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 7.2, while OpenText is ranked #18 with an average rating of 7.7. AT&T holds a 1.9% mindshare in SIEM, compared to OpenText’s 3.2% 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

4,311 Views
4,225 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Sentinel

Read 17 Sentinel reviews

3,875 Views
3,798 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: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel

December 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)

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 January 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 1.9%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sentinel is 3.2%, up from 3.1% 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	1.9%
Sentinel	3.2%
Other	94.9%

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

"Asset discovery is good."

"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."

"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 initial setup is straightforward."

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

"I recommend it due to the experience of the people running it."

"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."

"There are a lot of people you will find using OSSIM since they are also offering OTX as a service"

More AlienVault OSSIM pros

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

More Sentinel pros

Cons

"The solution is not scalable."

"GUI could be improved."

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

"The incidence reporting could be better."

"We need more dashboards and we need more customization for dashboards."

"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 documentation could be improved."

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

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 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."

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

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

"The solution does not allow outsourced authorizations."

"There is a need for more flexibility in customization, especially when working with different vendors and platforms."

More Sentinel cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"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."

"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."

"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 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."

"Sentinel is moderately priced."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

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 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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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 7% of the time

Elastic Security vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

IBM Security QRadar vs Sentinel

Compared 14% of the time

Wazuh vs Sentinel

Compared 10% of the time

Cortex XSIAM vs Sentinel

Compared 6% of the time

Google Chronicle Suite vs Sentinel

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM

January 2026

Download AlienVault OSSIM product report

Buyer's Guide

Sentinel

December 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

December 2025

Free Report: AlienVault OSSIM vs. Sentinel

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