ArticlesOctober 14, 202610 min read

Wazuh Alternatives in 2026: 6 Open Source Options Compared

By UTMStack Team

Wazuh is one of the most widely used open source security platforms, and for good reason: its agent does file integrity monitoring, configuration checks and vulnerability detection on almost any operating system, and the whole stack is GPLv2. Yet “Wazuh alternatives” is one of the most common searches from people who run it. Usually the reason is not the agent. It is everything around it: the indexer’s appetite for memory, rules written in XML, the work needed to turn alerts into cases and responses, or the lack of real customer separation for a managed service.

We build UTMStack, one of the alternatives below, so weigh our view accordingly. For every option we say what it does better than Wazuh, where Wazuh stays ahead, and who should pick it.

The short answer, by reason for leaving:

You want correlation, response, incidents and compliance reports in one product: UTMStack.
You want network detection and packet capture: Security Onion.
You want a search-first platform with a large rule library: Elastic Security.
You want a fully Apache 2.0 stack with Sigma rules: OpenSearch Security Analytics.
You mostly need log collection and search: Graylog Open.
You want something lighter than Wazuh: OSSEC.

Why people look for a Wazuh alternative

These are the reasons that come up again and again, checked against Wazuh’s own documentation (version 4.14, the current stable release in October 2026):

Resource use. Wazuh’s quickstart sizes an all-in-one server at 4 vCPUs and 8 GB of memory for up to 25 agents, and 8 vCPUs for 26 to 100 agents, keeping 90 days of indexed alerts. The indexer, a fork of OpenSearch, is what grows as you add agents and keep data longer.
Rules in XML, no native Sigma in 4.x. Rules and decoders are XML files. Sigma support arrives with Wazuh 5.0, which was a release candidate in October 2026.
Response and cases need other tools. Wazuh’s active response runs scripts on endpoints when a rule matches, such as blocking an address. Playbooks and case management come from integrations, with Shuffle, an open source SOAR, the one Wazuh documents.
Multi-tenancy is about dashboards, not data. Wazuh’s dashboard tenants separate saved objects such as dashboards and index patterns. Separating customer data for a managed service is something you design yourself.
Alert volume. Out of the box, many teams find the alert stream noisy until they tune rule levels for their environment.

What a Wazuh deployment is made of, and where the usual complaints come from

The four Wazuh components, plus what teams add around them

AgentsOn each endpoint: file integrity, configuration checks, vulnerability detection
ServerDecoders and rules in XML; active response scripts
IndexerA fork of OpenSearch. Memory and disk grow with agents and retention.
DashboardSearches and visualizations; tenants separate saved objects, not customer data

added by many teams

Playbooks and case managementIntegrations such as Shuffle, an open source SOAR

None of these makes Wazuh a bad choice. If its agent features are what you rely on most, the best move may be to keep it and add what is missing. If the gaps are the main problem, read on.

1. UTMStack

Best for: a complete SIEM with response and compliance in one install

UTMStack covers the full security operations loop in one product: log collection from agents, syslog and cloud APIs, real-time correlation, alerts, incidents, automated response, threat intelligence and compliance reports. Each event is checked against 600+ detection rules mapped to MITRE ATT&CK as it arrives, before it is stored, and related events are grouped into one alert. Response flows can block an address, disable an account or isolate a host through the agent. Logs are kept in column storage that takes much less disk than an OpenSearch-style index, and older data stays searchable without restoring snapshots.

Better than Wazuh at: correlation and response without extra tools; built-in incident handling; compliance reports evaluated from your logs (CMMC 2.0 and GDPR free; nine frameworks including PCI DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001 and SOC 2 in Enterprise); native multi-tenancy with separate customer data, branding and federation for service providers (Enterprise); rules in YAML with a visual editor.
Where Wazuh stays ahead: host-level depth. Wazuh’s file integrity monitoring and CIS configuration checks on each endpoint have no direct equivalent in UTMStack, which focuses on logs, agent-based vulnerability scans and software inventory. Wazuh also has a larger community and more third-party guides.
License: AGPL-3.0 for the free Community edition.
Hardware: 4 cores, 16 GB of memory and 150 GB of disk for about 50 data sources.

Install the free edition or click through the live demo first.

2. Security Onion

Best for: network threat hunting by an in-house team

Security Onion is a Linux distribution that bundles Suricata, Zeek, full packet capture and Elastic, with its own analyst console for alerts, hunting and cases. It can also run Elastic Agent on endpoints. The current release line is 3.x (3.3.0 in September 2026).

Better than Wazuh at: network visibility, packet capture and hunting workflows; built-in case handling.
Where Wazuh stays ahead: endpoint configuration and integrity checks, lighter hardware and a genuinely open license.
License: Elastic License 2.0. It is source-available, not open source, and it forbids offering Security Onion to others as a hosted or managed service.
Hardware: 4 cores and 24 GB of memory with 200 GB of disk for a standalone install (32 GB or more recommended); the 8 GB evaluation mode is not meant for production.

3. Elastic Security

Best for: teams with engineers who want a search-first platform

Elastic Security runs on Elasticsearch and Kibana with Elastic Agent on endpoints. On the free Basic license for self-managed deployments, it includes the detection engine (with correlation, threshold and indicator-match rules), Elastic’s prebuilt detection rules, the investigation timeline and case management. Machine learning anomaly detection, entity risk scoring and some ticketing connectors need a paid subscription.

Better than Wazuh at: search speed and scale, the size of the prebuilt rule library, investigation tools.
Where Wazuh stays ahead: a simpler all-in-one install, endpoint compliance checks, and a license with no strings.
License: Elastic’s downloads are under the Elastic License 2.0; the source code is also available under the AGPL-3.0 since 2024.
Hardware: depends entirely on how you build the cluster.

4. OpenSearch Security Analytics

Best for: an all-Apache 2.0 stack, or teams already on OpenSearch

OpenSearch is the Apache 2.0 fork of Elasticsearch, and the same engine underneath Wazuh’s indexer. Its Security Analytics plugin runs prepackaged Sigma rules, accepts your own, and has a correlation engine that links findings across log types. Standard log types include Windows, Linux, Active Directory and LDAP, AWS CloudTrail, VPC Flow, Azure, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Okta, DNS, NetFlow and web firewall logs.

Better than Wazuh at: Sigma rules today, correlation across log types, and nothing held back for a paid tier.
Where Wazuh stays ahead: a ready endpoint agent, active response and compliance mappings. With OpenSearch, collection, response and reporting are yours to build.
License: Apache 2.0.

5. Graylog Open

Best for: log management first, security second

Graylog is quick to deploy and fast at search, with inputs for syslog and common formats, processing pipelines, dashboards and alerting in the free Open edition, with no ingestion cap.

Better than Wazuh at: log collection and search for operations and security together.
Where Wazuh stays ahead: detection. Graylog’s correlation engine, Sigma rules, MITRE ATT&CK alignment and anomaly detection are in the paid Graylog Security product, not in Open.
License: Server Side Public License (SSPL), which is source-available and restricts offering it as a service.

6. OSSEC

Best for: lightweight host intrusion detection

OSSEC is the GPLv2 project Wazuh grew from. It still does log analysis, file integrity checks and rootkit detection on each host with very little hardware, and sends alerts.

Better than Wazuh at: footprint. No indexer, no dashboard cluster.
Where Wazuh stays ahead: almost everything else: no searchable log store, no modern dashboard, fewer integrations.
License: GPLv2.

Memory to plan for

From each project's own sizing guide, for a single-server install

Wazuh all-in-one, up to 25 agents8 GB

UTMStack, about 50 data sources16 GB

Security Onion standalone24 GB

These sizes cover different scopes: Wazuh keeps 90 days of indexed alerts, UTMStack a month of all logs in fast storage, and Security Onion recommends 32 GB or more. Elastic, OpenSearch and Graylog depend on how you build the cluster.

Wazuh alternatives at a glance

Tool	License	Endpoint agent	Correlation and detection	Automated response	Case management	Multi-tenant data separation	Compliance reporting
Wazuh	GPLv2	Yes, deep host checks	XML rules; Sigma from 5.0	Active response scripts	Through integrations	Build it yourself	Mappings to frameworks
UTMStack	AGPL-3.0	Windows, Linux (macOS paid)	600+ YAML rules, real time	Built-in flows	Built in	Built in (Enterprise)	Evaluated controls, 9 frameworks
Security Onion	Elastic License 2.0	Elastic Agent	Suricata, Zeek, Sigma	Limited	Built in	No	No
Elastic Security	Elastic License 2.0 (source also AGPL)	Elastic Agent	Large prebuilt rule set	Connectors, some paid	Built in	Spaces, build it yourself	Build it yourself
OpenSearch	Apache 2.0	No (bring your own)	Sigma and correlation rules	No	No	Build it yourself	Build it yourself
Graylog Open	SSPL	Sidecar collectors	Alerts only; correlation is paid	No	Paid edition	No	No
OSSEC	GPLv2	Yes, lightweight	XML rules	Active response	No	No	No

Should you replace Wazuh or add to it?

Ask which part of Wazuh you actually use.

If you live in the endpoint features (file integrity monitoring, CIS checks, vulnerability detection), keep Wazuh’s agent and fix the gap that bothers you: add Shuffle for playbooks, or move searching and long-term storage elsewhere.
If you mostly use it as a SIEM (collect logs, raise alerts, investigate), a platform built for that job will save more time than patching Wazuh with extra tools.
If you are a managed service provider, the license and multi-tenancy rows in the table decide more than any feature list. Security Onion, Graylog Open and Elastic’s downloads all restrict running them as a service for others.

How to switch without losing coverage

List what you rely on today: custom rules, active response scripts, integrations, dashboards and the reports you send auditors.
Run both in parallel for two to four weeks on the same log sources, and compare which alerts each one raises.
Rewrite your custom rules, not just copy them. Most custom Wazuh rules are noise suppression; a platform with better correlation often needs fewer of them.
Keep the old data searchable until your retention period ends, or export it if an auditor may ask for it.
Move agents in groups, starting with servers that matter least.

Frequently asked questions

Is Wazuh free for commercial use? Yes. Wazuh is licensed under GPLv2, so you can run it in a business, including for customers. If you distribute modified versions, you share the source of those changes.

What is the best open source alternative to Wazuh? It depends on why you are leaving. For a complete SIEM with response, incidents and compliance reports, UTMStack. For network hunting, Security Onion. For a pure Apache 2.0 platform with Sigma rules, OpenSearch Security Analytics.

Is Security Onion better than Wazuh? They do different jobs. Security Onion is stronger on network traffic and packet capture; Wazuh is stronger on endpoints and is easier to run. Many teams run both. Note that Security Onion’s license rules out offering it as a managed service.

Does Wazuh support Sigma rules? Not natively in Wazuh 4.x. The Wazuh 5.0 release candidate adds Sigma rules evaluated through the indexer’s security analytics.

Which Wazuh alternative is best for an MSSP? One with real customer separation and a license that allows a managed service. UTMStack Enterprise includes native multi-tenancy, branding and federation for service providers, and the free Community edition’s AGPL-3.0 license also permits running it for customers.

Can I keep the Wazuh agent and use another SIEM? Yes. Wazuh can forward alerts over syslog, so another SIEM can store and correlate them alongside your firewall, identity and cloud logs.