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Security Onion vs USM Anywhere comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 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

Security Onion
Ranking in Log Management
18th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
AWS Marketplace (5th)
USM Anywhere
Ranking in Log Management
42nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (31st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (53rd), Compliance Management (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Security Onion is 5.7%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of USM Anywhere is 0.4%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Jörg Kippe - PeerSpot reviewer
A mature and affordable solution that is easy to install and easy to update
The product takes time to learn, it's not that easy. In the beginning we had a lot of questions. If you want to use such a tool in an real (industrial) environment, you have to ask how to get the network data. Can we do a full packet capture? Can we provide agents to our end systems? There are no simple solutions to these questions. It's a general problem when running such systems in an industrial environment.
Kris Nawani - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software
USM Anywhere is used for threat detection and investigation. It provides a solution with built-in threat intelligence and various other investigation tools The solution offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software, as it is maintained by the vendor. It helps in saving…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Security Onion is the most mature solution in the market."
"The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports."
"We use Security Onion for internal vulnerability assessment."
"The most valuable feature is vulnerability management because it gives you insight into your environment to know what systems need to be updated or patched."
"This solution can identify many threats inside the organization (compromised endpoints, configuration issues), as well as "outside" threats (botnets, network scanners, web-attacks, etc)."
"The setup is very easy and straightforward."
"We had used previous products and found AlienVault centralized the logging for our security."
"The other big selling feature for us was its integration capabilities with all the other security-based products."
"It has powerful threat detection, incident response, and compliance management."
"It allows for a lot of out-of-the-box features: vuln scanning, HIDS/HIPS, and IDS."
"It provides a single pane of glass view, coupled with a whole security ecosystem. The ability to manage everything from a central point, including vulnerability assessments, asset management - including the services provided by the various hosts, NIDS, HIDS, etc. - provides a very efficient way of dealing with things."
 

Cons

"Security Onion's user interface could be improved."
"The product is not easy to learn."
"The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult."
"I think plugin management should be self-service on AlienVault USM. The other product is self-service but on the USM side. You have to submit a ticket then AT&T creates and updates the plugins."
"There are scalability issues due to a 60 TB limit, which restricts its use for large customers like banks."
"I've been using it just for my own personal upskilling in terms of how the product works. At the moment, it is pretty straightforward and simple, and it is working how it is supposed to. The feedback would come once it is deployed to customer sites. They'll be using it on a more frequent basis, and that's when the feedback would come in terms of the areas in which they're facing issues or are looking for simplicity."
"Plugins could be better utilized, as some of them do not recognize all logs."
"For creating new rules, you have to be familiar with regular expressions. I feel there could be something built-in to make sure that process is easier."
"There are many reports included but would be nice to have better access to the data."
"The lack of mature functionality and expertise in any of those areas is a strong negative."
"I've been told that AlienVault doesn't have a full version of NES running in there, but I'm not sure if that's accurate or if my engineer made it that way. I'm not sure he was completely honest either because we had NES in the environment before. Those tools could be improved because AlienVault is a SIEM, and it added all these other features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an open-source solution."
"Security Onion is an open-source solution."
"Security Onion is a free solution."
"Do the one month trial and try to work out the kinks during it, as it has free support and service hours."
"They are a little more expensive than Microsoft."
"I don't think the product's pricing is a good value because they try to raise the price 50 percent every year... AlienVault needs to understand that not all customers are huge enterprises... Their sales team is way too aggressive. The price they advertise is not always the price you get."
"Negotiate the best package for your environment."
"It's affordable for most customers."
"AlienVault is flexible on their pricing for unlimited licenses."
"​The price point is good.​"
"We ran a few PoCs. The price and feature set were the best with AlienVault."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
University
11%
Government
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Security Onion?
The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Security Onion?
Security Onion is an open-source solution. On a scale from one to ten, where ten is expensive and one is cheap, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten.
What needs improvement with Security Onion?
The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult.
What do you like most about AT&T AlienVault USM?
The most valuable feature of the solution is the ease of deployment that it provides to users. The integrations that the product has with third-party applications are useful.
What needs improvement with AT&T AlienVault USM?
There are scalability issues due to a 60 TB limit, which restricts its use for large customers like banks. It is also limited when used with bigger products and has complex password requirements.
 

Also Known As

No data available
AT&T AlienVault USM, AlienVault, AlienVault USM, Alienvault Cybersecurity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Abel & Cole, Bank of Ireland, Bluegrass Cellular, CareerBuilder, Claire's, Hays Medical Center, Hope International, McCurrach, McKinsey & Company, Party Delights, Pepco Holdings, Richland School District, Ricoh, SaveMart, Shake Shack, Steelcase, TaxAct, Taylor Morrison, Vonage and Zoom
Find out what your peers are saying about Security Onion vs. USM Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,253 professionals have used our research since 2012.