, they create gaps. A single request can span dozens of services and generate thousands of log lines, making it hard to stitch together a complete picture. Teams often end up asking: Was it the database, the API timeout, or the network hop? Logs alone rarely provide that clarity.

APM tools close this gap by collecting traces that follow requests end-to-end, automatically correlating them with metrics like latency, CPU, or memory, and overlaying deploys or config changes for context. Combined with real user and synthetic monitoring, this turns fragmented data into actionable signals, helping engineers see not just what failed, but where and why.

Why APM Tools Like CubeAPM Go Beyond Logs

CubeAPM is designed to solve the gaps left by log-only platforms by offering end-to-end observability with full MELT coverage—Metrics, Events, Logs, and Traces—alongside real user and synthetic monitoring. Instead of manually piecing together log lines, teams get complete visibility into request flows, system health, and user impact in one place.

Key ways CubeAPM goes beyond log management:

• Distributed tracing: Follows requests across microservices, APIs, and databases to pinpoint slowdowns and errors.
  
• Smart sampling: Retains only the most valuable traces, cutting ingestion volumes by up to 80% while preserving accuracy.
  
• Compliance & control: Self-hosting options with no egress fees ensure data sovereignty for GDPR, HIPAA, and DPDP.
  
• Broad ecosystem: 800+ integrations plus OpenTelemetry and Prometheus-native ingestion for future-proof instrumentation.
  
• Developer-first support: Real-time Slack/WhatsApp access to engineers, reducing resolution times from days to minutes.
  

By combining these capabilities, CubeAPM turns observability into a proactive advantage. It not only helps teams detect and resolve issues faster but also optimizes infrastructure costs and improves end-user experience—a level of value that logs alone can’t provide.

Why Are People Looking for Logmanager Alternatives?

Observability scope gap beyond logs/SIEM

Logmanager excels in centralized log collection, compliance dashboards, and lightweight SIEM features, offering strong support for log aggregation and rule-based alerting. However, it does not advertise native support for distributed tracing pipelines, Real User Monitoring (RUM), or synthetic monitoring—capabilities that have become foundational in full-stack observability. This limitation leaves DevOps and engineering teams with visibility blind spots when debugging complex microservices or assessing frontend user experience. 

Pricing model friction in distributed environments

Logmanager employs a subscription model based on number-of-sources tiers (S/M/L), plus an additional $69 per Forwarder instance for each remote log collector. Though straightforward at small scale, costs escalate rapidly in distributed environments with many sources or remote sites. Additionally, customers must bear the operational cost of running and maintaining the virtual appliance—including compute resources, storage, and backups—which aren’t captured in the license pricing. This cumulative complexity and lack of cost transparency lead many organizations to favor usage-based or ingestion-tiered pricing instead.

Example pricing comparison (mid-size business)

Assumptions (typical mid-size): ~100 log sources across apps/network, 4 TB log ingest/month, 4 remote sites needing a forwarder, 10 engineers.
Logmanager (license view): L plan $109/mo (up to 100 sources) + Forwarder add-on $69/instance × 4 = $276 → $385/month license. 

Note: self-hosted VM/storage not included; if plan storage is exceeded, the oldest data is overwritten (XL is custom-priced). 

CubeAPM (all-in-one view): Logs at $0.15/GB × 4,000 GB = $600, for full MELT, OTel, and smart sampling.

Limited deployment model (no true SaaS)

Logmanager is offered only as a virtual appliance (in OVA or VHDX formats) or an optional hardware appliance, designed for on-premise deployments via VMware, Hyper-V, or similar environments. While this model suits environments with strict compliance or lockdown requirements, it requires customers to handle infrastructure provisioning, VM management, patching, scaling, and operational overhead. As a result, cloud-centric teams often rule out Logmanager due to this operational friction.

Retention clarity and data rollover concerns

In Logmanager, data storage quotas are determined by plan tier, and once those limits are reached, “the oldest data is overwritten”. For organizations needing guarantees for long-term retention—such as those facing audit, forensic, or regulatory requirements—this rollover policy introduces data loss risk and uncertain retention periods. Without transparent size thresholds or rollover behaviors, customers frequently escalate to sales for plan-specific capacity guarantees, complicating procurement and budgeting.

Support hours vs. time-to-resolution expectations

Logmanager’s support model is described as 8×5 via portal, email, and phone, meaning support during standard business hours only. In contrast, many modern observability vendors, such as CubeAPM, provide 24×7 chat-based support via Slack, WhatsApp, or live chat, offering near-instant responses during incidents. Teams managing production-critical systems increasingly view business-hours-only support as inadequate, especially during off-hours incidents or outages, prompting them to look for alternatives with faster response SLAs.

Native OpenTelemetry & Sampling strategy

Logmanager’s integration options focus on traditional log sources such as syslog, Windows event logs, and network devices—there is no clear documentation of native OpenTelemetry (OTLP) ingestion, distributed tracing, or built-in sampling strategies. With OTEL rapidly becoming the standard vendor-neutral observability protocol, teams building OTEL-first pipelines see this as a blocker. Engineers must either deploy parallel tracing systems or abandon OTEL benefits entirely when Logmanager is the only backend, reducing pipeline efficiency and increasing operational burden.

User-reported friction points

Reviews from G2 reflect a mixed sentiment toward Logmanager—users praise its intuitive dashboards and ease of use in log-centric workflows. However, the same reviews often cite “complex setup/configuration,” “limited customization,” and a steep learning curve when scaling the tool across varied environments or use cases. (G2) This feedback indicates that while the interface is user-friendly at the outset, larger or more complex deployments demand specialized skills—another driver for teams exploring more streamlined, scalable alternatives.

Criteria for Selecting Logmanager Alternatives

Full MELT Coverage

Modern observability goes beyond log management and requires metrics, events, logs, traces, RUM, and synthetics in one stack. Full MELT coverage in a tool means you get better visibility across your applications and infrastructure. This unified approach shortens mean time to detection and resolution while avoiding tool sprawl.

OpenTelemetry (OTEL) Support

OTEL is the universal standard for telemetry collection, helping teams instrument once and stay vendor-agnostic. Tools with native OTLP ingestion and collector support allow data portability across platforms without costly rework. This ensures long-term flexibility as architectures evolve or compliance needs shift.

Smart Sampling Strategy

Data ingestion volumes are growing rapidly, and uncontrolled collection drives costs higher. Alternatives should include context-aware sampling that retains high-value traces, such as those with errors or latency spikes. This balances observability depth with cost predictability, ensuring engineering teams see what matters most.

Deployment Flexibility

Not every organization can adopt SaaS-only tools due to compliance or latency constraints. Strong alternatives offer both cloud-hosted and on-prem/self-managed deployments, letting teams choose the right balance of scalability and control. This is essential for industries governed by strict regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, or DPDP.

Transparent Pricing

Pricing should be clear, predictable, and easy to model at scale. Tools that charge per GB ingested or per host provide straightforward budgeting, unlike source-based or add-on-heavy models that become unpredictable. Transparency here helps avoid hidden fees and makes cost forecasting simpler for finance teams.

Responsive Support

Fast support is critical during outages and incidents. Look for vendors providing real-time, 24×7 channels like Slack or WhatsApp, with engineers able to respond in minutes instead of days. This level of responsiveness minimizes downtime and builds trust with technical teams under pressure.

Logmanager Overview

Known for

Logmanager is primarily used for centralized log management coupled with compliance and lightweight SIEM functionality—especially valuable for teams needing unified visibility into logs, alerting, and audit reporting across diverse IT stacks. It’s often chosen by organizations requiring rapid deployment, regulatory monitoring (e.g., GDPR, ISO 27001, NIS2), and a simplified log search and analytics workflow.

Standout Features

• Centralized log collection: Normalized ingestion from servers, applications, and platforms for unified visibility.
• Security-analyzed dashboards: Real-time detection of incidents alongside compliance reporting.
• Prebuilt compliance templates: Dashboards and reports for GDPR, ISO27001, NIS2, Microsoft 365, and Windows logs.

Key Features

• Dashboards & Visualizations: Intuitive panels for logs, metrics, and alerts with real-time insights.
• Alerts & Notifications: Threshold and anomaly alerts with near real-time notifications.
• Reporting & Compliance: Templates and customizable reports for audits and compliance workflows.
• Real-Time Monitoring: Live tail and anomaly detection for proactive operations.
• Indexing & Automated Tagging: Efficient log indexing with context via automated tagging.
• Search & Live Tail: Powerful log search and live streaming tail views for investigations.

Pros

• Cost-effective and excellent value for money
• Prebuilt dashboards deliver immediate insights
• Simple customization for dashboards and parsers
• Rapid deployment and configuration
• Intuitive UI combining basic and advanced features
• Outstanding customer support
• Scalable and reliable performance

Cons

• Customization for niche use cases can be complex
• Scaling in larger environments introduces configuration complexity

Best for

Organizations seeking a straightforward, fast-to-deploy log management solution with integrated SIEM and compliance features will find Logmanager ideal. It’s particularly well-suited for teams that need immediate ROI, real-time log visibility, prebuilt compliance frameworks, and strong support—especially in regulated industries or those with on-premise-heavy environments.

Pricing & Customer Reviews

• Pricing: Startup plan at $9/month (5 log sources); Small Business plan at $49/month (25 log sources); Growing business plan $109/month (100 log sources), custom pricing, $69/forwarder instance 
• G2 rating: 4.9/5 (15 reviews)
• Praised for: cost-effectiveness, ease of deployment, intuitive dashboards, excellent support, and rapid ROI
• Criticized for: limited customization for niche deployments and increased complexity at scale

Top 7 Logmanager Alternatives

1. CubeAPM

Known for

CubeAPM is known for being a full-stack observability and APM platform purpose-built for modern, cloud-native teams. It unifies logs, metrics, traces, RUM, synthetics, and error tracking into a single platform, designed around OpenTelemetry-first ingestion and compliance-friendly deployment options.

Standout Features

• Smart sampling engine: Reduces ingestion volumes by 60–80% by retaining only error-prone and latency-sensitive traces.
• Self-hosting option: Enables full data residency control, keeping sensitive telemetry within the customer’s infrastructure.
• Slack/WhatsApp support: Direct, real-time access to engineers with resolution times measured in minutes instead of days.

Key Features

• Advanced log monitoring: Real-time full-text search at TB scale, high-cardinality filters, and live tailing for rapid investigations.
• Trace-log correlation: Every log line can be tied directly to its trace, drastically reducing root-cause analysis time.
• Agent compatibility: Works seamlessly with Logstash, Fluent Bit, and OTel collectors without needing pipeline rewrites.
• OpenTelemetry-native: CubeAPM is fully compatible with OTel for collecting metrics, logs, and traces.
• Full MELT coverage: Logs, metrics, traces, events, RUM, and synthetic monitoring in one unified interface.
• Prometheus integration: Native support for scraping and ingesting metrics alongside application traces.
• Cost-efficient pricing: Transparent rates without any egress charges.
• 800+ integrations: Works seamlessly with popular DevOps, cloud, and monitoring ecosystems.
• No egress charges: Data stays within your infrastructure or cloud without hidden transfer costs.
• Error tracking module: Monitors exceptions across applications, helping teams resolve recurring issues quickly.
• Unlimited retention: Data stored indefinitely without add-on costs for extended history.

Pros

• Powerful logging with full-text search, trace correlation, and advanced filtering
• Transparent, usage-based pricing with no per-user fees
• Strong compliance support with GDPR, HIPAA, and DPDP alignment
• Real-time, developer-focused customer support
• Wide integration ecosystem with 800+ supported tools
• No egress fees for retained telemetry data
• Rapid time-to-value with deployments completed in under an hour

Cons

• Observability-focused platform, offering no support for cloud security management features
• May not suit teams looking for a SaaS-only platform

Best for

CubeAPM is best for teams that want cost-effective, OpenTelemetry-native observability with full MELT coverage, advanced log monitoring, strong compliance features, and the option of self-hosting. It suits enterprises with large data volumes looking to cut observability costs, as well as regulated industries where data residency is a critical requirement.

Pricing & Customer Reviews

• Pricing: $0.15/GB ingestion
• Score: 4.7/5 average
• Praised for: advanced logging capabilities, transparent pricing, quick deployment, proactive customer support, compliance-friendly hosting, and wide integration ecosystem

CubeAPM vs Logmanager

Compared to Logmanager, CubeAPM delivers true full-stack observability rather than just centralized log management. While Logmanager is strong in compliance dashboards and SIEM-lite functionality, CubeAPM provides end-to-end monitoring with smart sampling, distributed tracing, RUM, synthetics, and advanced log analytics. Its transparent per-GB pricing, unlimited retention, and no egress charges also eliminate the hidden costs and rollover concerns of Logmanager’s storage tiers.

2. Datadog

Known for

Datadog is a widely adopted, SaaS-based observability and monitoring platform that delivers comprehensive full-stack visibility across infrastructure, applications, logs, security, and more in one unified interface. Its strength lies in seamless integration with diverse cloud environments, DevOps tools, and real-time analytics.

Standout Features

• 900+ integrations: Extensive out-of-the-box compatibility with cloud providers, orchestration platforms, and DevOps tools.
• Unified observability and security: A single-pane platform that blends metrics, logs, traces, real user monitoring, synthetic tests, and security insights.
• AI-powered insights (Watchdog, Bits AI): Leverages machine learning for automated anomaly detection and intelligent alerting.

Key Features

• Infrastructure & container monitoring: Real-time telemetry and dashboards for hosts, containers, serverless workloads, and cloud services.
• Distributed tracing & APM: Deep code-level tracing correlated with logs and metrics for root cause analysis.
• Log management & live tail: Indexed, searchable logs with real-time streaming and dynamic rehydration.
• RUM & Synthetic Monitoring: Frontend performance, session replay, browser/mobile monitoring, and proactive synthetic checks.

Pros

• Broad functionality across observability and security
• Highly scalable, cloud-native architecture
• Prebuilt dashboards, notebooks, and collaborative workflows

Cons

• Pricing is complex with hidden costs for logs, RUM, and synthetic usage
• Billing unpredictability due to tiered retainment, archiving, and rehydration fees
• Partial OpenTelemetry support, with native correlation not always seamless

Best for

Enterprises with complex, cloud-native infrastructures that need a turnkey, feature-rich observability and security solution—and can invest in its growth-aligned pricing and feature breadth.

Pricing & Customer Reviews

• Pricing: APM ~$31/host/month; Infrastructure ~$15/host/month; logs billed per GB with extra for retention/indexing
• G2 rating: 4.4/5
• Praised for: holistic platform and integrations
• Criticized for: pricing complexity and cost predictability

Datadog vs Logmanager

Compared to Logmanager’s SIEM-lite log focus, Datadog offers robust full-stack observability with integrated security, real user metrics, synthetics, and AI-driven analytics. While Logmanager excels in compliance dashboarding and cost predictability, Datadog provides deeper instrumentation and correlation—albeit at significantly higher and more opaque cost.

3. New Relic

Known for

New Relic is known for its AI-powered intelligent observability platform, delivering one of the most extensive, unified experiences available today. It combines 50+ observability capabilities—spanning logs, metrics, traces, synthetic and real-user monitoring, security, and more—into a single, scalable SaaS interface with deep integrations and advanced analytics.

Standout Features

• AI-powered insights and anomaly detection: to automatically surface actionable issues and reduce alert noise.
• 780+ integrations: enabling rapid connectivity with cloud, DevOps, database, and application ecosystems.
• Observability beyond MELT: with added coverage across vulnerability management, change tracking, and intelligent workflows.

Key Features

• Unified data capture: Combines metrics, events, logs, traces, security, RUM, synthetics, and vulnerability data in one platform.
• Customizable dashboards & Alerts: Full flexibility with dashboards, notification workflows, and automated change tracking.
• OpenTelemetry support: Enables ingestion from OTLP pipelines for vendor-neutral instrumentation.
• AI/AIOps tooling: Built-in Watchdog-style anomaly detection, predictive insights, and auto-remediation workflows.
• Scalable SaaS model: Unlimited scale with usage-based billing and a generous free tier.

Pros

• Comprehensive observability across the modern stack with strong AI insights
• Massive integration ecosystem (780+) for quick adoption and unified context
• Scalable, SaaS-native platform with a consistent user experience

Cons

• Complex and multi-dimensional pricing (data, users, add-ons can escalate costs rapidly)
• Steeper learning curve, especially for smaller or less mature teams

Best for

New Relic is best for large, cloud-native enterprises seeking a scalable, all-in-one observability platform with AI-powered insight across their entire stack and rich integrations—who can accommodate multi-layered pricing and are looking for deep operational and business context in one place.

Pricing & Customer Reviews

• Pricing: 100 GB free tier, Paid: $49–$349/mo depending on the tier you chose
• G2 rating: 4.4/5
• Praised for: many features, AI capability, and generous features in the free tier
• Criticized for: pricing complexity, platform size overwhelming smaller teams

New Relic vs Logmanager

While Logmanager focuses narrowly on centralized log management and compliance dashboards, New Relic provides truly unified observability across every telemetry type—enhanced by AI insights and broad integrations. However, this power comes with greater pricing complexity and a deeper learning curve compared to Logmanager’s simplicity and cost-focused appeal.

4. Dynatrace

Known for

Dynatrace is renowned for its AI-driven unified observability platform, offering deep, end-to-end visibility across applications, infrastructure, and user experience. Its standout features—like automatic discovery (OneAgent), contextual dependency mapping (Smartscape), and the AI-powered Davis engine—make it a top-tier solution for complex, distributed enterprise environments.

Standout Features

• OneAgent auto-instrumentation: Deploys minimal agents that immediately map dependencies and collect logs, metrics, traces—no manual setup required.
• Davis AI engine: Automates anomaly detection and root-cause analysis using causal-AI, enabling smarter alerting and faster incident resolution.
• Smartscape topology visualization: Provides real-time dependency maps across components and services for accurate impact understanding.

Key Features

• Full-stack observability: Covers applications, microservices, infrastructure, networks, user experience, and security in one platform.
• Real user monitoring (RUM) & Synthetic Testing: Captures actual user journeys and simulates interactions for proactive performance checks.
• Grail data lakehouse & analytics: High-performance, schema-on-read storage with powerful querying and contextual analytics.
• OpenTelemetry support: Enables seamless ingestion from OTLP pipelines for greater flexibility in instrumentation.
• AppEngine & AutomationEngine: Build custom observability apps and automate workflows for DevOps and incident response.
• Application security & compliance: Integrates vulnerability detection and compliance monitoring within the observability stack.

Pros

• Deep enterprise-grade visibility with AI insights
• Automated instrumentation reduces setup time
• Context-rich topology maps improve root-cause resolution
• Scalable platform supporting cloud-native and hybrid deployments
• Integrated security and observability in one product

Cons

• High complexity and steep learning curve for new users
• Premium pricing that may be prohibitive for smaller teams

Best for

Dynatrace is best for large enterprises with complex, hybrid or cloud-native environments that need automated AIOps-driven insight across their entire stack, and are ready to invest for deep visibility, automation, and contextual analysis at scale.

Pricing & Customer Reviews

• Pricing: Usage-based: $0.08/hour per host for full-stack
• G2 rating: 4.5/5
• Praised for: smart visualizations, AI features, automated RCA
• Criticized for: learning curve complexity and high cost

Dynatrace vs Logmanager

Compared to Logmanager’s limited SIEM-like log focus, Dynatrace offers comprehensive, AI-powered observability across every telemetry layer, along with security and automation. Logmanager gives more emphasis to compliance while being a simple platform, but Dynatrace prioritizes deep context into infrastructure and predictive analytics with a more advanced platform. 

5. Splunk AppDynamics

Known for

Splunk AppDynamics is renowned for delivering full-stack observability tightly coupled with business performance insights, especially across hybrid and on-premise environments. It excels at correlating application performance with real-time business metrics, enabling teams to prioritize issues based on their impact on conversion, revenue, or service-level objectives.

Standout Features

• AI-powered root-cause analysis: Automatically detects anomalies and pinpoints the underlying issue using machine learning.
• Insights into Business performance: You can see how app or transaction data affects your main KPIs, such as business revenue, conversions, etc.
• Unified observability within the Splunk ecosystem: Seamlessly integrates AppDynamics with Splunk log analytics to maintain context across tools—no tool switching required.

Key Features

• Business transaction monitoring: Tracks critical workflows (like checkouts or logins) and correlates them with business outcomes.
• App security monitoring: The tool can detect vulnerabilities in your app along with runtime security threats, and prioritizes issue fixation based on their risks to your business.
• Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM): Includes RUM, session replay, and synthetic monitoring for web and mobile.
• Hybrid infrastructure visibility: Offers deep monitoring even in SAP, legacy, or multi-tier architectures.

Pros

• Strong business-context observability with AIOps
• Real-time visibility into both modern and legacy enterprises
• Unified Splunk integration that maintains telemetry context

Cons

• Premium pricing that scales quickly with vCPU usage
• Steeper setup complexity compared to simpler log tools

Best for

Splunk AppDynamics is best for large, enterprise teams managing complex hybrid environments who need business-aware monitoring, contextual log integration, and powerful AI-driven troubleshooting, and already rely on or plan to adopt Splunk’s observability ecosystem.

Pricing & Customer Reviews

• Pricing: Infrastructure edition starts at ~$6/vCPU/month; Premium at ~$33/vCPU/month; Enterprise around ~$50/vCPU/month
• G2 rating: 4.3/5
• Praised for: deep business analytics, hybrid stack support, unified Splunk observability
• Criticized for: high pricing, complexity in configuration

Splunk AppDynamics vs Logmanager

While Logmanager specializes in SIEM-style log dashboards and compliance monitoring, Splunk AppDynamics provides deep, business-aligned observability with APM, security, DEM, and tight Splunk log correlation—making it ideal for organizations seeking richer context and AI-driven insights, at a higher complexity and cost threshold.

6. Elastic Observability 

Known for

Elastic Observability is known for delivering AI-driven, full-stack observability built atop Elastic’s Search AI Platform, enabling organizations to unify logs, metrics, traces, infrastructure, RUM, and synthetic monitoring within a highly scalable architecture. It stands out for its powerful search capabilities, AI assistance, and seamless ingestion across formats—with a consistent focus on real-time analytics and long-term storage efficiency.

Standout Features

• OpenTelemetry-native ingestion: Built-in OTLP pipeline support enables vendor-neutral observability from the start.
• Search AI Lake and tiered storage: Allows petabyte-scale data retention with cost-efficient tiered storage and searchable snapshots.
• AI Assistant & AIOps: Automated root-cause insights and anomaly detection powered by AI and LLM-enhanced analysis.

Key Features

• Log analytics at scale: Instantly search and visualize petabytes of logs via Discover, custom dashboards, and ES|QL ad hoc queries.
• Unified telemetry ingestion: Bring in logs, metrics, traces, RUM, infrastructure, and synthetics in one platform.
• 400+ integrations: Out-of-the-box connections to cloud, container, messaging, databases, and monitoring systems.
• Zero-config anomaly detection: Automatically surface patterns, correlations, and issues without manual setup.
• Digital experience monitoring: The tool offers RUM, synthetic and uptime monitoring, so you can understand user experience and fix issues. 
• LLM-powered assistance: Natural-language queries and AI insights via Elastic’s AI assistant to investigate issues faster.

Pros

• Massive scalability with efficient AI-driven search and analytics
• True OpenTelemetry compatibility and vendor-neutral instrumentation
• Flexible and cost-effective retention via tiered storage and searchable archives

Cons

• Entire stack can be complex to deploy and maintain, especially self-managed
• Requires expertise to build and optimize dashboards, queries, and cost-effective storage tiers

Best for

Elastic Observability is best for organizations seeking highly scalable, AI-enhanced observability that can manage massive data volumes while offering deep analytics and flexible, vendor-neutral ingestion—especially when long-term retention, searchable archives, and real-time correlation are priorities.

Pricing & Customer Reviews

• Pricing: $99-184/month; serverless: $0.15/GB; Synthetic monitoring: $0.0123/test run                                                   
• G2 rating: 4.2/5
• Praised for: search performance and AI-based insights 
• Criticized for: complexity of setup and cost modeling across storage tiers

Elastic Observability vs Logmanager

Compared to Logmanager’s log aggregation and compliance emphasis, Elastic Observability offers end-to-end, AI-powered telemetry correlation with efficient, long-term search capabilities. While Logmanager is favored for simplicity and quick value in log-heavy environments, Elastic provides deeper visibility, smarter search, broader signal collection, and data retention flexibility—at the cost of complexity and learning curve.

7. Graylog

Known for

Graylog is known for being a highly scalable open-source log management and security analytics platform, popular for both on-premise and cloud-based deployments. It excels in log aggregation, real-time search, compliance reporting, and incident investigation, often used as a cost-effective alternative to traditional SIEM tools.

Standout Features

• Illuminate Content Packs: Curated parsing rules, dashboards, and detection logic that simplify onboarding and analysis.
• Enterprise-ready data management: Includes tiered storage (hot, warm, archive), searchable snapshots, and data lake routing for cost-efficient retention.
• Access control & audit logging: Role-based access, audit trails, and compliance reports built into the core platform.

Key Features

• Streams & Pipelines: Flexible log routing, tagging, enrichment, and transformation before storage.
• Custom Dashboards & Search: Intuitive UI for building visualizations, queries, and real-time log exploration.
• Alerts & Notifications: Configurable event definitions, correlation, and real-time alerting workflows.
• UEBA & Threat Detection (Enterprise/Security): Includes user behaviour analytics, risk scoring, and MITRE ATT&CK mappings.
• SOAR & Investigations (Enterprise/Security): Built-in case management, evidence timelines, and automated report generation.
• Flexible deployment models: Available as open-source (Graylog Open), self-managed Enterprise, or fully managed Graylog Cloud.

Pros

• Open-source flexibility with robust log processing
• Rich compliance and security features in higher tiers
• Cost-predictable pricing: pay for what you analyze, not just ingest
• Scalable platform with tier-based data storage
• Flexible deployment options, including SaaS and self-hosted

Cons

• Enterprise features (e.g., SOAR, UEBA) require paid subscription
• Setup and optimization can be complex without experienced DevOps or security staff

Best for

Graylog is best for DevOps, security, and compliance teams seeking a powerful, open-source log management and SIEM platform that scales affordably using tiered storage, supports structured investigations, and offers deployment flexibility ranging from on-prem to cloud.

Pricing & Customer Reviews

• Pricing: starts $15,000 per year
• G2 rating: 4.4/5
• Praised for: pricing transparency, tiered storage, alerting
• Criticized for: complexity in deploying and configuring advanced features

Graylog vs Logmanager

Unlike Logmanager’s SIEM-lite, appliance-based offering, Graylog provides greater deployment flexibility (open-source, cloud, or enterprise SaaS) and granular control over storage, analytics, and investigation workflows. While Logmanager focuses on simplicity and rapid compliance dashboards, Graylog’s strength lies in customizable log enrichment, multi-tier retention, and deeper security capabilities—making it better suited for teams with complex log and compliance needs.

Conclusion

Logmanager is a solid log management and SIEM-lite tool, but its limitations—like narrow focus on logs, restricted SaaS options, rollover-based retention, and lack of OpenTelemetry support—push many teams to seek more advanced solutions. 

This is where CubeAPM stands out as the best Logmanager alternative. With full MELT coverage (metrics, events, logs, traces), OpenTelemetry-native ingestion, smart sampling, unlimited retention, no egress charges, and 800+ integrations, CubeAPM delivers cost-effective, end-to-end observability with a self-hosting option and Slack/WhatsApp support. 

If your team is ready to move beyond limited log management and embrace unified observability, CubeAPM is the platform to choose. Book a free demo today and start cutting costs while gaining deeper visibility.