What Papertrail does

Papertrail is a cloud-hosted log management Software-as-a-Service platform originally launched in 2011 as Seven Scale, rebranded to Papertrail Inc. in 2013, and acquired by SolarWinds in April 2015. The platform aggregates application logs, text log files, and syslog streams from diverse sources — including MySQL, Apache, routers, firewalls, Ruby on Rails, Windows events, Tomcat, Heroku apps, Docker containers, and Kubernetes clusters — into a single searchable interface with real-time tailing, sub-second search across hours of log history, configurable alerting, log-group-based access control, and optional export to Amazon S3 for long-term archival. The architecture supports syslog, TLS-encrypted HTTP ingestion, and OpenTelemetry-based Docker forwarding, with three published APIs (HTTP, Settings, Log Search) and a CLI for terminal-based workflows.

The product is sold primarily on a freemium/subscription model: a no-credit-card 30-day free trial (100 GB storage, 30-day search, unlimited systems and users) funnels users into paid tiered plans with annual billing, and enterprise pricing is quote-based. Go-to-market blends product-led self-serve acquisition via papertrail.com with SolarWinds' global enterprise field-sales organization and channel partner program for larger deployments; the DigitalOcean Marketplace provides a third-party distribution channel targeting SMB PaaS users. The platform is offered under GDPR-compliant terms with regional data residency options in the United States (Austin) and Singapore (Asia Pacific).

Papertrail serves individual developers, DevOps engineers, and small-to-mid technology companies ("Loved by 50,000+ developers"), with named reference logos including GitHub, Travis CI, Product Hunt, and DNSimple. The product is now positioned as one of four components in the SolarWinds DevOps observability portfolio alongside AppOptics, Loggly, and Pingdom, with a shared single sign-on layer and cross-portfolio integrations, allowing cross-sell into SolarWinds' larger enterprise installed base.

Name

Papertrail

Legal name

SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC

Website

https://papertrail.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Papertrail is a cloud-hosted log management SaaS platform that aggregates, searches, and alerts on logs from applications, servers, containers, and infrastructure. It serves developers, DevOps engineers, and small-to-mid technology companies, and is part of the SolarWinds DevOps portfolio alongside AppOptics, Loggly, and Pingdom.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cloud Log Management Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Distributed Tracing (HDABAJAD)

Keywords

• Cloud log management
• Log aggregation
• Real-time log search
• Developer observability
• Syslog monitoring

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices13 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Cloud-based SaaS Subscription: Papertrail operates as a cloud-hosted (SaaS) subscription service. The company offers tiered pricing with a free trial option (100 GB, 30 days search). Revenue is generated through subscription plans based on usage volume and feature access. The product is integrated into SolarWinds' broader DevOps portfolio monetization strategy.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Papertrail is a cloud-hosted SaaS log management platform that aggregates application logs, text log files, and syslog from diverse sources (servers, containers, routers, Heroku apps, databases, and dozens of frameworks) into a single searchable interface. It delivers real-time tail, lightning-fast full-text search, alerting, log velocity analytics, and team-based access control, enabling developers and operations teams to troubleshoot issues and gain visibility across their entire stack in minutes.

Product overview

SolarWinds Papertrail is a cloud-hosted log management platform designed for developers and operations teams, offering real-time log aggregation, searching, and alerting across entire application stacks. The core offering consists of the Papertrail log management platform with integrated modules for Log Ingestion, Log Groups and Access Control, and Error Tracking and Log Alerts. Key product capabilities include the Event Viewer for interactive log analysis, Tail Logging for real-time monitoring, and specialized features like Log Velocity Analytics for trend analysis. The product provides multiple API products (HTTP API, Settings API, Log Search API) for programmatic access and integration, along with add-on services for long-term archiving via Amazon S3 and Permanent Log Archives. A lightweight Kubernetes connector (rKubelog) extends container log collection capabilities. The platform integrates with hundreds of third-party tools across alerting, analytics, communication, and data warehouse categories.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SolarWinds Papertrail Cloud-hosted log management platform that aggregates application logs, text log files, and syslog from multiple sources into a single searchable interface with real-time tailing, search, and alerting, sold to developers and DevOps teams.
• Log Management Central log aggregation and management offering that consolidates logs from applications, servers, containers, and network devices into a unified interface for search, analysis, and troubleshooting.
• Log Ingestion Log collection capability supporting multiple ingestion protocols including syslog, text log files, and direct API ingestion from applications and infrastructure components.
• Error Tracking and Log Alerts Alerting service that monitors log streams for patterns, errors, and anomalies, sending notifications via email, Slack, PagerDuty, and other channels when configured conditions are met.
• Log Groups and Access Control Organizational capability enabling teams to group related log sources and manage user permissions, providing fine-grained access control over who can view and manage specific log collections.
• Automatic S3 Archive Export Long-term log archival capability that automatically exports log data to Amazon S3 for compliance retention and cost-effective storage.
• Permanent Log Archives Extended log retention service that maintains complete log archives accessible for historical analysis and compliance requirements.
• Tail Logging Real-time log streaming offering allowing users to follow log events as they occur across all connected systems, with filtering and search directly in the live stream.
• HTTPS API for Log Management REST API enabling programmatic log ingestion, log searching, and saved search management for integration with custom applications and automation workflows.
• Log Search API API enabling programmatic execution of log searches and retrieval of search results for embedding in custom applications and dashboards.
• rKubelog Kubernetes Connector Lightweight, open-source Kubernetes log connector that enables container log aggregation without requiring special cluster permissions or daemons, designed for local and restricted Kubernetes environments.

Quantifiable outcome

• 50,000+ developers use the platform
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration26 records

Feature10 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• New Relic: New Relic One is an integrated observability platform offering logs alongside APM, infrastructure, browser, and mobile monitoring. It is a direct competitor to Papertrail for organizations consolidating log and metrics monitoring onto a single SaaS platform, and it also has native integrations with Papertrail.
• Datadog: Datadog offers a unified observability and monitoring platform that includes log management alongside APM, infrastructure monitoring, and security. It is the most direct head-to-head competitor for cloud-hosted log aggregation, search, and alerting aimed at developers and DevOps engineers.
• Splunk: Splunk (now part of Cisco) pioneered enterprise log management and analytics at scale and is the canonical competitor in the log analytics category. Both Splunk Cloud and Splunk Observability Cloud compete for the same enterprise log aggregation, search, and alerting workloads that Papertrail serves.
• Loggly: Loggly is SolarWinds' sister cloud log management product and the most directly overlapping offering in the parent portfolio. The two target the same personas (developers, DevOps, IT ops) with cloud-hosted log aggregation, search, and alerting, but Loggly is positioned more for enterprise IT while Papertrail leans toward developer-led adoption.
• Elastic: Elastic (ELK Stack and Elastic Cloud) is the dominant open-source-based log management and search platform. It competes directly with Papertrail on log ingestion, search, and analytics, particularly for developer-led, self-serve, and Kubernetes-centric deployments.
• Sumo Logic: Sumo Logic is a cloud-native log management and observability SaaS targeting DevOps, security, and business analytics use cases. It competes with Papertrail on multi-source log ingestion, search, and alerting, particularly for cloud- and Kubernetes-based environments.
• Grafana Labs: Grafana Labs offers Grafana Loki for log aggregation alongside Prometheus for metrics and Tempo for traces, often running on Kubernetes. Loki is a direct head-to-head competitor for cloud-native, developer-driven log management with PLG-style adoption, mirroring Papertrail's positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Dynatrace: Dynatrace is an enterprise observability and application performance management platform with log management as one component of its broader Davis AI-driven suite. It competes with Papertrail primarily at the larger enterprise tier where logs are part of a unified monitoring contract.

Emerging players

• Honeycomb: Honeycomb is an observability platform focused on high-cardinality event data, structured logging, and incident debugging for engineering teams. It targets developer-led adoption similar to Papertrail, with overlap in production debugging and log-driven troubleshooting workflows.
• Better Stack (Logtail): Better Stack, the company behind Logtail, offers a modern cloud log management platform focused on developers with features like structured logs, alerting, and tight Slack/PagerDuty integration. It targets the same PLG, developer-first audience as Papertrail with aggressively priced SaaS plans.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/papertrailapp
• GitHubgithub.com/papertrail
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/papertrail

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Papertrail