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 7.2, while OpenText is ranked #17 with an average rating of 7.5. AT&T holds a 1.7% mindshare in SIEM, compared to OpenText’s 3.1% 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

4,374 Views
4,287 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Sentinel

Read 17 Sentinel reviews

4,240 Views
4,155 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: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel

February 2026

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Helped 882,637 peers since 2012

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)

17th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 1.7%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sentinel is 3.1%, down from 3.2% 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	1.7%
Sentinel	3.1%
Other	95.2%

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 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."

"With AlienVault you get everything in one box."

"The solution is very stable. Compared to Qradar and Splunk, it's very stable."

"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.""

"Asset discovery is good."

"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 tool's security detection is good. It helps us with login tracking and generating reports. We aim to identify potential issues, such as brute-force attacks on user accounts or server-level anomalies. For instance, if I receive a report indicating a server is at an abnormal level, I investigate and address the issue."

More AlienVault OSSIM pros

"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."

"The solution's Kusto Query Language (KQL) execution time is pretty good."

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

"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."

"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 tool is simple to use."

"It makes everything easier by automating some tasks and growing with our needs."

More Sentinel pros

Cons

"The user interface needs to be friendlier across the board."

"It's under heavy traffic. If you have heavy traffic, the system is slow."

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

"AlienVault OSSIM gives unwanted notifications."

"The user interface could be improved."

"It's so hard to configure and explore something new on it."

"The correlation engine needs to be improved."

"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."

More AlienVault OSSIM cons

"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."

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

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

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

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

"The dashboard and customer view should be improved"

"The solution does not allow outsourced authorizations."

More Sentinel 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."

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

"AlienVault OSSIM is an open-source solution."

"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."

"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 solution is open source, so it's free to use."

"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."

More AlienVault OSSIM pricing and cost advice

"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."

"Sentinel's slightly on the expensive side."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

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

Wazuh vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 39% of the time

Venusense USM vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 10% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 6% of the time

USM Anywhere vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 6% of the time

Rapid7 InsightIDR vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 2% of the time

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Splunk Enterprise Security vs Sentinel

Compared 19% of the time

IBM Security QRadar vs Sentinel

Compared 12% of the time

Wazuh vs Sentinel

Compared 8% of the time

Cortex XSIAM vs Sentinel

Compared 5% of the time

Google Chronicle Suite vs Sentinel

Compared 4% of the time

More Sentinel Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM

February 2026

Download AlienVault OSSIM product report

Buyer's Guide

Sentinel

January 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

February 2026

Free Report: AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel

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