CrowdSec vs Wazuh

CrowdSec and Wazuh are both open-source-rooted security tools, but they solve different problems: CrowdSec is a crowd-sourced threat intelligence and…

Best for CrowdSec: CrowdSec fits teams that want to preemptively block malicious traffic using crowd-sourced IP reputation data — its Community Blocklist aggregates around 15 million daily signals — and are willing to pay from $49/month for the IP Reputation API or from $1,900/month for curated Platinum Blocklists.
Best for Wazuh: Wazuh fits teams that need a full SIEM and XDR platform — endpoint security, vulnerability detection, cloud/container security, and compliance monitoring — at no licensing cost, reporting 15+ million protected endpoints and 100,000+ enterprise users.

At a Glance

 CrowdSecWazuh
Primary categorySecuritySecurity
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelFreemiumopen-source
Starting priceFreeFree (open source); Wazuh Cloud managed service priced on request
Free planYesNot documented
Free trialNot documentedNot documented
PlatformsWebWeb
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresNot documentedNot documented
Public APIYesYes

Key Differences

Core Function

CrowdSec: CrowdSec centers on Preemptive Blocking and a Community Blocklist built from crowd-sourced IP reputation data shared by 70,000+ users in 190+ countries.

Wazuh: Wazuh centers on SIEM Capabilities and Active XDR — real-time correlation with granular, on-device active responses — alongside endpoint security and threat intelligence.

Blocking known-bad IPs at the perimeter and correlating internal log/endpoint data for threat detection are complementary but distinct security functions.

Pricing Structure

CrowdSec: CrowdSec's Community plan is free, but paid tiers include IP Reputation API from $49/month (5,000 queries) and Platinum Blocklists from $1,900/month; Console Premium pricing requires contact.

Wazuh: Wazuh's Community (self-hosted) plan is entirely free with the full SIEM/XDR feature set; Wazuh Cloud and professional support/training pricing is not publicly listed.

CrowdSec has clear published price points for specific paid capabilities, while Wazuh's core product is free but its managed/paid options are opaque.

Data Source

CrowdSec: CrowdSec's value comes from Real-Time Signal Sharing — aggregating roughly 15 million daily signals with about 50% daily IP rotation across its user network.

Wazuh: Wazuh's Threat Intelligence feature relies on threat hunting, log data analysis, and vulnerability detection from an organization's own monitored environment.

External crowd-sourced threat data catches attackers before they hit your systems; internal log-based detection catches what's already happening inside your environment.

Deployment Coverage

CrowdSec: CrowdSec offers Plug-and-Play Integrations that connect with common firewalls and CDNs.

Wazuh: Wazuh's Cloud Security feature covers container security and cloud workload posture management, and it works across public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises environments.

The breadth of environments and infrastructure each tool protects determines how much of a security stack it can cover on its own.

Openness of Core Product

CrowdSec: CrowdSec's Community Plan is free and open source, with paid tiers layered on top for premium blocklists and API access.

Wazuh: Wazuh is fully open source with ongoing community contributions on GitHub, and its entire documented feature set is available in the free Community (self-hosted) plan.

How much core functionality is gated behind a paywall affects total cost for teams that can self-manage.

Feature-by-Feature

Threat Detection & Blocking

FeatureCrowdSecWazuh
Crowd-sourced IP blocklistAvailableUnavailable
Endpoint security / file integrity monitoringUnavailableAvailable
SIEM log correlationUnavailableAvailable
IP reputation lookups via APIAvailableNot documented

Coverage & Compliance

FeatureCrowdSecWazuh
Cloud/container securityNot documentedAvailable
Compliance monitoringNot documentedAvailable
Firewall/CDN integrationsAvailableNot documented

Pricing & Community

FeatureCrowdSecWazuh
Free core planAvailableAvailable
Published paid tier pricingAvailableUnavailable
Reported user/endpoint scaleAvailableAvailable

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

CrowdSec

Community — Free N/A
Console Premium — Pay-as-you-grow (per enrolled Security Engine) monthly
CTI / IP Reputation — From $49/month (5,000 queries) monthly
Platinum Blocklists — From $1,900/month (SMB) monthly

Wazuh

Open Source (self-hosted) — $0 n/a
Wazuh Cloud — Custom, quote-based custom

Pros & Cons

CrowdSec

Pros

  • Core Security Engine is free, open source, and self-hostable
  • Blocklists improve automatically as more community members detect new attacks
  • Modular bouncers integrate with common firewalls, web servers, and WordPress
  • Transparent, pay-as-you-grow pricing for premium and enterprise tiers

Cons

  • Full value depends on network effects, so blocklist quality varies by threat category
  • Enterprise-grade blocklists and local CTI replication carry four-figure monthly costs
  • Requires log access and some server-side configuration to deploy effectively
  • Smaller company than large incumbent threat-intel vendors, with a narrower support footprint

Wazuh

Pros

  • Fully open source with no licensing cost, unlike most commercial SIEM and XDR platforms
  • Broad feature set spanning log analysis, file integrity, vulnerability, and compliance monitoring
  • Active open source community with frequent updates and extensive documentation
  • Integrates with major cloud providers and container platforms
  • No vendor lock-in since organizations fully control their own deployment and data

Cons

  • Self-hosted deployments require security and infrastructure expertise to set up and maintain
  • Managed Wazuh Cloud pricing is not publicly listed and requires a sales quote
  • Scaling log ingestion for large environments can require significant infrastructure investment
  • Lacks some of the polished enterprise support and SLAs offered by large commercial SIEM vendors

Use Cases

Choose CrowdSec: CrowdSec fits teams that want to preemptively block malicious traffic using crowd-sourced IP reputation data — its Community Blocklist aggregates around 15 million daily signals — and are willing to pay from $49/month for the IP Reputation API or from $1,900/month for curated Platinum Blocklists.
Choose Wazuh: Wazuh fits teams that need a full SIEM and XDR platform — endpoint security, vulnerability detection, cloud/container security, and compliance monitoring — at no licensing cost, reporting 15+ million protected endpoints and 100,000+ enterprise users.
Need both: A security team could run Wazuh as its core SIEM/XDR for endpoint monitoring and compliance while adding CrowdSec's Community Blocklist or paid IP Reputation API as a preemptive network-layer defense that blocks known-malicious IPs before they generate the alerts Wazuh would otherwise have to process.

CrowdSec

  • Self-managed server protection — DevOps teams deploy the free Security Engine on their servers to automatically block brute-force logins, scanners, and bots using community threat data.
  • Managed hosting and MSP security — Service providers roll out CrowdSec across client infrastructure and use the Console to centrally monitor and manage remediation at scale.
  • IP reputation enrichment — Security teams integrate the CTI API into their own SIEM or fraud tooling to enrich alerts with real-time IP reputation and MITRE technique data.

Wazuh

  • Centralized threat detection — Security teams monitor logs, files, and system activity across their infrastructure from a single Wazuh dashboard to detect and investigate threats.
  • Regulatory compliance monitoring — Organizations use Wazuh's compliance mapping and reporting to support audits for frameworks like PCI DSS and HIPAA.
  • Cost-effective SIEM replacement — Companies replace or supplement expensive commercial SIEM licenses with Wazuh's free, self-hosted open source platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CrowdSec or Wazuh free?

Both have free tiers. CrowdSec's Community Plan is free and open source with behavioral detection and automated response. Wazuh's Community (self-hosted) plan is also free and includes its full SIEM/XDR feature set; both charge for optional add-ons (CrowdSec's premium blocklists and API, Wazuh's managed cloud and support).

What does CrowdSec's paid tier cost?

CrowdSec's IP Reputation API starts at $49/month for 5,000 queries, while Platinum Blocklists start around $1,900/month. Console Premium pricing is not publicly listed and requires contacting CrowdSec.

Can CrowdSec and Wazuh be used together?

Their documented feature sets are complementary — CrowdSec focuses on crowd-sourced IP blocking at the network edge, while Wazuh focuses on SIEM/XDR log correlation and endpoint monitoring — so a security team could run both to cover perimeter blocking and internal detection respectively.

How many users does each platform report?

CrowdSec reports more than 70,000 active users across 190+ countries sharing roughly 15 million signals daily. Wazuh reports 15+ million protected endpoints and 100,000+ enterprise users.

Does Wazuh cover cloud and container environments?

Yes, Wazuh's Cloud Security feature covers container security and cloud workload posture management, and the platform works across public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises environments.

Is CrowdSec open source?

Yes, the CrowdSec Security Engine is open-source software available on GitHub, with the Community Plan free to use; premium blocklists and API tiers are paid add-ons.

Read the full CrowdSec review · Read the full Wazuh review