LogDNA vs. SolarWinds Loggly

Anytime we need to make any kind of log on any platform that we use, LogDNA is well suited. It is primarily used for logging errors on our server but also used for checking issues within our iOS apps when we need to identify a critical issue that is occurring. The search feature is very very good!

Incentivized

SolarWinds Loggly is great for capturing and organizing logs from 3rd party sources such as NGINX. Without SolarWinds Loggly it's really difficult to manage the logs overtime, find traffic patterns, and identify issues before they become a problem. Anyone who is routinely searching through massive log files could quickly benefit from the SolarWinds Loggly and it's capabilities.

Incentivized

• The UI is simple to use and hasn't ever been confusing for anyone to use on our team.
• Backups are great since we do occasionally need to access logs from the past and it has helped us solve some problems.
• Searching/filtering is great and I've always been able to get exactly what I need.

Incentivized

• Putting our logs in one place and making them searchable. We use AWS, and CloudWatch has always been a little frustrating in this regard (though it has gotten better recently).
• Deriving metrics from our logs. I think log-based metrics is such a good idea because your logs are the ultimate source for truth in regards to what the hell is going on inside your app. I have really loved the simplicity with which I can just count certain statements and call that a metric because just through the normal course of development certain log statements just naturally become a straightforward recording of an event having occurred.
• Alerts. I actually have a few complaints about email alerts, but just the way I was able to set them up so easily has been huge. Since we started using Loggly, there have been at least 3 bugs that Loggly exposed that were frankly very bad. And withoutt Loggly or without a user reporting them, we would have never known they were happening! This is stuff I tried to set up in CloudWatch in various ways, but because of my own ignorance or perhaps the complexity/limitations of CloudWatch (or the complexity of my stack?), I wasn't getting the information that I needed until I was able to just tell Loggly to send me an email whenever the word "error" showed up.

Incentivized

• There isn't really much I would change

Incentivized

• Not all searches are intuitive.
• We have to use a log aggregating device to ship our logs to Loggly as our network devices can not connect on an encrypted protocol. I would prefer if we could use some sort of VPN-based connector to ship logs securely.
• Sometimes when drilled down, it can be difficult to fully reset a search term to back all the way out of a drill down.

Incentivized

Management is not open to having an agent sending the data to the cloud instance.

Incentivized

It's really easy to use and powerful. But at a few times, the UI may feel sluggish, which is a bit expected, since it's displaying live stream of heavy data.

Incentivized

Loggly's easy setup, very good customer support, and intuitive interface make Loggly very easy to use. User access management is also very easy as we can tailor the experience for each of our developers to access the information they need without having to wade through other information. While there was a slight learning curve in how to view the logs the way some specifically wanted, everything was possible and quite easy to do.

Incentivized

It is very very good. They are responsive and very helpful. They also take the time to walk you through the issues you are having. But honestly, it is so straightforward that you rarely need to get support from their team. They are very helpful when you do need their support though.

Incentivized

The support team have been great when we have logged tickets or had issues, most of the time it is down to user training, however we have had a couple of bugs that they have been able to iron out for us.

Incentivized

It has good architecture, which focus on ese of use.

Incentivized

LogDNA was already setup when I started and it is offered through Heroku so that's why it was chosen. It's also cheaper I believe. Compared to Logentries, it does the same thing.

Incentivized

We were using Zabbix. While it is an open-source solution that you can install for free the following things were limitations of the solution. 1) The scale and uptime of the solution are now your own problem. Since we were hosting at AWS this meant we still had a cost of the AWS solution. 2) The product is complicated from a configuration standpoint. In order to get anything meaningful out of it, you had to invest a lot of time and effort. We did consider NewRelic. I have experience with that product and do think that it is a solid alternative. Ultimately experience with the simplicity and speed of deployment with Loggly encouraged me to suggest using this again.

Incentivized

• LogDNA is 30% cheaper than our previous solution

Incentivized

• Unfortunately, we hit our logging cap on a weekly basis and we lose logs after that.
• We have lost logs after hitting the maximum during service outages. We have become accustomed to not being able to rely on having them, then things go poorly.

Incentivized