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AlienVault OSSIM vs Sentinel comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

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)
24th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sentinel
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
16th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 1.2%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sentinel is 2.7%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sentinel2.7%
AlienVault OSSIM1.2%
Other96.1%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

BP
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.
Simon Johnston - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

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 this solution are the data correlation and vulnerability assessment."
"AlienVault OSSIM is an enterprise solution that sells easily. It is rated highly by organizations."
"Asset discovery is good."
"Better than other SIEM solutions because almost everything can be integrated."
"This solution is very stable; it runs on a Linux box, you only interface with it through the GUI, it works behind the scenes, and it has never crashed in the time that I have used it."
"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."
"The initial setup was straightforward. I didn't have any problems."
"The open vault component and the checking of vulnerabilities are the most valuable features, and the page management helps with this, because if you know how your device is vulnerable at least you can do something about it."
"Sentinel has positively impacted my organization by improving monitoring significantly."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it provides a central locking system for many event sources."
"The tool is simple to use."
"Sentinel gave us logs to tell us what's going right and wrong in your environment so we could secure the network."
"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 stability is phenomenal and we never had any issues with downtime or even had to restart."
"Novell SIEM was my second technology of this kind."
 

Cons

"AlienVault OSSIM should improve the deployment and make it unified like the USM."
"ArcSight works better than AlienVault right now."
"The correlation engine needs to be improved."
"I don't like to work on OSSIM because it is unpredictable."
"The initial setup was not so easy, partly because the documentation was not up to date."
"They can add more compliance templates."
"The incidence reporting could be better."
"AlienVault OSSIM could improve by having better integration with some of the newer tools."
"This product's connection to certain types of cloud systems could be improved."
"There is a need for more flexibility in customization, especially when working with different vendors and platforms."
"I would prefer to extend dashboards part and their functions in Web GUI version, so the charts could be for configurable."
"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 are still a few vendor-specific devices for which Sentinel needs to work on integration, such as Netskope devices."
"Price is always a consideration, so the price would be nice if it were lower."
"It is an ancient product."
"Creating a drag-and-drop dashboard or workbook in Sentinel is a little more complex compared to other tools like LogRhythm and IBM QRadar."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AlienVault OSSIM is expensive compared to its competitors."
"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."
"We are using the community version, which can be used for free."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"Sentinel is moderately priced."
"We receive a pricing discount because of our ongoing partnership with Micro Focus."
"The solution’s pricing is aligned with its competitors."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

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 Enterprise3
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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...
What is your primary use case for AlienVault OSSIM?
This solution is very similar to most of the other MSSPs that you would find out there. When I look at use cases, AlienVault was initially aimed at small to medium businesses. It grew, and that was...
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...
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...
What is your primary use case for NetIQ Sentinel?
It's our go-to choice for antivirus. I use Sentinel a lot.
 

Also Known As

OSSIM
NetIQ Sentinel, Novell SIEM
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,277 professionals have used our research since 2012.