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AlienVault OSSIM vs Sentinel comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

AlienVault OSSIM
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
11th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
30
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
7.3
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 5.0%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sentinel is 3.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

HarshBhardiya - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
JaideepSingh - PeerSpot reviewer
An automated solution that helped me detect threats in less than half the time it used to take
Sentinel gave us logs to tell us what's going right and wrong in your environment so we could secure the network. We also got multiple kinds of logs. By running some queries from the logs, we could find and fix the anomalies in the environment. Sentinel's threat visibility was great at telling us if we had something going on in our environment. We had to set up alerts in our environment based on the logs. If we had the right alerts set up, we got notified about threats and where security was lacking, so we could also take care of that. Sentinel's threat intelligence helped us prepare and take proactive steps for potential threats before they hit. Having preparation before a threat has helped our security operations. When I was using it, I used to keep going into my dashboards and looking for any threats on a weekly basis, or maybe two or three times a week. Based on that, we would recommend certain changes to the server and infrastructure teams to block or allow some ports. Sentinel's threat intelligence helped plan security against risks.

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 solution has a very good open source community, and whenever we have problems, we are always able to resolve it online."
"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 most valuable features of AlienVault OSSIM are case management, ease of configuration, and investigation."
"Asset discovery is good."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"You can customize the dashboards as well as the reporting."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it provides a central locking system for many event sources."
"We can do advanced hunting queries and modify SQL queries to get desired results based on the rules triggering over the console."
"The most valuable feature is the flexible log for identifying security threats inside an application. Sentinel is very good at this."
"The stability is phenomenal and we never had any issues with downtime or even had to restart."
"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."
"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."
 

Cons

"The documentation could be improved."
"The user interface could be improved."
"The incidence reporting could be better."
"The initial setup was a bit complex. You've got to do a lot of reading. It's not an intuitive implementation."
"We need more dashboards and we need more customization for dashboards."
"AlienVault OSSIM is costly."
"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."
"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."
"There are still a few vendor-specific devices for which Sentinel needs to work on integration, such as Netskope devices."
"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."
"I would like to see a better reporting work structure on the dashboard."
"There is a need for more flexibility in customization, especially when working with different vendors and platforms."
"There is no integration in the web-side of the tool."
"I rate Sentinel a six out of ten for scalability."
"The dashboard and customer view should be improved"
 

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."
"AlienVault OSSIM is expensive compared to its competitors."
"The solution is open source, so it's free to use."
"OSSIM is free."
"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."
"We are using a free version of the solution. If you purchase a license there are more features available but the price is a little high. The solution should be cheaper to allow more customers to be able to afford it."
"We are using the community version, which can be used for free."
"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 receive a pricing discount because of our ongoing partnership with Micro Focus."
"Sentinel is moderately priced."
"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."
"The solution’s pricing is aligned with its competitors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AlienVault OSSIM?
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.
What needs improvement with AlienVault OSSIM?
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 integration capabil...
What do you like most about NetIQ Sentinel?
The solution lets us get all the logs properly and regularly monitor customer infrastructure.
What needs improvement with NetIQ Sentinel?
There are still a few vendor-specific devices for which Sentinel needs to work on integration, such as Netskope devices. Also, we often face region-wise outages during operation due to product team...
 

Also Known As

OSSIM
NetIQ Sentinel, Novell SIEM
 

Learn More

Video not available
 

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: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.