Papertrail vs Graylog Pricing (2026)
Compare / Papertrail vs Graylog
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Team size
25 seats

Papertrail vs Graylog

Log Management pricing comparison · 2026

Papertrail pricing ranges from $0–$280/month, while Graylog ranges from $0–$1550/month. Papertrail is typically 100% more affordable, though your actual cost depends on tier and team size.

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2 products · Log Management
Side-by-side · live
Papertrail
Papertrail (by SolarWinds) is a cloud-hosted log management service designed for developer
verified 27d ago
$575 $750
View pricing →
Graylog
Graylog is a powerful open-source log management platform trusted by 50,000+ organizations
verified 27d ago
$575 $750
View pricing →
Verdict · Vendr median · year 1
Papertrail saves $175 vs Graylog · 25 seats
Cheapest $575
Spread 23%
Estimated license cost
at 25 seats
List price × seats. Click a tier below to lock it.
Medium
$12K/yr
year 1 license · $40/seat
Graylog Cloud - Security
$465K/yr
year 1 license · $1.6K/seat
What buyers actually pay
median, annual
Vendr deal-flow data. The real benchmark, not list price.
↓ Lowest median
Median annual
$575/yr
Vendr · n=11
Median annual
$750/yr
Vendr · n=11
REF · 01

Sources & confidence

Every dollar amount and contract clause below traces back to a sourced fact. We don't manufacture composite scores.

Where this data comes from
Vendr · TrustRadius · Reddit · BBB · official docs
Sources 8 sourced facts
4 hidden-cost · 2 contract · Vendr median · 1 review platform
Last verified 3w ago
Confidence High confidence
Sources 5 sourced facts
3 hidden-cost · Vendr median · 1 review platform
Last verified 3w ago
Confidence Medium confidence
REF · 02

Plans at a glance

Every tier per product. Lock one to drive the cost row above and reveal a tier-specific outbound CTA.

Tier ladder
Click a tier to lock the cost row to it. Locking surfaces a tier-specific Visit CTA.
REF · 03

Hidden costs

Each cost is severity-ranked, with the dollar range quoted from its source (Vendr, Reddit, TrustRadius, BBB, official docs) — never our estimate.

Beyond the sticker
Severity-ranked, sourced
3 documented
  • Log retention limits on free tier
    Upgrade required for longer retention
    1 source
  • Volume-based pricing escalation
    $575/month at 100GB volume
    2 sources
  • Limited long-term archive capabilities
    Additional storage costs for long-term retention
    1 source
3 documented
  • Infrastructure Setup Complexity
    10-20% of license costs
    1 source
  • Disk Storage Management and Index Corruption
    5-15% of license costs
    1 source
  • Manual Update Management Required
    $500-$2,000
    1 source
REF · 05

What users say

Aggregated, with sample sizes. We use whichever review platform has data.

User reviews
TrustRadius · Trustpilot · G2
TrustRadius
7.3/5 (3)
Best for
Hobbyists, side projects, and single-app monitoring with minimal logging needs
Watch out
Free tier has very limited log retention (2 days searchable)
TrustRadius
8.2/5 (6)
Best for
Self-hosting teams with infrastructure expertise wanting unlimited log ingestion without licensing costs
Watch out
Backend configuration complexity requiring Elasticsearch, MongoDB, and Linux expertise
Decide
Get a quote from each vendor
Each link opens the vendor's pricing page in a new tab.
License cost is computed from publicly listed plans (real math, list price × seats). Median annual cost is from Vendr's deal flow when available — see source badges. Hidden costs and contract terms each cite their own sources. We do not invent composite scores.
Log Management

Papertrail

$0–$280
/month
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →
VS
Log Management

Graylog

$0–$1550
/month
5 plans · Free tier
Full pricing breakdown →

Papertrail and Graylog both operate in the log management category. This page compares their list pricing.

Plan-by-Plan Pricing

Plan Papertrail Graylog
Free Free /free Free /free (self-hosted)
Small $7 /$7/month $1.3K /$1,250/month for 10GB/day
Medium $40 /$40/month $1.6K /$1,550/month for 10GB/day
Large $230 /$230/month Custom
Enterprise Custom $1.5K /$1,500/month minimum

Cost at Scale

Total cost of ownership — licenses, implementation, and hidden costs included.

Papertrail

7 scenarios
$0/month
Solo Developer - Free Plan
Free tier with 50MB/month and 48-hour retention. Perfect for non-critical hobby projects.
$7/month ($84/year)
Small Startup - 1GB/month (Small)
Small plan with 7-day retention, unlimited saved searches, Slack/PagerDuty alerts. Scales to ~33MB/day.
$40/month ($480/year)
Growing SaaS - 10GB/month (Medium)
Medium plan with 7-day retention. Enables usage-based overages up to 20GB/month at 30% premium ($52 max).
See all 7 scenarios →

Graylog

4 scenarios
$1,500
Startup - Open Source Self-Hosted (10GB/day)
2,500/month - Infrastructure: 3 Graylog nodes, 3 Elasticsearch nodes, MongoDB, load balancer ($1,000-2,000/month) + DevOps time 20 hours/month ($500-1,000). Total: $1,500-2,500/month for unlimited logs.
$3,000
Mid-Size SaaS - Graylog Cloud Operations (25GB/day)
3,500/month - Graylog Cloud Operations with 25GB/day ingestion, 30-day retention, HA, auto-scaling, email/chat support. Negotiate 10-15% discount on annual contract: $2,700-3,000/month.
$6,000
Security Team - Graylog Cloud Security (50GB/day)
7,500/month - Graylog Cloud Security with 50GB/day, 90-day retention, Sigma rules, threat intelligence, incident investigation, compliance reporting. Negotiate 15-20% discount: $5,000-6,000/month.
See all 4 scenarios →

Market Intelligence

Papertrail

Median annual cost
$575
Based on
11 deals

Graylog

Median annual cost
$750
Based on
11 deals

Hidden Costs

Beyond the sticker price — what catches buyers off guard.

Papertrail 3 hidden costs

medium
Log retention limits on free tier Upgrade required for longer retention
high
Volume-based pricing escalation $575/month at 100GB volume
medium
Limited long-term archive capabilities Additional storage costs for long-term retention
See all Papertrail hidden costs →

Graylog 3 hidden costs

medium
Infrastructure Setup Complexity 10-20% of license costs
high
Disk Storage Management and Index Corruption 5-15% of license costs
low
Manual Update Management Required $500-$2,000
See all Graylog hidden costs →

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