so ive been using WSJT-X for FT8 for about a year now and it logs to its own file which is fine but i keep meaning to get a proper logging program set up and i cant decide between N1MM and Log4OM and honestly every thread i find is either ancient or written by someone who clearly works for one of the developers or something

my situation is i do maybe 3 or 4 contests a year, nothing serious, mostly ARRL CW stuff and occasionally a VHF contest when the band is doing something interesting. rest of the time its just ragchew and some digital. i want something that plays nice with WSJT-X so the FT8 contacts dont live in a totally separate universe from everything else

from what i can tell N1MM is basically the gold standard if you live and breathe contests but its kind of overkill and the interface looks like it was designed in 2003 which it basically was. Log4OM looks nicer but ive seen people say the contest support is kind of an afterthought. anyone actually use both and have a real opinion that isnt just repeating what the websites say

honestly for what you're describing i'd probably just run both. i know that sounds annoying but hear me out -- Log4OM handles the day to day stuff really well, ADIF import from WSJT-X works fine, the interface is actually usable without reading a manual, and for casual contacts it's genuinely pleasant to use. then when a contest comes around you just fire up N1MM because nothing else really touches it for that. the two logs dont have to fight each other, you just export the contest log as ADIF afterward and import it into Log4OM to keep everything in one place

the 2003 interface comment is fair by the way, N1MM hasn't exactly kept up aesthetically but the function-key macros and the bandmap and the rate display are all so deeply baked in to how people actually run contests that it's hard to care. i tried running a SS in Log4OM once just to see and gave up about an hour in, it just doesn't have the same flow for that kind of operating

the WSJT-X integration question is the one that actually matters here. WSJT-X can log directly to N1MM via UDP if you set it up right, same with Log4OM, so either way you shouldnt have the two-universe problem you're worried about. took me an afternoon to get it sorted but once it works it just works and you forget about it

i use Log4OM as my main logger and it does what i need. cluster integration, cloudlog sync if you use that, LoTW upload is straightforward. for the contests you mention, the ARRL stuff, it handles them okay but i wouldnt say it feels natural the way N1MM does. the dupe checking feels a little slower to me but that might just be my machine