AlienVault OSSIM vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager comparison

AT&T and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category. AT&T is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.3, while SolarWinds is ranked #35 with an average rating of 7.8. AT&T holds a 3.2% mindshare in SIEM, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of AT&T users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

AlienVault OSSIM

Read 31 AlienVault OSSIM reviews

5,143 Views
5,040 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Security Event M...

Read 26 SolarWinds Security Event Manager reviews

1,084 Views
1,019 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

AlienVault OSSIM

SolarWinds Security Event M...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

SolarWinds Security Event Manager and AlienVault OSSIM are leading products in the security event management category. SolarWinds has an edge in support and pricing, while AlienVault is preferred for its robust features.

Features: SolarWinds Security Event Manager is praised for its log management, automated threat detection, and compliance reporting. AlienVault OSSIM integrates with other security tools, offering comprehensive asset discovery, vulnerability assessment, and behavior monitoring.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds could benefit from a more streamlined configuration process and enhanced scalability options. AlienVault needs better documentation and improved performance handling larger data sets.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds Security Event Manager is noted for its straightforward deployment and exceptional customer service. AlienVault OSSIM, while more complex to deploy, offers extensive integrations but has mixed reviews on customer service responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds Security Event Manager is favored for its transparent pricing and good return on investment. AlienVault OSSIM, considered more costly, justifies its price through its rich feature set and comprehensive security functionalities.

To learn more, read our detailed AlienVault OSSIM vs. SolarWinds Security Event Manager Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. SolarWinds Security Event Manager

July 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)

11th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds Security Event M...

Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

35th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 3.2%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Security Event Manager is 0.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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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Rafal-Stas

CEO at Greeneris Sp. z o.o.

Helpful in areas like event management, log viewing, and information management

The product's initial setup phase on the cloud is pretty easy but on an on-premises version, I think it is of a moderate level. The solution is deployed on the cloud and on an on-premises model. The time required to deploy the solution depends on the customers' infrastructure, and it may range from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, as it depends on how many additional custom configurations are required. Around two to three engineers are usually involved in the tool's installation process.

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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 most valuable feature is the logging capability."

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

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The most valuable features of AlienVault OSSIM are vulnerability assessment, network intrusion detection system, response to critical events, and awareness of the whole network."

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

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

"Inbuilt IDS, inbuilt integration with threat intelligence platform and with vulnerability assessment modules."

More AlienVault OSSIM pros

"The product's most effective part in improving security stems from the fact that the solution is deployed for event management, log viewing, and information management."

"The most valuable feature is the reporting."

"SolarWinds is effective for server, network, and log monitoring. It's also good for IP address management. We also have a patch manager, but we're still working on getting that operational."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the visibility into both attempted and failed logins."

"SolarWinds Security Event Manager has been generally working well."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of use for the end user."

"We did previously use a different solution, but SolarWinds is much better. It's easy to interact with SolarWinds. It's easy to operate, easy to configure and is generally easier compared to what we were working with before."

"The solution helps me to go back in time and search for different events. For example, if you wanted to know who activated an account; you could go back in time and find out."

More SolarWinds Security Event Manager pros

Cons

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

"Lacking in depth of reporting."

"AlienVault OSSIM is costly."

"The initial setup was a bit complex. You've got to do a lot of reading. It's not an intuitive implementation."

"The documentation could be improved."

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

"The correlation engine needs to be improved."

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

More AlienVault OSSIM cons

"The company had to use a third party for the implementation of the solution."

"Under the new system, it is not upgradable the way they say. When you try to do an upgrade, it doesn't really work unless you dump everything and start from scratch. You lose a lot of your nodes. Whenever you set your nodes up and everything else, they don't want to bring those nodes back in, so you have to really go back and restructure all your nodes. I went from version 6.5 to version 6.6 and then to version 6.7. I then went to version 2019, and now it is version 2020. It would be good if we can upgrade without having to delete everything and start from scratch. They can maybe build more KPIs and other things for the dashboard. Some of the other systems already have built-in KPIs. SolarWinds is starting to catch up, but it is not there yet. They can include some of the business or industry standards for tracking the time, that is, the meantime to detect (MTTD) and the meantime to resolve (MTTR). They can also find a way to build a KPI that measures the number of instances of port scans experienced in a week or a month."

"The reporting could be more robust. It can be a lot more granular and that will make it a lot more useful in comparison to how it is incorporated at the moment."

"Training for this solution needs to be improved, as new employees are sometimes unfamiliar with the product."

"I think the customization area in the tool can be considered as an area of concern where improvements are required."

"I would like to be able to dig deeper into the visibility of events or incidents to determine whether they are malicious, such as by doing behavior analysis."

"It can be difficult for users who are inexperienced with the solution."

"We used the support from SolarWinds Security Event Manager and they are knowledgeable but challenging to get in contact with them."

More SolarWinds Security Event Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"OSSIM is free."

"AlienVault OSSIM is expensive compared to its competitors."

"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."

"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 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."

"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 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."

"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

"It is in the appropriate mid-range. It is not as expensive as some of the other solutions. It is also not cheap."

"We do a yearly license renewal. For a year, the solution costs roughly $500,000 USD. There are no costs beyond this yearly fee."

"The pricing model would benefit from having package deals with other SolarWinds products."

"Licensing is on devices, so if you have many, then this may be high."

"The price of SolarWinds Security Event Manager is reasonable."

"The tool is available at a good price for customers compared to other solutions in the market. I rate the product's price as an eight out of ten."

"Licenses can only be purchased in blocks of fifty at a time."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

11%

University

Financial Services Firm

University

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AlienVault OSSIM?

Asset discovery is good.

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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...

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What do you like most about SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?

The solution helps you monitor database instances, application instances, other customer application things, Linux servers, IBM servers, and Oracle servers.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?

The tool is available at a good price for customers compared to other solutions in the market. I rate the product's price as an eight out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?

I think the customization area in the tool can be considered as an area of concern where improvements are required In the future, I want to see the tool have better customization abilities with som...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM

August 2025

Download AlienVault OSSIM product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Security Event Manager

July 2025

SolarWinds Security Event Manager report

Download SolarWinds Security Event Manager product report

Also Known As

OSSIM

SolarWinds LEM, Solarwinds SIEM, TriGeo, Log and Event Manager

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

When TriGeo was acquired by SolarWinds, TriGeo SIM became known as SolarWinds Log & Event Manager. This product is a leading Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) product and log management solution, which provides log collection, analysis, and real-time correlation.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Council Rock School District

NetSuite, EasyStreet, Legacy Texas Bank, and Energy Federal Credit Union, to name a few.

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. SolarWinds Security Event Manager

July 2025

Free Report: AlienVault OSSIM vs. SolarWinds Security Event Manager

Find out what your peers are saying about AlienVault OSSIM vs. SolarWinds Security Event Manager and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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