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 #12 with an average rating of 7.4, while OpenText is ranked #21 with an average rating of 7.3. AT&T holds a 2.8% mindshare in SIEM, compared to OpenText’s 3.8% 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

4,916 Views
4,818 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Sentinel

Read 17 Sentinel reviews

3,118 Views
3,056 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: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Sentinel

Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

21st

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

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 Sentinel is 3.8%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
AlienVault OSSIM	2.8%
Sentinel	3.8%
Other	93.4%

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Featured Reviews

HarshBhardiya

SOC Engineer at Just Dial Limited

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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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 initial setup is straightforward."

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

"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.""

"With AlienVault you get everything in one box."

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

"Asset discovery is good."

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

"The initial setup was straightforward. I didn't have any problems."

More AlienVault OSSIM pros

"The tool is simple to use."

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

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

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

"The solution lets us get all the logs properly and regularly monitor customer infrastructure."

"We can do advanced hunting queries and modify SQL queries to get desired results based on the rules triggering over the console."

"One of the most valuable features is the business intelligence engine. It's very important because it keeps track of everything that's happening and alerts us if something is different than expected. The first time I used it, I was shocked at how well it performed. Another valuable feature that I think makes this product worth the price you pay for it is that it connects to basically every system that provides some form of logging, and it's very easy to set up what triggers this."

"In my opinion, Sentinel's best features include that it's a very easy product to use, it's very simple, and the after-sale service is very good."

More Sentinel pros

Cons

"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."

"The solution is not scalable."

"The solution needs more integration with cyber intelligence systems."

"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."

"AlienVault OSSIM failed to provide our company a full insight, while also giving out a lot of false positives."

"Sometimes technical issues take very long to get resolved."

"I don't like to work on OSSIM because it is unpredictable."

"AlienVault OSSIM could improve by having better integration with some of the newer tools."

More AlienVault OSSIM cons

"I rate Sentinel a six out of ten for scalability."

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

"There is no integration in the web-side of the tool."

"Price is always a consideration, so the price would be nice if it were lower."

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

"Creating a drag-and-drop dashboard or workbook in Sentinel is a little more complex compared to other tools like LogRhythm and IBM QRadar."

"The solution does not allow outsourced authorizations."

"There are still a few vendor-specific devices for which Sentinel needs to work on integration, such as Netskope devices."

More Sentinel cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"OSSIM is free."

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

"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."

"AlienVault OSSIM is expensive compared to its competitors."

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

"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."

"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"AlienVault OSSIM is free."

More AlienVault OSSIM pricing and cost advice

"Sentinel's slightly on the expensive side."

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

"Sentinel is moderately priced."

"Sentinel is a subscription-based solution."

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

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

12%

University

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

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?

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 NetIQ Sentinel?

The solution lets us get all the logs properly and regularly monitor customer infrastructure.

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

Comparisons

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Venusense USM vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 5% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 4% of the time

Elastic Security vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 4% of the time

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IBM Security QRadar vs Sentinel

Compared 15% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Sentinel

Compared 15% of the time

Wazuh vs Sentinel

Compared 14% of the time

Google Chronicle Suite vs Sentinel

Compared 11% of the time

Cortex XSIAM vs Sentinel

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM

September 2025

Download AlienVault OSSIM product report

Buyer's Guide

Sentinel

August 2025

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

September 2025

Free Report: AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel

Find out what your peers are saying about AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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