openarchiver vs Velociraptor

openarchiver is an open-source, self-hosted platform for email backup, compliance, and eDiscovery with full-text search. Velociraptor is a free, open-source…

Best for openarchiver: openarchiver fits IT and compliance teams that need to archive email from Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or IMAP, or import historical PST/EML files, for backup, eDiscovery, and full-text search.
Best for Velociraptor: Velociraptor fits security and incident response teams that need to write custom VQL queries for targeted forensic evidence collection, continuous endpoint monitoring, and threat hunting across large, distributed fleets, maintained by Rapid7 since its 2021 acquisition of the Velociraptor team.

At a Glance

 openarchiverVelociraptor
Primary categorySecuritySecurity
RatingNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelOpen Sourceopen-source
Starting priceFree (self-hosted)Free
Free planNot documentedNot documented
Free trialNot documentedNot documented
PlatformsNot documentedNot documented
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresNot documentedNot documented
Public APINot documentedNot documented

Key Differences

Core Purpose

openarchiver: openarchiver archives email communications for backup, compliance, and eDiscovery, with full-text search across archived messages.

Velociraptor: Velociraptor collects forensic evidence and hunts for threats across endpoints, monitoring logs, file changes, and processes using its own VQL query language.

Email archiving and endpoint forensics address different stages and data types within security and compliance work.

Data Focus

openarchiver: openarchiver focuses on email data from Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, IMAP, and PST/EML file imports.

Velociraptor: Velociraptor focuses on endpoint telemetry — logs, file changes, and processes — across potentially tens of thousands of machines in real incident response operations.

The type of data source directly determines which tool is relevant to a given investigation or compliance requirement.

Licensing and Backing

openarchiver: openarchiver's short description calls it the "leading open-source email archiving solution," but no specific license or company backing is documented.

Velociraptor: Velociraptor is explicitly licensed under AGPL and maintained by Rapid7, which acquired the Velociraptor team in 2021.

A named license and a documented maintaining company give buyers clearer signal about legal terms and long-term support.

Deployment Model

openarchiver: openarchiver is documented as self-hosted, with no managed cloud version and no vendor-run SaaS documented.

Velociraptor: Velociraptor also requires self-hosting and operational management, with no vendor-run SaaS version of the open-source tool itself — Rapid7 separately sells a commercial InsightIDR/XDR product that integrates Velociraptor.

Neither tool offers a fully managed SaaS version of its core open-source product, so both require the buyer to run and operate the infrastructure.

Query and Customization Model

openarchiver: openarchiver does not document a custom query language, relying instead on full-text search over archived email.

Velociraptor: Velociraptor's VQL lets investigators write fully custom forensic collections and threat hunts, backed by a built-in library of forensic artifacts, though it has a documented learning curve.

A custom query language enables highly specific, repeatable investigations that a fixed search interface can't replicate.

Feature-by-Feature

Core Capability

FeatureopenarchiverVelociraptor
Email archiving & eDiscoveryAvailableUnavailable
Endpoint forensic evidence collectionUnavailableAvailable
Continuous endpoint monitoringUnavailableAvailable
Full-text searchAvailableNot documented

Customization & Scale

FeatureopenarchiverVelociraptor
Custom query languageUnavailableAvailable
Built-in artifact/template libraryNot documentedAvailable
Large-scale deployment (tens of thousands of endpoints)Not documentedAvailable
Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace connectorsAvailableUnavailable

Licensing & Deployment

FeatureopenarchiverVelociraptor
Self-hosted deploymentAvailableAvailable
Vendor-run managed SaaS of the core toolNot documentedUnavailable
Explicit open-source license documentedNot documentedAvailable
Published pricingNot documentedAvailable

Pricing Compared

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

openarchiver

Self-Hosted Community — Free N/A

Velociraptor

Open Source — Free N/A

Pros & Cons

openarchiver

Pros

  • Fully open source with no license fee for the core platform
  • Full data ownership and sovereignty since everything is self-hosted
  • Tamper-evident storage and audit trails suited to compliance and eDiscovery needs
  • Supports major mail platforms including Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and IMAP
  • Portable .eml storage format avoids vendor lock-in

Cons

  • Requires self-hosting expertise and infrastructure to operate reliably
  • No official hosted cloud offering or published SaaS pricing tier
  • Smaller company and community compared to established commercial archiving vendors
  • Enterprise support depends on a partner program rather than a large in-house support team
  • Newer project with a shorter track record than long-established archiving suites

Velociraptor

Pros

  • Completely free, with no licensing cost even for large fleets
  • Extremely flexible querying via VQL, tailored to specific investigation needs
  • Scales to thousands of endpoints for rapid fleet-wide investigation
  • Backed by Rapid7's engineering resources while remaining open source
  • Strong reputation and adoption within the DFIR community

Cons

  • Steeper learning curve than commercial EDR tools with polished interfaces
  • Requires teams to self-host and maintain the server infrastructure
  • Past CVEs, including remote code execution issues, mean patching cadence must be taken seriously
  • Lacks the built-in threat intelligence and automated response features of full commercial EDR and XDR platforms

Use Cases

Choose openarchiver: openarchiver fits IT and compliance teams that need to archive email from Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or IMAP, or import historical PST/EML files, for backup, eDiscovery, and full-text search.
Choose Velociraptor: Velociraptor fits security and incident response teams that need to write custom VQL queries for targeted forensic evidence collection, continuous endpoint monitoring, and threat hunting across large, distributed fleets, maintained by Rapid7 since its 2021 acquisition of the Velociraptor team.
Need both: A security team investigating a suspected breach could use Velociraptor to hunt for malicious activity and collect forensic evidence across endpoints, while pulling relevant archived email from openarchiver as part of the same eDiscovery or incident timeline.

openarchiver

  • Regulatory email retention — Meet legal and regulatory requirements to retain and produce email records for a defined retention period.
  • Litigation holds and eDiscovery — Search and export tamper-evident email archives with a verifiable chain of custody during legal disputes.
  • Self-hosted mailbox migration and backup — Archive mailboxes before decommissioning accounts or migrating between email platforms, preserving full-text searchable history.

Velociraptor

  • Incident Response Investigations — Incident response teams deploy Velociraptor to rapidly collect forensic artifacts from affected endpoints during an active security incident.
  • Proactive Threat Hunting — Security teams run Velociraptor's artifact library across their fleet on a scheduled basis to search for indicators of compromise before an incident is reported.
  • Managed Detection and Response Services — Managed detection and response providers use Velociraptor as a lightweight, scalable collection and monitoring layer across client environments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are openarchiver and Velociraptor competitors?

No. openarchiver archives email for compliance and eDiscovery, while Velociraptor collects forensic evidence and hunts for threats across live endpoints. They address different stages of security and compliance work.

Is Velociraptor free?

Yes. Velociraptor is open source under the AGPL license and free to use, maintained by Rapid7 following its 2021 acquisition of the Velociraptor team.

Does openarchiver publish its pricing?

No specific pricing plans are documented for openarchiver, even though it's tagged as freemium.

What is VQL?

VQL (Velociraptor Query Language) is Velociraptor's query language for writing custom forensic collections and threat-hunting queries, backed by a built-in library of forensic artifacts.

Can openarchiver and Velociraptor be used together?

Yes — during a security investigation, a team could use Velociraptor to hunt for malicious activity and collect endpoint evidence while pulling relevant archived email from openarchiver as part of the same eDiscovery timeline.

Does either tool offer a fully managed SaaS version?

No. Neither openarchiver nor Velociraptor's open-source tool documents a vendor-run SaaS version — both require self-hosting, though Rapid7 separately sells a commercial InsightIDR/XDR product that integrates Velociraptor.

Read the full openarchiver review · Read the full Velociraptor review