Wazuh is a full SIEM/XDR platform: agent, manager, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch indexer, Kibana dashboard. Powerful — but it requires a dedicated server with 8GB+ RAM, expert configuration, and ongoing maintenance. Wazuh forked from OSSEC in 2015 and grew into an enterprise tool. If you just want to secure your Linux servers without running an Elasticsearch cluster, Defensia does the job in a 40MB binary with zero infrastructure.
$ Deploy Wazuh manager (dedicated server)
$ Install OpenSearch/Elasticsearch indexer
$ Install Wazuh dashboard (Kibana fork)
# Configure manager ossec.conf...
# Allocate 8GB+ RAM for indexer...
# Deploy agents to each server...
# Write custom decoders and rules...
Free, but $50-200+/month infrastructure
$ curl -fsSL https://defensia.cloud/install.sh | sudo bash
✓ SSH protection active (15 patterns)
✓ Web firewall active (nginx + Apache)
✓ Malware scanner ready
✓ Dashboard connected
✓ CVE scanner running
✓ Real-time alerts ready
30 seconds. No manager. No Elasticsearch.
Wazuh is a serious SIEM platform popular in RHEL enterprise environments. But for teams that just need server security, it is dramatic overkill. Defensia is open source too — without the infrastructure overhead:
Wazuh needs a manager server with OpenSearch/Elasticsearch (8GB+ RAM recommended) plus the Wazuh dashboard. That is a $50-200+/month server just to run the security platform — before you count the servers you are protecting. Defensia is a managed SaaS: install the 40MB agent and connect to the cloud dashboard. Zero infrastructure to maintain.
Installing Wazuh means deploying three components (manager, indexer, dashboard), configuring agent groups, writing custom decoders for your log formats, and managing OpenSearch cluster health. Version upgrades require coordinating all components. Defensia installs in one command with zero configuration.
Getting meaningful results from Wazuh requires writing custom rules, tuning alert thresholds, building Kibana visualizations, and understanding Wazuh's XML rule syntax. Most small teams install Wazuh, get overwhelmed by noise, and abandon it. Defensia works out of the box — every attack is automatically detected, categorized, and displayed in the dashboard.
OpenSearch/Elasticsearch indexes every log event. A server generating 10,000 events per day produces gigabytes of indexed data per month. You must manage shard allocation, index lifecycle policies, JVM heap tuning, and disk capacity. Defensia's agent processes events locally and sends only structured security data to the dashboard — no index management, no JVM tuning.
Wazuh can analyze web server logs and detect some attacks through its rule engine, but it does not include a purpose-built WAF. It relies on generic log decoders and custom rules. Defensia includes a dedicated WAF engine that detects 15+ OWASP attack types from nginx and Apache logs out of the box, with automatic IP banning.
Wazuh detects threats but does not include geoblocking or bot management. You would need additional tools for IP-based country blocking or automated bot fingerprinting. Defensia includes geoblocking for 200+ countries and bot management with 70+ fingerprints, both configurable from the dashboard.
An enterprise SIEM versus a focused server security agent. Different tools for different needs.
| Feature | Defensia | Wazuh |
|---|---|---|
| Install time | ~30 seconds | 30-60 min (3 components) |
| Infrastructure required | None (managed SaaS) | Dedicated server (8GB+ RAM) |
| Agent memory usage | <30 MB | ~100-300 MB (agent) |
| Manager/indexer memory | N/A (managed) | 8-16 GB (OpenSearch) |
| Configuration required | Zero config | ossec.conf + custom rules |
| Works on any Linux server | ✓ | ✓ |
| SSH brute force protection | 15 patterns | Via log rules |
| Web Application Firewall | 15+ OWASP types | Basic log analysis |
| Malware scanning | 64K+ hashes + 684 patterns | Rootcheck + SCA |
| WordPress database scanning | ✓ | ✗ |
| Security posture score | 0-100, A-F grade | SCA scoring |
| CVE & vulnerability scanning | OS-level (NVD + EPSS + KEV) | Via vulnerability detector |
| File integrity monitoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rootkit detection | ✓ | ✓ |
| Geoblocking (200+ countries) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Bot management | 70+ fingerprints | ✗ |
| Centralized log aggregation | ✗ | Elasticsearch/OpenSearch |
| Compliance reporting (PCI/HIPAA) | ✗ | ✓ |
| SIEM event correlation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom detection rules | Pattern-based | XML rules + Sigma |
| Web dashboard | Managed SaaS | Self-hosted Kibana fork |
| Multi-server management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Docker native support | ✓ | Docker monitoring module |
| Kubernetes / Helm | ✓ | Helm chart available |
| Alerts (Slack/email/Discord) | ✓ | Email + integrations |
| Open source | MIT licensed agent | GPL v2 |
| Active response (auto-ban) | Automatic IP banning | Configurable active response |
| Price | Free + €9/mo Pro | Free + infra cost ($50-200+/mo) |
Wazuh is free software, but running it is not free. The infrastructure and expertise required add up quickly:
Dedicated server for the manager + indexer. Wazuh's documentation recommends a minimum of 8GB RAM for the indexer (OpenSearch/Elasticsearch) plus 2GB for the Wazuh manager. In practice, 16GB is common for even modest deployments. At DigitalOcean or Hetzner, that is $48-96/month just for the Wazuh infrastructure server — before you count the servers you are actually protecting.
Disk usage grows with every event. Wazuh indexes every log event into OpenSearch. A busy server generating thousands of events per day consumes gigabytes of indexed data per month. You must manage index rotation, retention policies, and disk capacity. Defensia stores events in a managed database — you never manage storage infrastructure.
Expert configuration required. Wazuh ships with generic decoders and rules. For meaningful detection tailored to your environment, you must write custom decoders (to parse your specific log formats), custom rules (to define what constitutes a threat), and manage rule tuning across updates. This requires SIEM expertise that most small teams do not have.
Ongoing maintenance burden. Wazuh manager, indexer, and dashboard are separate components that must be updated together. Version mismatches cause breakage. OpenSearch cluster health, shard management, and JVM tuning are ongoing operational tasks. Defensia auto-updates the agent binary and the dashboard is a managed SaaS.
Wazuh excels at log aggregation and compliance. Defensia focuses on active server protection.
Wazuh can analyze web logs with custom rules, but it does not include a purpose-built WAF engine. Defensia detects 15+ OWASP attack types (SQL injection, XSS, path traversal, command injection, RFI/LFI) from nginx and Apache logs out of the box. No custom decoders, no XML rules, no tuning — it just works.
Wazuh requires you to run and maintain OpenSearch/Elasticsearch and a Kibana-based dashboard on your own infrastructure. Defensia provides a managed web dashboard — real-time event feeds, attack analytics, ban timelines, geographic maps, and multi-server views. No JVM tuning, no shard management, no disk monitoring.
Wazuh detects threats but cannot block traffic by country or manage bots. Defensia includes geoblocking for 200+ countries and bot management with 70+ fingerprints (Googlebot, Bingbot, known scanners, AI crawlers). Both are configurable from the dashboard with per-server policies.
We believe in being honest. Wazuh and Defensia serve different audiences. Here are cases where Wazuh is the better fit:
It depends on what you use Wazuh for. If you use Wazuh as a SIEM for centralized log aggregation, event correlation, and compliance reporting — no, Defensia is not a SIEM. If you use Wazuh primarily for server security (SSH protection, malware detection, vulnerability scanning, file integrity monitoring), Defensia covers all of that with dramatically less infrastructure and configuration. Many teams install Wazuh for security but end up maintaining an Elasticsearch cluster — if that is your situation, Defensia is the simpler path.
Wazuh's minimum recommendation is 4GB RAM for the indexer (OpenSearch) plus 2GB for the manager, but real-world deployments typically need 8-16GB for the indexer alone. With 10+ agents generating thousands of events per day, you will need 50-200GB of disk for indexed data within months. At DigitalOcean, a 16GB/4vCPU droplet costs $96/month. That is $1,152/year just for the Wazuh infrastructure — not counting the servers you are protecting.
Yes. The agent is MIT licensed and available on GitHub. Written in Go, it compiles to a single ~40MB binary and uses under 30MB of memory. Wazuh's agent is also open source (GPL v2) and both projects are transparent about their code.
Not a dedicated one. Wazuh can analyze web server logs using its log decoder and rule engine, and you can write custom rules to detect attack patterns. However, it does not include a purpose-built WAF with OWASP detection patterns. Defensia includes a WAF engine that detects 15+ OWASP attack types from nginx and Apache access logs with zero configuration, automatically banning attacker IPs.
Yes. They operate at different layers and complement each other well. Wazuh handles centralized log aggregation, SIEM correlation, and compliance reporting. Defensia handles active server protection: WAF, SSH protection, malware scanning, geoblocking, bot management, and automated IP banning. The Defensia agent (30MB) and Wazuh agent (~100MB) can run on the same server without conflict.
Ubuntu 20+, Debian 11+, CentOS 7+, RHEL 8+, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, Fedora 36+, and Amazon Linux 2023. The agent requires systemd, iptables, and root access. Wazuh supports a wider range including Windows, macOS, and AIX. If you need cross-platform support, Wazuh has an advantage.
Sources
Wazuh documentation (documentation.wazuh.com), Wazuh architecture overview (documentation.wazuh.com/current/getting-started/architecture.html), Wazuh hardware requirements (documentation.wazuh.com/current/installation-guide/requirements.html), Wazuh GitHub repository (github.com/wazuh/wazuh — 20,000+ stars). Defensia agent telemetry data. All features verified April 2026.
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