Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

AlienVault OSSIM vs NetWitness Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

AlienVault OSSIM
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
13th
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetWitness Platform
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
24th
Average Rating
7.4
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (25th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 4.5%, up from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetWitness Platform is 0.6%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

Aman Aijaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 28, 2023
An easy-to-scale open-source solution used for monitoring events on devices
The area for improvement is a lot. When I started using it on our enterprise side, the issue we faced was, for example, if we were running at that time on AlienVault OSSIM v5.7.4. So, for some orders, we had to install some packages, and when we tried installing that package, some dependencies got upgraded to a new version. Now once that dependency got upgraded, the SQL, since you might be aware that OSSIM uses SQL database, now SQL and all the dependency in everything was not on the same version, and that caused the database to crash. The aforementioned area should be eased out by upgrading the patches and upgrading dependencies. This kind of thing is a disadvantage of OSSIM, and I would like them to work on this. But I have also raised service requests many times and gave it a push on the community section too. However, since it is a local source, they don't reply much over there. That is why I don't like to work on OSSIM because it is unpredictable. Once the storage goes above 50 percent, it starts behaving unpredictably. If you get stuck with a situation, then you need to drill a lockdown into that. Sometimes you get no luck. Then you have to just reimage the server with the new fresh OS of AlienVault. As for additional features, not much because if you move to the newer version, it is kind of getting more stable. But, to make my life easier, then I would say try to give more features. I know it's open source, so they also cannot provide me with more features. But still, if they can provide me with more features because right now it's becoming old. Right now, we are even moving from SIEM to Security Data Lake. So when we move to it, this will be literally outdated. No one can even expect anything out of it. The way security is moving, it will be outdated very soon. They have to also provide something new to keep this going for the future also.
MdZaman - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 22, 2021
Really scalable for enterprise customers
The solution should have more integration capabilities with different platforms. The API is nearly open and scalable, so the solution can integrate with many platforms. The solution has more than 200 log sources in the scalability to support, but this is its limit. Installation is pretty easy. However, there are a couple of modules involved, so it is not as easy as it could be. We are talking about a distributed module, not a single-module type. This is what makes things a bit complex, instead of easier. I rate it as a seven out of ten on its installation and configuration capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"OSSIM is the only solution that includes the large number of modules that we need: a vulnerability scanner, a network IDS system, a host IDS system."
"It has helped us remediate threats in the past by providing significant events that assisted in identifying suspicious activities, such as logins from multiple countries."
"Better than other SIEM solutions because almost everything can be integrated."
"The product is majorly used for threat detection of the agents on servers and endpoints."
"There are a lot of people you will find using OSSIM since they are also offering OTX as a service"
"The solution is very stable. Compared to Qradar and Splunk, it's very stable."
"The initial setup was straightforward. I didn't have any problems."
"The solution has a very good open source community, and whenever we have problems, we are always able to resolve it online."
"The most valuable feature is that we can create our own connectors for any application, and NetWitness provides the training and tools to do it."
"The most valuable features are the threat prediction and network forensics."
"The product has a user-friendly interface and a valuable feature for threat intelligence integration."
"Alerting Module: It provides real-time event processing language on all the logs/packets stream for advanced alerting, i.e., using SQL LIKE statements."
"Possibility to investigate incidents based on logs and raw packets, such as extracting files sent over the network"
"NetWitness Platform is valuable for creating rules that the solution must detect."
"The most valuable features are the packet decoder, log decoder, and concentrator."
"Their technical support responds quickly and are knowledgable."
 

Cons

"The solution needs more integration with cyber intelligence systems."
"AlienVault OSSIM could improve by having better integration with some of the newer tools."
"It's under heavy traffic. If you have heavy traffic, the system is slow."
"The price of this solution is very high and it could be cheaper."
"I would like the solution to be able to integrate with my firewall, my IDS and my Honeypot solutions so that it can provide real-time reporting as things occur and then have alert sent to me on my phone when suspicious activity is happening."
"The correlation engine needs to be improved."
"The user interface needs to be friendlier across the board."
"The incidence reporting could be better."
"The initial setup was complex because it takes a lot of time to complete the implementation."
"Technical support could be improved."
"The system architecture is complex and sometimes it’s hard to troubleshoot potential problems."
"They should implement algorithms to digest that data and produce additional, more advanced reporting, alerting and support of internal security teams."
"The product's licensing models are complex to understand. This particular area needs improvement."
"The user interface is a little bit difficult for new users and it needs to be improved."
"If we have the ability to run a dynamic analysis through malware in the same suite, it would be great to have a sandbox solution to analyze malware through dynamic analysis."
"Security needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AlienVault pricing is the best. Whatever cost you are paying, you are getting a return on every penny... It's not like your IBM, your QRadar, or Splunk, where the cost is too high."
"AlienVault OSSIM is an open-source solution."
"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."
"The licensing fees for the non-community edition are paid on an annual basis, and there are no costs in addition to this."
"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."
"OSSIM is free."
"When comparing AlienVault OSSIM to Microsoft Sentinel, AlienVault OSSIM incurs additional costs due to its licensing price structure. If you are using AlienVault for security purposes at a certain level it can have a higher price point than the current pricing of Microsoft Sentinel."
"The product price was reasonable for my region and the market."
"The product is expensive."
"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."
"The licenses are good but the cost is very expensive."
"Compared to the competition, the is price is not that high."
"RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets do not have a subscription model, it's a one-time purchase. There is only a perpetual license."
"Our license is for one year."
"The tool is very expensive, so I rate the pricing a ten out of ten. The solution has an annual subscription."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions are best for your needs.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

VS
Feb 26, 2015
HP ArcSight vs. IBM QRadar vs. ​McAfee Nitro vs. Splunk vs. RSA Security vs. LogRhythm
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
17%
Government
7%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AlienVault OSSIM?
I used the paid version of the tool and found it to be expensive. It has been a while since I changed to Securonix. I will have to check whether AlienVault charges per device, user, or log.
What needs improvement with AlienVault OSSIM?
Honestly, I don't know what can be improved in the product. I am trying to get a comparison between AlienVault OSSIM and the other solutions in the market. AlienVault OSSIM failed to provide our co...
What do you like most about NetWitness Platform?
The product's initial setup phase was not at all difficult.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetWitness Platform?
The product price was reasonable for my region and the market.
What needs improvement with NetWitness Platform?
From an improvement perspective, the NetWitness Platform needs to release new features and improve in areas like log correlation. The tool needs to have easier integrations with the cloud. Building...
 

Also Known As

OSSIM
RSA Security Analytics
 

Learn More

Video not available
Video not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Council Rock School District
Los Angeles World Airports, Reply
Find out what your peers are saying about AlienVault OSSIM vs. NetWitness Platform and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.