What is Wazuh?
Wazuh is a free, open source, unified security platform that combines SIEM (Security Information and Event Management), XDR (Extended Detection and Response), intrusion detection, vulnerability analysis and regulatory compliance monitoring.
Created in 2015 as a fork of OSSEC, Wazuh has established itself in just a few years as the most comprehensive open source cybersecurity solution on the market. Where other tools only cover one aspect of security, Wazuh provides a 360° view of your infrastructure — servers, workstations, containers, cloud.
In summary: Wazuh is a complete SOC (Security Operations Center) in a single platform.
Wazuh by the numbers: worldwide adoption
Wazuh is not a niche tool. It's an industry standard with exponential growth:
| Indicator | Figure |
|---|---|
| Cumulative downloads | 20+ million |
| Business users | 100,000+ worldwide |
| Estimated deployed agents | 10+ million |
| GitHub Stars | 12,000+ |
| Contributors | 500+ |
| Countries | Used in 180+ countries |
Who uses Wazuh?
Wazuh is adopted by a very broad spectrum of organizations:
- Governments and public sector: regulatory compliance (GDPR, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, NIST 800-53)
- Healthcare: patient data protection, compliance
- SMBs and mid-market: credible alternative to proprietary SIEMs costing $50,000+/year
- MSPs and IT service providers: multi-tenant platform for monitoring multiple clients
- Startups and scale-ups: enterprise-grade security without the enterprise budget
- Universities and research: reference platform for cybersecurity education
Why such massive adoption?
- 100% open source — No license, no agent limits, no locked features
- Credible alternative to Splunk, QRadar, Elastic SIEM — At a fraction of the cost (zero)
- Active community — Extensive documentation, forums, Slack with 15,000+ members
- Universal compatibility — Linux, Windows, macOS, containers, cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Regular updates — New detection rules and features with every release
Why choose Wazuh over a proprietary solution?
The traditional SIEM market problem
The SIEM market is dominated by expensive proprietary solutions:
| Solution | Estimated annual cost (100 agents) | License |
|---|---|---|
| Splunk Enterprise Security | $50,000 - $150,000 | Proprietary (by data volume) |
| IBM QRadar | $30,000 - $100,000 | Proprietary (by EPS) |
| Microsoft Sentinel | $20,000 - $80,000 | Proprietary (by GB ingested) |
| Elastic SIEM | $15,000 - $60,000 | Proprietary (by node) |
| Wazuh | $0 (open source) | GPLv2 — free |
The math is simple: with Wazuh, you invest in infrastructure (server) and skills, not licenses. This is exactly the philosophy of InstantApp: providing you with a ready-to-use Wazuh on professional infrastructure, without the prohibitive costs of proprietary solutions.
Concrete advantages of Wazuh
- No vendor lock-in: your data, your rules, your platform
- No artificial limits: no events per second (EPS) cap or data volume ceiling
- No paid modules: all features are included, from detection to response
- Full customization: detection rules, decoders, integrations — everything is modifiable
- Auditability: the source code is open, verifiable, auditable
Detailed Wazuh features
1. SIEM — Security event collection and correlation
The core of Wazuh is its SIEM engine that centralizes, normalizes and correlates logs from your entire infrastructure.
What it does:
- Collects logs from all your systems: servers, firewalls, applications, databases, Active Directory
- Normalizes heterogeneous formats (syslog, Windows Event Log, JSON, CEF)
- Applies correlation rules to detect complex threats (e.g., brute-force attempts followed by a successful login)
- Stores and indexes everything in OpenSearch for ultra-fast searching
SIEM detection examples:
- Root SSH login from an unusual IP
- 50 failed login attempts in 2 minutes
- Critical system file modification
- Suspicious privilege escalation
- New admin account creation
With InstantApp, your Wazuh server is deployed with OpenSearch pre-configured and optimized. You just need to install agents on your machines — collection starts immediately.
2. XDR — Extended Detection and Response
Wazuh's XDR module goes beyond simple log collection: it detects advanced threats and enables automated response.
Advanced detection:
- Behavioral analysis: anomaly detection in user and process behavior
- Multi-source correlation: cross-referencing alerts from different agents and sources
- MITRE ATT&CK rules: automatic mapping of alerts to the MITRE ATT&CK framework (14 tactics, 200+ techniques)
Active Response:
- Automatic IP blocking after X failed attempts
- Isolation of a compromised endpoint
- Custom remediation script execution
- Real-time notification (email, Slack, webhook)
InstantApp deploys Wazuh with Active Response pre-configured: automatic IP blocking (native fail2ban-like) and default alerts. You can then customize responses to your context.
3. Intrusion Detection (HIDS/NIDS)
Wazuh integrates a host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS) and can interface with network probes.
File Integrity Monitoring (FIM):
- Real-time detection of any modification to critical files
- Who changed what, when and how
- Alerts on changes to
/etc/passwd,/etc/shadow, configuration files... - System binary monitoring (rootkit detection)
Rootkit detection:
- Hidden process scanning
- Detection of unauthorized listening ports
- System binary integrity verification
- Suspicious kernel module detection
4. Vulnerability Analysis
Wazuh continuously scans your systems to identify known vulnerabilities (CVEs).
How it works:
- Automatic inventory of packages installed on each agent
- Cross-referencing with NVD, OVAL, RHSA, DSA databases
- CVSS scoring to prioritize vulnerabilities
- Vulnerability history and remediation tracking
With an InstantApp Wazuh instance, vulnerability scanning is enabled by default. As soon as an agent is installed, you get a complete security assessment in minutes.
5. Regulatory Compliance
Wazuh provides ready-to-use compliance dashboards for major standards and regulations:
| Standard | Domain | What Wazuh monitors |
|---|---|---|
| GDPR | Personal data protection (EU) | Data access, encryption, logging |
| PCI-DSS | Credit card payments | Access control, firewall, audit trails |
| HIPAA | Healthcare data (US) | File integrity, access control, audit |
| NIST 800-53 | Cybersecurity framework (US) | 20 security control families |
| TSC / SOC 2 | Cloud services | Availability, integrity, confidentiality |
| ISO 27001 | Security management | Policies, incident management, audit |
Key point for SMBs: InstantApp provides a compliance-ready Wazuh from deployment. No need to spend weeks configuring compliance rules — they are natively integrated.
6. Cloud and Container Monitoring
Wazuh integrates natively with cloud and containerized environments:
Cloud: AWS (CloudTrail, GuardDuty, Inspector), Azure (Activity logs, Defender), Google Cloud (Pub/Sub), Office 365
Containers: Docker (container, image, volume monitoring), Kubernetes (audit logs, pod anomaly detection)
7. Dashboard and Visualization
The Wazuh Dashboard (based on OpenSearch Dashboards) offers complete visibility:
- Overview: agent count, active alerts, global threat level
- Real-time alerts: event stream filterable by severity, source, type
- MITRE ATT&CK: visualization of detected tactics and techniques
- Threat Intelligence: integration of compromise indicator (IoC) feeds
- Custom dashboards: create your own views
Deploy Wazuh with InstantApp: 5 minutes flat
The manual installation problem
Installing Wazuh manually is a long and complex process that takes 2 to 4 hours for an experienced administrator.
The InstantApp solution
With InstantApp, the entire process is fully automated:
- Create your account at instantapp.locordi.com
- Choose Wazuh from the app catalog
- Select your plan (Pro or Business)
- Confirm — Deployment starts automatically
In 5 minutes, you get:
- ✅ A complete Wazuh server (Manager + Indexer + Dashboard)
- ✅ HTTPS configured with SSL certificate
- ✅ Firewall (UFW) and fail2ban pre-configured
- ✅ Automatic security updates
- ✅ Dashboard accessible via your custom subdomain
- ✅ Agent installation scripts (Windows, Linux, macOS) ready to download
- ✅ Access credentials sent via secure email
Wazuh InstantApp Plans
| Wazuh Pro | Wazuh Business | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | €149/month | €249/month |
| RAM | 16 GB | 32 GB |
| vCPU | 4 | 8 |
| SSD Storage | 320 GB | 640 GB |
| Recommended agents | Up to 100 | Up to 500 |
| Log retention | ~90 days | ~180 days |
| Ideal for | SMBs, startups | Mid-market, MSPs |
FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions about Wazuh
Is Wazuh really free?
Yes, Wazuh is 100% open source under the GPLv2 license. There are no paid features, no agent limits, no license costs. The only investment is the server — that's where InstantApp offers turnkey plans starting at €149/month, all included.
Can Wazuh replace an antivirus?
Wazuh is not a traditional antivirus. However, it complements an antivirus by detecting malicious behaviors, suspicious modifications, rootkits and vulnerabilities. The combination of antivirus + Wazuh provides far superior protection.
How many agents can a Wazuh server handle?
With InstantApp plans:
- Wazuh Pro (16 GB): comfortable up to 100 agents
- Wazuh Business (32 GB): comfortable up to 500 agents
Is Wazuh compatible with my infrastructure?
Wazuh supports virtually everything: Linux, Windows Server 2012+, Windows 10/11, macOS, AWS, Azure, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, and syslog from any network equipment.
Does Wazuh impact machine performance?
The Wazuh agent is very lightweight: 40-60 MB RAM, less than 1% CPU on average. It's designed to run 24/7 without impacting production servers or workstations.
Conclusion: Wazuh, the obvious choice for cybersecurity
Wazuh has established itself as the open source reference for SIEM and XDR:
- Complete: SIEM + XDR + HIDS + vulnerabilities + compliance in one tool
- Free: no license, no limits, no surprises
- Proven: 100,000+ businesses, 20+ million downloads
- Extensible: custom rules, integrations, full REST API
- Compliant: GDPR, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, NIST, ISO 27001 out-of-the-box
The only barrier to Wazuh adoption is often the complexity of installation and maintenance. That's exactly what InstantApp solves: in a few clicks, you get a professional, secure, maintained Wazuh server ready to receive your agents.
Don't let technical complexity prevent you from securing your infrastructure. Deploy Wazuh in 5 minutes with InstantApp →
