Log management · November 2026 Edition
Graylog vs SolarWinds Papertrail
Three of fourteen models named Graylog first on the direct prompt; zero named SolarWinds Papertrail. Graylog was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and SolarWinds Papertrail by nine and Graylog carries 47 labels and SolarWinds Papertrail 13, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share15%3%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate11%15%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#8A position in a field of 12; printed, not drawn.
Labels4713A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Graylog reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Datadog Log Management was named alongside these two in thirteen of the fourteen direct answers. Datadog Log Management vs Graylog · Datadog Log Management vs SolarWinds Papertrail · Graylog vs Grafana Loki
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the log management page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
GraylogFirst choices, of fourteen modelsSolarWinds Papertrail
Direct30
Paraphrase301 against Graylog
Comparative00
Budget-constrained32
Scale-constrained00
Negative004 against Graylog · 2 against SolarWinds Papertrail
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Graylog and SolarWinds Papertrail were named in the same answer thirty-seven times, of the 125 answers naming Graylog and the 59 naming SolarWinds Papertrail. In those answers SolarWinds Papertrail took the first choice eight times and Graylog five.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Graylog and SolarWinds Papertrail stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | ||||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | ||||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.20 | | | ||||
| Mistral Small | | | | |||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | ||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | |||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | |||
| Kimi K2 | | | ||||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | |||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-6 Luna | | |||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | |
Graylog SolarWinds Papertrail first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Graylog on the left and SolarWinds Papertrail on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Graylog and SolarWinds Papertrail stood in it.
Graylog first, SolarWinds Papertrail not the choice
3 of 14 modelsSolarWinds Papertrail was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Graylog alternatives: Datadog Log Management, ManageEngine Log360, New Relic Logs
Mistral SmallDatadog Log Management, Graylog alternatives: Better Stack, Coralogix, Splunk
MiniMax M2.5Graylog, SolarWinds alternatives: Datadog Log Management, New Relic Logs
Neither was the first choice, one was named
5 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Perplexity SonarDatadog Log Management alternatives: Coralogix, Elastic Stack, Graylog, ManageEngine Log360
DeepSeek V4 FlashGrafana Loki alternatives: Datadog Log Management, Elastic Stack, Graylog, New Relic Logs
Qwen 3.7 FlashDatadog Log Management alternatives: Coralogix, Graylog
GLM 4.7 FlashXDatadog Log Management alternatives: Coralogix, Elastic Stack, Graylog, Logz.io, New Relic Logs, OpenObserve
Muse Glimmer 30BCoralogix, Datadog Log Management, ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer alternatives: Grafana Loki, Graylog, Logmanager, New Relic Logs, OpenObserve, SigNoz, Splunk
Neither was named
6 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.GPT-5.4 miniDatadog Log Management alternatives: Elastic Stack, New Relic Logs, Splunk, Sumo Logic
Gemini 3.5 FlashCoralogix alternatives: Better Stack, Grafana Cloud Logs, Sumo Logic
Grok 4.20Datadog Log Management alternatives: Elastic Stack, ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer / Log360, New Relic Logs, Sumo Logic
Llama 4 MaverickDatadog Log Management alternatives: Coralogix, ManageEngine EventLog Analyzer, Splunk
Kimi K2Datadog Log Management alternatives: Grafana Loki, Logz.io, Sematext Logs, SolarWinds
GPT-6 LunaDatadog Log Management alternatives: Elastic Cloud Serverless, Sumo Logic
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
SolarWinds Papertrail leads by seven points.
SolarWinds Papertrail16%#2 of 14Graylog9%#5 of 14Mid-marketThe figures above
The order flips: Graylog leads at mid-market.
Graylog15%#2 of 12SolarWinds Papertrail3%#8 of 12Enterprise
Graylog leads by eight points.
Graylog8%#3 of 11SolarWinds Papertrail0%#– of 11What the models said about Graylog
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Graylog is noted for having limited scalability, making it unsuitable for large-scale log management.” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“Graylog moved its server code to the Server Side Public License v1 ... SSPL is not OSI approved, so Graylog Open is source-available rather than open source.” Muse Glimmer 30B · negative prompt · soft negative
“Can drop messages under load, limited scalability for very large environments, and complex setup/upgrades” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“I would recommend starting with Graylog if security and compliance are priorities, or Coralogix if cost predictability and cloud-native architecture are more important.” MiniMax M2.5 · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“For most mid-market B2B companies, Graylog or SolarWinds offer the best balance of features, cost, and scalability.” MiniMax M2.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“For the absolute lowest cost, open-source options like Graylog or Elastic Stack are ideal” Claude Haiku 4.5 · budget prompt · first choice
What the models said about SolarWinds Papertrail
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Five of six in this category shown.
“Verdict: Avoid for anything serious; use only for tiny hobbyist setups.” DeepSeek V4 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“they lack deep tracing integrations, advanced correlation capabilities, and cost-effective cold storage options” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“Papertrail is a cheap log management platform that offers a fixed-tier pricing plan starting at $7.00/mo.” Llama 4 Maverick · budget prompt · first choice
“Papertrail and Datadog's free tier are generally the top contenders for cost-conscious teams.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · first choice
“Simplest inexpensive SaaS: Papertrail—a straightforward option for small teams” Perplexity Sonar · budget prompt · alternative
Also compared
Datadog Log Management vs GraylogDatadog Log Management vs SolarWinds PapertrailGraylog vs Grafana LokiGraylog vs Better StackGraylog vs Elastic StackGraylog vs Grafana Cloud LogsGraylog vs CoralogixGrafana Loki vs SolarWinds PapertrailBetter Stack vs SolarWinds PapertrailElastic Stack vs SolarWinds PapertrailGrafana Cloud Logs vs SolarWinds PapertrailCoralogix vs SolarWinds PapertrailAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full logs standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.