AlienVault OSSIM vs Sentinel comparison

AT&T and OpenText are both solutions in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category. AT&T is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.4, while OpenText is ranked #18 with an average rating of 7.5. AT&T holds a 1.4% mindshare in SIEM, compared to OpenText’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of AT&T users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of OpenText users who would recommend it.

AlienVault OSSIM

Read 31 AlienVault OSSIM reviews

4,551 Views
4,460 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Sentinel

Read 17 Sentinel reviews

5,367 Views
5,260 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

AlienVault OSSIM

Sentinel

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Sentinel and AlienVault OSSIM compete in the cybersecurity sector. Sentinel has the upper hand in pricing and customer service, while AlienVault OSSIM is preferred for its robust features.

Features: Sentinel users like its real-time threat detection, comprehensive reporting tools, and user-friendly interface. AlienVault OSSIM users value its integration capabilities with various security tools, extensive threat intelligence, and advanced monitoring features.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Sentinel improve scalability, alert management, and user interface intuitiveness. AlienVault OSSIM users highlight the need for a more intuitive interface, faster processing speeds, and better user documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sentinel is praised for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service. AlienVault OSSIM users find the setup more complex but recognize the comprehensive support provided post-deployment.

Pricing and ROI: Sentinel is generally seen as cost-effective with a quicker ROI. Users find AlienVault OSSIM pricier with a longer ROI period, but its advanced capabilities justify the investment.

To learn more, read our detailed AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel

April 2026

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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)

13th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Sentinel

Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

18th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 1.4%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sentinel is 2.9%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
AlienVault OSSIM	1.4%
Sentinel	2.9%
Other	95.7%

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Featured Reviews

Brandon Pearce

Independent Contractor at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees

Enables cost-effective security management for small businesses

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 implementation. The main area where the AlienVault product was lacking around the 2018 timeframe was in its ability to scale. By pushing it to a cloud-based system, they've largely alleviated scale issues. It's native in Amazon but will also run in Azure. They have worked with cloud service providers to offer enough throughput at a cost reasonable for a corporation. Scaling was their biggest problem, and they've largely conquered those issues.

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Simon Johnston

Manager, Customer Success at Coltek Business Soltuions

Simple antivirus solution integrates well but could improve pricing and currency options

I don't really have experience working with these solutions. I promote them for our clients, but I don't work with them. I can't share my experience with these tools as I make assumptions about that. For both Adlumin and CrowdStrike, both confirm that they're scalable and enterprise-ready and all those kinds of things. We haven't had any specific problem with either of those. We just have a preference for which one we would prefer. If somebody says they want to use a different one from the one that we prefer, then we have to find reasons why they aren't. But scalability is not one of the reasons that one is better over the other. I don't really have advice for people that are looking into using Sentinel; just do your research across what is available. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Sentinel a seven.

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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

"The most valuable features of AlienVault OSSIM are vulnerability assessment, network intrusion detection system, response to critical events, and awareness of the whole network."

"Its user-friendliness is the most valuable. It is very easy to use and explore. The dashboard is very well packaged and integrated. You don't have to spend a lot of time in configuring it and checking out the RPM etc. It is also free and very powerful."

"The dashboard is the solution's most valuable aspect. It brings everything into one central point where I can actually look at it and go, "Okay, I understand what's going on.""

"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."

"The product is majorly used for threat detection of the agents on servers and endpoints."

"The solution has a very good open source community, and whenever we have problems, we are always able to resolve it online."

"The threat policies of the solution are always very advanced and the best in the market, and they are very persistent in terms of keeping up with security protocols."

"The product is easy to use."

More AlienVault OSSIM pros

"The stability is phenomenal and we never had any issues with downtime or even had to restart."

"If Sentinel is integrated with Identity Manager and User Application Portal, the solution runs simply perfect!"

"The most valuable feature is the flexible log for identifying security threats inside an application."

"Novell SIEM was my second technology of this kind."

"The native integration with out-of-the box format is hassle free and allows data to be used advantageously."

"It provides real time security event analytics."

"The most valuable feature is the flexible log for identifying security threats inside an application. Sentinel is very good at this."

"Sentinel is a tool that, if it's well configured, removes from view all unnecessary information and shows you only needful entries, so you can do your job faster, more conveniently, and with high performance."

More Sentinel pros

Cons

"AlienVault OSSIM on-premise version is more difficult to implement than the cloud version. Additionally, they should add integration between several different environments at once and improve their online knowledge base."

"AlienVault OSSIM gives unwanted notifications."

"The incidence reporting could be better."

"The initial setup was not so easy, partly because the documentation was not up to date."

"When comparing AlienVault OSSIM to other solutions it looks a bit outdated. Additionally, they need to improve their integration."

"AlienVault OSSIM is costly."

"The solution needs more integration with cyber intelligence systems. Our customers want to use a single tool for managing cybersecurity."

More AlienVault OSSIM cons

"I would like to see a better reporting work structure on the dashboard."

"You need a lot of Unix scripting knowledge in order to manage the tool, which is one of the main issues that we faced."

"The web interface needs to be improved, as it has a java-based way to call its controls."

"Frankly speaking, we did not find this product to be valuable, at all."

"On version 5, builder was somewhat unstable during deployment -> workaround strong procedure with too many middle steps of saves."

"The dashboard and customer view should be improved."

"This product's connection to certain types of cloud systems could be improved. We can do Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, but there are a lot of other things happening in the cloud that we do not connect well enough to. This product could be improved with better connection to cloud-based solutions."

"It is an ancient product."

More Sentinel cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"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."

"We are using the community version, which can be used for free."

"The licensing fees for the non-community edition are paid on an annual basis, and there are no costs in addition to this."

"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"AlienVault OSSIM is expensive compared to its competitors."

"AlienVault OSSIM is free."

More AlienVault OSSIM pricing and cost advice

"The solution’s pricing is aligned with its competitors."

"We receive a pricing discount because of our ongoing partnership with Micro Focus."

"Sentinel's slightly on the expensive side."

"We inquired about getting support from the vendor, Micro Focus, but the cost was very high."

"Sentinel is a subscription-based solution."

"Sentinel is moderately priced."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	7

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?

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetIQ Sentinel?

I don't have too many comments overall about pricing as we're in South Africa, so it makes more sense if it's billed in rand. They nearly always bill it in dollars, so if it can be billed in our cu...

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetIQ Sentinel?

I'm not sure what the room for improvement is for Sentinel. It needs to stay current, and it does, so I suppose that's fine. I don't have a high demand for what it should do. Price is always a cons...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NetIQ Sentinel?

It's our go-to choice for antivirus. I use Sentinel a lot.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 24% of the time

Venusense USM vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 10% of the time

USM Anywhere vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 7% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Security QRadar vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 3% of the time

More AlienVault OSSIM Competitors

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Sentinel

Compared 19% of the time

IBM Security QRadar vs Sentinel

Compared 11% of the time

Wazuh vs Sentinel

Compared 6% of the time

Cortex XSIAM vs Sentinel

Compared 4% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Sentinel

Compared 4% of the time

More Sentinel Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM

April 2026

Download AlienVault OSSIM product report

Buyer's Guide

Sentinel

March 2026

Download Sentinel product report

Also Known As

OSSIM

NetIQ Sentinel, Novell SIEM

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

Sentinel is a full-featured Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution that simplifies the deployment, management and day-to-day use of SIEM, readily adapts to dynamic enterprise environments and delivers the true "actionable intelligence" security professionals need to quickly understand their threat posture and prioritize response.

OpenText

Sample Customers

Council Rock School District

Faysal Bank, GaVI, Handelsbanken, ISC Mªnster, Lambeth Council, Swisscard, The Municipality of Siena, Tukes, University of Dayton, University of the Sunshine Coast

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel

April 2026

Free Report: AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel

Find out what your peers are saying about AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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