The demand for open-source endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools will be significantly high in 2025. Open-source EDR tools eventually provide affordable alternatives to proprietary software as businesses of all sizes seek effective, flexible solutions to counter advanced persistent threats (APTs) and other endpoint-based attacks. They can give them challenging detection and response capabilities without bulky price tags.
Many of them come with active user communities that power teams to customize features in updates, enhance threat detection, and keep up with the pace of security. Going into 2025, picking the right open-source EDR tools helps make the IT infrastructure secure and resilient.
What Is an Open-Source EDR (OSS EDR)?
Open-source EDR is a cybersecurity solution that enables the organization in question to detect, investigate, and respond to security incidents at the endpoint level in laptops, servers, or virtual machines using an open-source framework.
EDR solutions provide IT teams with transparency and flexibility by editing the code to suit certain purposes intended for various security needs. Unlike proprietary EDR solutions, open-source variants can be affordable and have active community support for customization, continuous updates, and improvements.
Need for an Open-Source EDR Tool
Cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, targeting vulnerabilities in endpoints and demanding highly adaptable security solutions.
For most organizations with open-source endpoint protection, the unique value proposition would be:
- Transparency: Open-source code enables organizations to verify and customize security features
- Cost-Effectiveness: In general, open-source solutions are less expensive. The core functionality is often free, but extensions or support come at a cost
- Community Support: Active user communities help to make this tool better by including updates regularly
- Flexibility and Control: The code can be modified to suit organizational needs better
The open-source endpoint detection and response tools are particularly handy in organizations operating in a hybrid or multi-cloud environment due to their flexibility and various types of infrastructure.
Open-Source EDR Tools Landscape for 2025
Below is a detailed look at the top open-source EDR tools to consider in 2025. Each tool offers unique advantages, addressing different aspects of open-source endpoint security and providing solutions that align with various organizational needs.
#1. SentinelOne Singularity™ EDR
SentinelOne’s Singularity Endpoint platform is a powerful endpoint detection and response solution, ideal for securing hybrid and multi-cloud environments. While it is not an open-source platform, Singularity is recognized for its robust, autonomous threat detection, machine learning capabilities, and deep visibility across enterprise infrastructures.
As an EDR tool, this will be one of the leading choices for organizations with a complex IT environment. It will enable them to get advanced and automated open-source endpoint protection across networks on clouds and premises.
For a detailed look at how it secures diverse infrastructures, check out the SentinelOne Singularity tour video to explore its capabilities.
Platform at a Glance
- Real-time Threat Detection: Threats are instantly detected and neutralized to enhance open source endpoint protection
- Automated Responses: Uses AI-driven responses to contain and remove threats autonomously
- Centralized Visibility: Provides a single-pane-of-glass view of security, which is key to controlling complex infrastructures
- Scalability: From small setups to large, complex environments like multi-cloud integrations
Features:
- Autonomous Threat Detection: With the use of advanced analytics, it continuously monitors the endpoint to reduce false positives
- Cross-Platform Compatibility: Extends consistent open-source endpoint security across public, private, and hybrid networks
- Singularity Ranger: Provides always-on network visibility and control, discovering all IP-enabled devices on the network
- Centralized Console Management: Provides enhanced visibility and control over the entire endpoint environment
- Efficient Remediation: One-click remediation rapidly restores the endpoints and minimally disrupts operations
Core Problems that SentinelOne Eliminates
- Visibility Gaps: Enhances endpoint visibility, providing a holistic security view across the network
- Manual Security Gaps: Automated response actions reduce the need for constant manual monitoring
- Unsecured Devices: Identifies and secures unmanaged endpoints in real time while protecting network integrity
- Analyst Fatigue: Ensures low alert fatigue by improving response efficiency with precise threat insights
Testimonials
“SentinelOne products I like the most; SentinelOne has a meaning like a soldier it protects. It’s a SaaS-based and truly friendly console, which I like the most, and it’s easy to understand the options in SentinelOne Product. A major and extraordinary feature is Snapshot; SentinelOne Singularity Platform takes snapshots of the endpoints and servers where we have installed the agent with the help of VSS, which takes the snapshot on an incremental basis every four hours. If the attacker encrypts the system, with the help of the rollback feature, we can restore the snapshot with the help of SentinelOne Agent. Easy to configure policies for Endpoints and Servers.” Gartner Peer Insights Review
For a closer look into SentinelOne’s functionalities, features, and user ratings, discover more here.
#2. OSSEC (Wazuh)
OSSEC is an open-source host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS) that enables real-time log analysis, file integrity checking, and rootkit detection. OSSEC provides an active response mechanism to automatically mitigate threats, making it a necessary tool for security teams.
Features:
- Log Analysis & Real-time Alert: It continuously monitors logs for any suspicious activity and alerts the administrators in real time
- File Integrity Monitoring: It monitors integrity in the health and state of files to identify unauthorized changes
- Rootkit Detection: It finds the potential rootkits and malware that may compromise open-source endpoint security
- Active Response: Provides automated response in case of any detected threats by blocking IPs or stopping some processes
- Cross-Platform Support: Works on multiple platforms, including Linux, Windows, and macOS
Discover OSSEC’s functionalities, standout features, and user perspectives by reading more here.
#3. Wazuh
Wazuh is a comprehensive open-source security monitoring solution that evolved from OSSEC. It offers more advanced features like threat detection, compliance monitoring, vulnerability detection, and real-time alerting.
It also integrates seamlessly with Elastic Stack (ELK) for enhanced data visualization and management.
Features:
- Unified Security Monitoring: It allows for visibility across a range of platforms and applications
- Intrusion Detection: This provides the detection of network- and host-based intrusions through the monitoring and analysis of logs and other security data
- Compliance Management: It enables adherence to standards such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by providing audit trails and detailed reports
- Vulnerability Detection: Identifies system vulnerabilities to avoid attacks that would otherwise occur
- Integration with Elastic Stack: It uses Elasticsearch for scalable search, Logstash for data processing, and Kibana for data visualization
Explore the features, capabilities, and reviews of Wazuh by reading further here.
#4. Snort
Snort is an open-source intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS). Snort provides real-time traffic analysis, packet logging, and packet filtering.
Most of the rules-based architecture in Snort can be done by the users for specific security needs.
Features:
- Real-time Traffic Analysis: Network traffic is done to monitor the real-time detection and mitigation of security threats
- Packet Logging: Logs packets in and out of the network for analysis and forensic purposes
- Custom Rule Sets: This provides users with the ability to develop their own detection rules and signatures to be able to respond to new types of threats
- Protocol analysis: Various protocols are analyzed to find anomalies and security problems
- High Scalability: Suitable for all levels of networks, from small ones to those with enterprise-level needs
#5. Security Onion
Security Onion is an open-source downloadable Linux-based platform designed for intrusion detection, security monitoring at the enterprise level, and log management.
This is a security onion network security suite that integrates quite an effective set of tools like Snort, Suricata, Zeek, and Elastic Stack to provide a comprehensive security monitoring solution.
Features:
- Network Intrusion Detection (NIDS): This comprises Snort, Suricata, and Zeek for intrusion detection and analysis of the network
- Full Packet Capture (PCAP): Captures full network traffic for later analysis and threat investigation
- Security Monitoring and Log Management: It provides tools for log management and the monitoring of security events
- Scalable Architecture: Scales easily accommodate large network environments
- Visualization: Leverages Kibana and other visualization tools to present complex security data in a manner that is understandable by consumers of the information
#6. Elastic Stack (ELK)
Elastic Stack, often referred to as ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana), is a collection of open-source EDR tools used for searching, analyzing, and visualizing large volumes of data in real-time.
It is widely used in security information and event management applications for endpoint and network security monitoring.
Features:
- Log Analysis and Search: Elasticsearch enables quick searches across vast data sets, making it ideal for analyzing logs
- Log Real-time Data Collection: Logstash can collect, parse, and store log data from different sources in real time
- Data Visualization: Kibana has powerful visualization capabilities to present security-related data, alerting, and logs in meaningful ways
- Scalable and Flexible: Elastic Stack operates with volumes of data that are large and grow with organizations
- Security Analytics: Wide applications in threat hunting and proactive security monitoring
For more on Elastic Stack, including its feature set and user feedback, see Peerspot.
#7. OpenEDR
OpenEDR is an open-source endpoint detection and response platform that scales and features real-time threat monitoring and automated mitigation.
It offers comprehensive support for a variety of feature types that help to detect and block threats on the endpoint, designed to be tailor-made for varied security needs.
Features:
- Endpoint Visibility: Provides complete visibility into endpoint activities and security events
- Threat Detection and Prevention: It finds the possible threat at the endpoint in the form of malware or ransomware
- Real-Time Response: Blocks malicious processes and isolates infected endpoints to minimize threats
- Customizable Features: Highly customizable to fit into diverse security environments and needs
- Open-Source Community Support: Constant development and support from the open-source community
Find more information here if you want to learn more about OpenEDR’s offerings and user feedback.
#8. Apache Metron
Apache Metron is a cybersecurity big data platform that detects threats and alarms in real time.
It is built on top of Apache’s open-source stack, using tools like Apache Kafka for streaming data-in, and provides the strong analytics necessary for monitoring and detecting security incidents.
Features:
- Real-time Security Data Processing: Uses Apache Kafka and other open-source tools for fast data collection and processing
- Threat Detection: This allows for real-time threat detection across network traffic, endpoints, and other data sources
- Scalability: Designed to scale horizontally, allowing it to handle large amounts of data from enterprise environments
- Integration with Other Security Tools: The solution smoothly integrates with other tools within the security ecosystem to develop open-source endpoint protection
- Automation of Threat Response: This automates responses to specific types of threats and reduces the gap between detection and mitigation
#9. MozDef
Mozilla Defense (MozDef) is a community-driven open-source security information and event management (SIEM) tool developed by Mozilla.
Its focus is on real-time incident detection, alerting, and automated response. The integration of the threat intelligence feeds makes it compelling for proactive security operations.
Features:
- Log Aggregation: Aggregates logs from various sources, including servers, endpoints, and network devices, to a central location for analysis
- Incident Response: Automates incident response workflows from detection to remediation
- Threat Intelligence Integration: It integrates with external threat intelligence feeds to keep up to date on current threats
- Scalable Architecture: Engineering is designed to scale effectively in enterprise environments and with large volumes of data
- Community-Driven: Since this is an open-source project, it is constantly improving and has a very active community involved in it from all around the world
#10. Graylog
Graylog is an open-source log management platform that provides real-time search and log data analysis.
It provides security teams with the tools to monitor and investigate security incidents, making it an essential part of a comprehensive open-source endpoint security strategy.
Features:
- Centralized Log Management: It provides all the log messages coming from different sources for easier centralized handling and analysis
- Real-Time Alerting: Allows for real-time alerting when any potential security incident is detected in the logs
- Powerful Search: You can carry out complex searches within huge volumes of log data
- Scalable: It is fitted with enormous scaling, extending to meet the requirements of large organizations
- Security Tool Integration: This can be integrated with other security mechanisms, such as SIEM, for enhanced threat detection
Know more about customer and technical reviews along with ratings of Graylog on Gartner Peer Insights.
How to Choose the Right Open-Source EDR Tool?
Choosing the right open-source EDR tool for your organization involves understanding specific security requirements. Below are the key factors to consider:
- Scalability: It should be able to grow with your organization by supporting a variety of endpoints and large infrastructures
- Ease of Integration: The solution must integrate well into your current security infrastructure and IT environment
- Powerful Search Capabilities: Allows security teams to perform complex searches on large volumes of log data
- Community Involvement and Support: For troubleshooting and continuous enhancement, one would want an active user community or professional support structure
- Compatibility: It needs to be used appropriately with the operating system in place and also must be compatible with other security tools that are being used
Conclusion
The selection of appropriate open-source EDR tools is critical in ensuring cybersecurity amidst an increasingly complex threat landscape.
With rising cyberattacks targeting endpoints, choosing an effective open-source endpoint detection and response solution is more important than ever. Each tool, from SentinelOne’s real-time threat detection capabilities to the scalability of tools like OSSEC, provides unique benefits suited to various security needs.
For more expert insights and the latest cybersecurity trends, visit our blog. If you are ready to explore a more secure future, feel free to book a demo and discover how SentinelOne can enhance your security today.
FAQs
1. Which technology is an open-source EDR tool?
Open-source EDR solutions are endpoint threat detection and response solutions that utilize freely available software. Examples include OSSEC, Wazuh, Snort, and Security Onion.
2. Benefits of Using Open Source EDR Tools
- Affordable: No license fees
- Customizable: Tailored to specific needs
- Community support: Active user-driven support
- Transparent: Open-sourced code gives reliability in security
3. Can open-source EDR tools be scaled for large organizations?
Yes, many open-source EDR tools, including solutions like SentinelOne, are designed to scale for large infrastructures with numerous endpoints. Successfully scaling these tools depends on understanding the organization’s specific needs and ensuring proper integration options are in place.
4. What’s the difference between open-source and commercial EDR tools?
- Security Visibility: Open-source EDR tools offer full code visibility and customization, while commercial tools focus on ease of use with limited transparency.
- Integration: Open-source tools may need extra effort to integrate, while commercial tools are designed for seamless integration with other systems.
- Updates and Maintenance: Open-source tools require manual updates, while commercial tools include regular updates and support.
5. What expertise is needed to implement an Open-Source EDR?
Basic cybersecurity knowledge and some coding skills are needed to implement and manage an open-source EDR effectively.
6. What features should I prioritize in the open-source EDR tool?
Look for real-time monitoring, automated responses, and scalability in open-source endpoint protection tools. To ensure broad coverage, these tools should support multiple operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux, etc.). They offer customization options better to meet your specific security needs and IT environment and are supported by an active community.
7. Why is SentinelOne a great choice as an EDR tool?
SentinelOne stands out for its advanced features, including real-time threat detection, automated incident response, and autonomous threat hunting. It provides protection across endpoints with AI-powered behavioral analysis, allowing it to detect known and unknown threats. Additionally, SentinelOne offers scalable deployment options, a centralized management console, and seamless integration with existing security infrastructures, making it an excellent choice for businesses of all sizes.
8. Is open-source EDR suitable for small businesses?
Yes. Open-source EDR tools are often cost-effective and flexible, making them ideal for small business security needs.