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AlienVault OSSIM vs NetWitness Platform comparison

AT&T and NetWitness are both solutions in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category. AT&T is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.4, while NetWitness is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.0. AT&T holds a 2.8% mindshare in SIEM, compared to NetWitness’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of AT&T users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 75% of NetWitness users who would recommend it.
AlienVault OSSIM
Read 31 AlienVault OSSIM reviews
  • 4,916 Views
  • 4,818 Comparison Views
80% willing to recommend
NetWitness Platform
Read 37 NetWitness Platform reviews
  • 1,537 Views
  • 1,014 Comparison Views
75% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

NetWitness Platform and AlienVault OSSIM are reputable cybersecurity solutions known for their advanced threat detection capabilities. While users prefer AlienVault OSSIM's support and pricing, NetWitness Platform's comprehensive features justify its cost.

Features: NetWitness Platform offers deep packet inspection, threat intelligence, and more advanced extensive features. AlienVault OSSIM is recognized for its simplicity and integration capabilities, making it user-friendly.

Room for Improvement: NetWitness needs better scalability and third-party tool integration. AlienVault OSSIM requires enhanced documentation and more frequent updates, focusing on support improvements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetWitness Platform's deployment is complex but supported by strong customer service. AlienVault OSSIM provides a straightforward deployment process with reliable customer support.

Pricing and ROI: NetWitness Platform has higher setup costs but offers significant ROI through its enhanced capabilities. AlienVault OSSIM offers competitive pricing and reasonable ROI, being more cost-effective upfront.

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To learn more, read our detailed AlienVault OSSIM vs. NetWitness Platform Report (Updated: September 2025).
Buyer's Guide
AlienVault OSSIM vs. NetWitness Platform
September 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AlienVault OSSIM
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
12th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetWitness Platform
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
30th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (34th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 2.8%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetWitness Platform is 0.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
AlienVault OSSIM2.8%
NetWitness Platform0.6%
Other96.6%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

HarshBhardiya - PeerSpot reviewer
An open-source solution that provide good detection and more visibility
The solution is not scalable. It impacts so hard. In the initial stages, AlienVault OSSIM can be suitable for small environments. There may be limitations if the customer expresses a desire to expand and add more devices. In such cases, we would need to either explore additional solutions or work within the constraints of the existing setup. We have set up alerts and configured everything in AlienVault OSSIM. It actively monitors for any security incidents. It provides us with regular updates and notifications about any ongoing activities. Only one person is using the solution. It is the perfect solution for small businesses. I rate the solution’s scalability a three out of ten.
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MOTASHIM Al Razi - PeerSpot reviewer
It is a stable solution, but they should make the user interface easier to understand
The solution's initial setup takes work. We have to organize multiple paths and many features. The deployment process takes less than a week. But it takes a month to complete if we want to make the solution smarter by integrating it with various devices. I rate the process as a six out of ten.
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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"AlienVault OSSIM's GUI is very user-friendly."
"The threat alerts it gives me from time to time on harmful code within the network, or if they are generating any network traffic, are very useful."
"You pay monthly for the solution. I think it's one of the best products. If you compare with other companies, like LogRhythm, etc., the top 8 or 10 CMs, I think Alien Vault has the best price-performance ratio."
"The open vault component and the checking of vulnerabilities are the most valuable features. The page management helps with this. If you know how your device is vulnerable at least you can do something about it."
"The product is majorly used for threat detection of the agents on servers and endpoints."
"The most valuable feature is the logging capability."
"There are a lot of people you will find using OSSIM since they are also offering OTX as a service"
"Inbuilt IDS, inbuilt integration with threat intelligence platform and with vulnerability assessment modules."
More AlienVault OSSIM pros
"The most valuable feature is the ability to write rules and triggers for network communication, and then being able to investigate based on that."
"NetWitness Platform offers flexibility for deployment and robust integration capabilities."
"Setting up NetWitness is straightforward. There are multiple connectors, including standard and specialized connectors. One purpose of the connectors is the enhanced capability integrate the custom applications. NetWitness comes with E6 appliances and application images that we use for the initial configurations and for the OS stack information. From there, you can consider the correlation rules, integrate the different log sources, and easily create correlation rules and backlog reports."
"The most valuable features are the threat prediction and network forensics."
"Alerting Module: It provides real-time event processing language on all the logs/packets stream for advanced alerting, i.e., using SQL LIKE statements."
"It's fully scalable. There is no limit. Of course, the license limits per day the number of terabytes. In my opinion, it's very flexible."
"The most valuable features are the integration and ease of use."
"NetWitness Platform is valuable for creating rules that the solution must detect."
More NetWitness Platform pros
 

Cons

"It's under heavy traffic. If you have heavy traffic, the system is slow."
"We need more dashboards and we need more customization for dashboards."
"It's so hard to configure and explore something new on it."
"They can add more compliance templates."
"AlienVault OSSIM failed to provide our company a full insight, while also giving out a lot of false positives."
"The incidence reporting could be better."
"When comparing AlienVault OSSIM to other solutions it looks a bit outdated. Additionally, they need to improve their integration."
"There are somewhat more false positives with the user behavior analytics, which could benefit from an additional machine learning model to detect user patterns more rapidly."
More AlienVault OSSIM cons
"We have encountered issues with unresolved crashes."
"Log aggregation is an issue with this solution because there are a huge number of alerts in a single instance."
"An area for improvement would be better automation and more inbuilt use cases."
"The product's licensing models are complex to understand. This particular area needs improvement."
"The log system is a bit complex and has room for improvement."
"The system looks like it is a mix of a bunch of different systems, and nothing looked like it was quite together."
"The tool's integration capability isn't so great."
"The documentation is not as structured as I would like, personally, and I think that it can be improved and made much more user-friendly."
More NetWitness Platform cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"OSSIM is open source, and USM is the paid license. So, if you want, you can switch to USM. There you will have to buy a license, and they have a support team that helps you out on issues you face."
"OSSIM is free."
"We are using the community version, which can be used for free."
"The solution is open source, so it's free to use."
"AlienVault OSSIM is expensive compared to its competitors."
"We are using a free version of the solution. If you purchase a license there are more features available but the price is a little high. The solution should be cheaper to allow more customers to be able to afford it."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."
"The price of AlienVault OSSIM is too high sometimes for us to present to our customers. The price should be lower. We are on a three-year license to use the solution. We had to pay extra for the support."
More AlienVault OSSIM pricing and cost advice
"We have a perpetual license, so the total cost of ownership is not very expensive. It's a good investment."
"There is a licensing fee and the customer can choose whether he wishes this to be subscription-based or perpetual."
"The product is expensive."
"Our license is for one year."
"The NetWitness Platform may be affordable only for enterprise-level customers, as it may not be within the budget of small and medium-sized businesses."
"This is a pricey solution; it's not cheap."
"Compared to the competition, the is price is not that high."
"Many clients are not able to purchase the packet capability because there is a huge amount of data, and the cost depends on the number of EPS (Events per second), as well as the number of gigabytes of data per day."
More NetWitness Platform pricing and cost advice
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Comparison Review

VS
Feb 26, 2015
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We at Infosecnirvana.com have done several posts on SIEM. After the Dummies Guide on SIEM, we are following it up with a SIEM Product Comparison – 101 deck. So, here it is for your viewing pleasure. Let me know what you think by posting your comments below. The key products compared here are…
Read full review
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
University
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Performing Arts
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AlienVault OSSIM?
Asset discovery is good.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AlienVault OSSIM?
It depends. I would need to review their cost models, but generally, they are on a scaled basis based on throughput usage. Because it's a software as a service solution for their core product for U...
See all answers
What needs improvement with AlienVault OSSIM?
Scaling for USM is always challenging for any product unless it is purpose-built or overbuilt at the front end. They will use Palo Alto and its competitors, and LevelBlue will manage that implement...
See all answers
What do you like most about NetWitness Platform?
The product's initial setup phase was not at all difficult.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetWitness Platform?
The pricing is comparable to others, and I consider the cost to be intermediate. Specific cost details are unknown to me.
See all answers
What needs improvement with NetWitness Platform?
There is currently no need for improvement in the SIEM ( /categories/security-information-and-event-management-siem ), though there could be potential enhancements by integrating with AI.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Wazuh vs AlienVault OSSIM Logo
Wazuh vs AlienVault OSSIM
Compared 71% of the time
USM Anywhere vs AlienVault OSSIM Logo
USM Anywhere vs AlienVault OSSIM
Compared 6% of the time
Venusense USM vs AlienVault OSSIM Logo
Venusense USM vs AlienVault OSSIM
Compared 5% of the time
Splunk Enterprise Security vs AlienVault OSSIM Logo
Splunk Enterprise Security vs AlienVault OSSIM
Compared 4% of the time
Elastic Security vs AlienVault OSSIM Logo
Elastic Security vs AlienVault OSSIM
Compared 4% of the time
More AlienVault OSSIM Competitors
IBM Security QRadar vs NetWitness Platform Logo
IBM Security QRadar vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 20% of the time
Splunk Enterprise Security vs NetWitness Platform Logo
Splunk Enterprise Security vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 20% of the time
Elastic Security vs NetWitness Platform Logo
Elastic Security vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 13% of the time
RSA enVision vs NetWitness Platform Logo
RSA enVision vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 10% of the time
USM Anywhere vs NetWitness Platform Logo
USM Anywhere vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 9% of the time
More NetWitness Platform Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
AlienVault OSSIM
September 2025
AlienVault OSSIM reportDownload AlienVault OSSIM product report
Buyer's Guide
NetWitness Platform
August 2025
NetWitness Platform reportDownload NetWitness Platform product report
 

Also Known As

OSSIM
RSA Security Analytics
 

Overview

AlienVault OSSIM, Open Source Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), provides you with a feature-rich open source SIEM complete with event collection, normalization and correlation. Launched by security engineers because of the lack of available open source products, AlienVault OSSIM was created specifically to address the reality many security professionals face: A SIEM, whether it is open source or commercial, is virtually useless without the basic security controls necessary for security visibility.

AT&T

NetWitness Platform is an evolved SIEM and threat detection and response solution that functions as a single, unified platform for ALL your security data. It features an advanced analyst workbench for triaging alerts and incidents, and it orchestrates security operations programs end to end. In short: NetWitness Platform is all you need to run an intelligent SOC.

NetWitness
 

Sample Customers

Council Rock School District
Los Angeles World Airports, Reply
Buyer's Guide
AlienVault OSSIM vs. NetWitness Platform
September 2025
Free Report: AlienVault OSSIM vs. NetWitness Platform
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