diff --git a/include/maxscale/buffer.hh b/include/maxscale/buffer.hh
index 77d6b3993..d9458b6ce 100644
--- a/include/maxscale/buffer.hh
+++ b/include/maxscale/buffer.hh
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ inline bool gwbuf_is_contiguous(const GWBUF* b)
 /*< True if all bytes in the buffer have been consumed */
 inline bool gwbuf_link_empty(const GWBUF* b)
 {
-    return ((char*)b->start >= (char*)b->end);
+    return (char*)b->start >= (char*)b->end;
 }
 
 #define GWBUF_EMPTY(b) gwbuf_link_empty(b)
@@ -422,11 +422,22 @@ extern void dprintAllBuffers(void* pdcb);
 /**
  * Debug function for dumping buffer contents to log
  *
+ * @see mxs::Buffer::hexdump
+ *
  * @param buffer    Buffer to dump
  * @param log_level Log priority where the message is written
  */
-void gwbuf_hexdump(GWBUF* buffer, int log_level);
-void gwbuf_hexdump(const mxs::Buffer& buffer, int log_level);
+void gwbuf_hexdump(GWBUF* buffer, int log_level = LOG_INFO);
+
+/**
+ * Debug function for pretty-printing buffer contents to log
+ *
+ * @see mxs::Buffer::hexdump_pretty
+ *
+ * @param buffer    Buffer to dump
+ * @param log_level Log priority where the message is written
+ */
+void gwbuf_hexdump_pretty(GWBUF* buffer, int log_level = LOG_INFO);
 
 /**
  * Return pointer of the byte at offset from start of chained buffer
@@ -1213,6 +1224,24 @@ public:
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Debug function for dumping buffer contents to log
+     *
+     * Prints contents as hexadecimal. Only the first 1024 bytes are dumped to avoid filling up the log.
+     *
+     * @param log_level Log priority where the message is written
+     */
+    void hexdump(int log_level = LOG_INFO) const;
+
+    /**
+     * Debug function for pretty-printing buffer contents to log
+     *
+     * The output format is similar to `hexdump -C` and provides both hex and human-readable values.
+     *
+     * @param log_level Log priority where the message is written
+     */
+    void hexdump_pretty(int log_level = LOG_INFO) const;
+
 private:
     // To prevent @c Buffer from being created on the heap.
     void* operator new(size_t);         // standard new
diff --git a/server/core/buffer.cc b/server/core/buffer.cc
index 4548ec9f9..c897baa08 100644
--- a/server/core/buffer.cc
+++ b/server/core/buffer.cc
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ static void             gwbuf_free_one(GWBUF* buf);
 static buffer_object_t* gwbuf_remove_buffer_object(GWBUF* buf,
                                                    buffer_object_t* bufobj);
 
-#if defined(SS_DEBUG)
+#if defined (SS_DEBUG)
 inline void invalidate_tail_pointers(GWBUF* head)
 {
     if (head && head->next)
@@ -845,7 +845,55 @@ void gwbuf_hexdump(GWBUF* buffer, int log_level)
     MXS_LOG_MESSAGE(log_level, "%.*s", n, ss.str().c_str());
 }
 
-void gwbuf_hexdump(const mxs::Buffer& buffer, int log_level)
+void gwbuf_hexdump_pretty(GWBUF* buffer, int log_level)
 {
-    return gwbuf_hexdump(const_cast<mxs::Buffer&>(buffer).get(), log_level);
+    mxs::Buffer buf(buffer);
+    buf.hexdump_pretty(log_level);
+    buf.release();
+}
+
+void mxs::Buffer::hexdump(int log_level) const
+{
+    return gwbuf_hexdump(m_pBuffer, log_level);
+}
+
+void mxs::Buffer::hexdump_pretty(int log_level) const
+{
+    constexpr const char as_hex[] = "0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
+    std::string result = "\n";
+    std::string hexed;
+    std::string readable;
+    auto it = begin();
+
+    while (it != end())
+    {
+        for (int i = 0; i < 16 && it != end(); i++)
+        {
+            uint8_t c = *it;
+            hexed += as_hex[c >> 4];
+            hexed += as_hex[c & 0x0f];
+            hexed += ' ';
+            readable += isprint(c) && (!isspace(c) || c == ' ') ? (char)c : '.';
+            ++it;
+        }
+
+        if (readable.length() < 16)
+        {
+            hexed.append(48 - hexed.length(), ' ');
+            readable.append(16 - readable.length(), ' ');
+        }
+
+        mxb_assert(hexed.length() == readable.length() * 3);
+        result += hexed.substr(0, 24);
+        result += "  ";
+        result += hexed.substr(24);
+        result += "  ";
+        result += readable;
+        result += '\n';
+
+        hexed.clear();
+        readable.clear();
+    }
+
+    MXS_LOG_MESSAGE(log_level, "%s", result.c_str());
 }