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Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs ServiceNow Security Operations comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 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

Palo Alto Networks Cortex X...
Ranking in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
SOC as a Service (2nd)
ServiceNow Security Operations
Ranking in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Security Incident Response (2nd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) category, the mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is 11.1%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow Security Operations is 3.8%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
 

Featured Reviews

NikhilSharma2 - PeerSpot reviewer
Ability to multiple playbooks to fetch data from multiple firewalls and utomated several tasks, including vulnerability scans and SOCL (Security Orchestration, Automation
Recently, they started implementing microservices in XSOAR, which has improved quality and addressed previous issues. However, they should focus more on licensing costs. The user licensing fees are quite high. For example, I received a quote for XSOAR, and it was $12,000 per user per year. If you have a SOC team of 30 members/analysts, you're looking at a substantial expense. They should consider reducing these costs since this high pricing seems to be more about profit. So, there is room for improvement in the pricing. Moreover, the reporting and dashboard features are decent but could be improved. The user interface (UI) is quite heavy and takes time to load, which is a major drawback.
KishoreKumar4 - PeerSpot reviewer
A low-cost and open-source tool for incident and change management
If we encounter challenges while deploying, we raise incidents. These incidents are categorized by priority: high, medium, and low. We assign an incident number and notify the relevant teams to address the issue. For instance, if we experience a problem with Cloud services or any other issue, we…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The product is quite easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is automation."
"We use the solution to automate our SIEM tools and incidents."
"The solution is easy to deploy."
"I am satisfied with the product overall."
"They have a portal where you can find any kind of integration that you need."
"The most valuable features of Cortex XSOAR include its vast library of plugins, which allow us to integrate various tools and solutions seamlessly."
"I chose Cortex XSOAR because the client also has Palo Alto firewalls. I can incorporate the data from the Palo Alto firewalls into Cortex and send it into the same data lake to manipulate that data. It lets me manage and monitor the data in one place."
"The product's most valuable features include the no-code capability for workflows and flow design, which makes it user-friendly, and the ability to perform advanced configurations."
"ServiceNow Security Operations also takes care of GRC, governance, risk and compliance, enabling it to provide risk assessment."
"The most valuable aspect of working with ServiceNow is its meaningful and feature-rich product."
"It's stable."
"I will recommend it to others as it is an enterprise application used by large companies for ticketing purposes."
"The ease of use is great."
"My favorite feature is the application vulnerability scanner."
"The SOAR module of ServiceNow Security Operations is the most valuable feature"
 

Cons

"I would like to see Cortex become less dependent on Active Directory and group policies to manage the deployment. Maybe I need to update my understanding of how to deploy it, but that's the way I know how to use it."
"They should provide integration with machine learning platforms."
"The formats are not compatible, are readily not available, and are not readable."
"For building automation, there is not a lot of good documentation. The documentation is there, but it is not very good from my perspective. There should be an improvement in this area. I don't see issues with anything else. In terms of new features, I have heard that other products have EBA functionality. It would be good if this functionality could be added."
"There should be an on-premise version available for customers to have different choices."
"The solution requires DV but does not support open-source DV elastic searches."
"When Palo Alto bought the solution, the pricing increased by 1.5 times. There's been a 50% increase, which is a lot."
"I would love to see more flexibility on what we can display and design on the dashboards."
"The dashboard and playbook creation will need to improve"
"Report generation within ServiceNow can take some time."
"They should stick to the roadmap and continue to build plugins and integrations with other third parties, enhance the UI, and enhance the reporting. It's all good. They should just continue enhancing the releases."
"​Process framework and best practices for ease of integration between IT and security teams via incident, problem, and change.​"
"It's very slow. When you click a button or update a field, it takes forever to actually react."
"There are limitations for the third-parties that are providing the inputs. They should increase the robustness of the solution."
"The threat intelligence module needs a better dashboard."
"There is room for improvement in terms of developer support and documentation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price, I rate the pricing a nine."
"There is a yearly license required for this solution and it is expensive."
"From the cost perspective, I have heard that its price is a bit high as compared to other similar products."
"There is a perception that it is priced very high compared to other solutions."
"The solution is based on an annual licensing model that is expensive."
"When I first looked at Demisto, it had a price tag of $250,000 but when we finally purchased it, it was $345,000."
"The solution's cost is reasonable."
"The solution is expensive."
"This product is a good value for the money."
"The solution is more expensive than BMC Remedy, the other ITSM tool available in the market."
"If you're going to implement it on your own, there would be internal costs. If you're going to implement it through a contractor or consultant, you have to pay for that."
"The product is more expensive than other solutions."
"It is an expensive product."
"Compared to competitor tools, ServiceNow Security Operations is more affordable"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR?
Even though customers often comment on the price, the potential savings come from managing a large number of security events with a limited number of analysts. This leads to economic advantages des...
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR?
The complexity of Cortex XSOAR has a trade-off with its versatility. The product can be tailored for each deployment to respond to specific customer needs, and this complexity may be seen as a down...
What do you like most about ServiceNow Security Operations?
The most valuable aspect of working with ServiceNow is its meaningful and feature-rich product.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Security Operations?
The product is more expensive than other solutions like Archer but offers more features, making the pricing justifiable.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Security Operations?
Report generation within ServiceNow can take some time. Additionally, there are occasional issues when raising a ticket, which can also consume time.
 

Also Known As

Demisto Enterprise, Cortex XSOAR, Demisto
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cellcom Israel, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, esri, Cylance, Flatiron Health, Veeva, ADT Cybersecurity
DXC Technology, Freedom Security Alliance, Prime Therapeutics, Seton Hall University, York Risk Services
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs. ServiceNow Security Operations and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,388 professionals have used our research since 2012.