OSSEC vs Wazuh
OSSEC
ossec.netWazuh
wazuh.comSide by side
| Figure | OSSEC | Wazuh |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $4.58/mo | $571/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 5 |
| Spec score · File Integrity Monitoring Software | 9.0 (#2) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Spec score · Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software | 9.0 (#4) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Documentation depth | The manual includes architecture, supported systems, agents, log monitoring, syscheck, rootcheck, rules, decoders, output formats, configuration syntax, man pages and examples. | The documentation includes quickstarts, installation, API reference, deployment guides, capability manuals, compliance use cases, integrations and release notes. |
| File integrity monitoring | Syscheck hashes monitored files and Windows registry entries with MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 and alerts on changes. | Its FIM module tracks file and directory creation, modification and deletion using checksums and attributes, with real-time or scheduled scans. |
| License | OSSEC is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2. | Wazuh components are distributed under GNU GPL version 2 and Apache License 2.0, with the main repository code under GPLv2. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.6 out of 5 from 10 reviews | 4.5 out of 5 from 72 reviews. |
| Self-hosting | The free editions are downloadable source and binaries intended for local deployment, while Atomic OSSEC is offered on premises or as SaaS. | The quickstart installs server, indexer and dashboard on Linux with an installation assistant, while Docker and Kubernetes deployment options are documented. |
| What it does | OSSEC is a scalable, cross-platform open-source host-based intrusion detection system. | Wazuh is a free open-source platform for threat prevention, detection and response across on-premises, virtualized, containerized and cloud workloads. |
Plans
Wazuh
- Wazuh open sourceFree
- Small$571 a month
- Medium$923 a month
- Large$1,467 a month
- CustomPriced on request
In their own words
OSSEC
OSSEC is an open-source host-based intrusion detection system for monitoring systems and network components. It analyzes logs, checks file integrity, monitors the Windows registry, detects rootkits, and can alert users in real time or take active response actions. Monitoring can be agent-based or agentless, and a centralized server applies policies across operating systems, with server-specific overrides. Alerts can use SMTP, SMS, and syslog; active response can block an attack immediately. The system runs on Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, macOS, Solaris, and Windows, and supports self-hosted and cloud environments. OSSEC and OSSEC+ use command-line management; Atomic OSSEC editions add a management console and integrations with cloud services and other tools. OSSEC+ adds machine learning, ELK integration, threat sharing, and additional rules. Free OSSEC is listed at free; OSSEC+ is also free, with registration required. Atomic OSSEC is $5 a month per device. Atomic OSSEC SaaS offers a free 14-day trial for up to 10 endpoints.
Wazuh
Wazuh unifies XDR and SIEM to analyze security data across endpoints, clouds, and networks for threat detection, incident response, and compliance work. Its rules identify errors, misconfigurations, malicious activity, and policy violations in operating system and application logs. File Integrity Monitoring tracks changes to content, permissions, ownership, and other file attributes. Vulnerability detection compares endpoint software inventories with updated CVE databases. Built-in active responses can take countermeasures, including blocking network access from a threat source. Wazuh can monitor AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Microsoft 365, and GitHub services, virtual machines, and activity. Its integrations guide also covers Elastic Stack, OpenSearch, Splunk, and Amazon Security Lake. Default rulesets provide mappings for PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST 800-53, TSC, and GDPR, but those mappings do not themselves certify compliance. Wazuh runs on API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web, and Windows platforms. Its self-hosted open-source plan is free; paid plans start at $571 a month, and a 14-day trial is listed. Agents support Linux, Windows, macOS, Solaris, AIX, and HP-UX and require an average of 35 MB of RAM.