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AlienVault OSSIM vs NetWitness Platform comparison

AT&T and NetWitness 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 NetWitness is ranked #31 with an average rating of 8.0. AT&T holds a 3.2% mindshare in SIEM, compared to NetWitness’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of AT&T users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 75% of NetWitness users who would recommend it.
AlienVault OSSIM
Read 31 AlienVault OSSIM reviews
  • 5,143 Views
  • 5,040 Comparison Views
80% willing to recommend
NetWitness Platform
Read 37 NetWitness Platform reviews
  • 1,469 Views
  • 955 Comparison Views
75% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

NetWitness Platform and AlienVault OSSIM are reputable cybersecurity solutions known for their advanced threat detection capabilities. While users prefer AlienVault OSSIM's support and pricing, NetWitness Platform's comprehensive features justify its cost.

Features: NetWitness Platform offers deep packet inspection, threat intelligence, and more advanced extensive features. AlienVault OSSIM is recognized for its simplicity and integration capabilities, making it user-friendly.

Room for Improvement: NetWitness needs better scalability and third-party tool integration. AlienVault OSSIM requires enhanced documentation and more frequent updates, focusing on support improvements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetWitness Platform's deployment is complex but supported by strong customer service. AlienVault OSSIM provides a straightforward deployment process with reliable customer support.

Pricing and ROI: NetWitness Platform has higher setup costs but offers significant ROI through its enhanced capabilities. AlienVault OSSIM offers competitive pricing and reasonable ROI, being more cost-effective upfront.

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To learn more, read our detailed AlienVault OSSIM vs. NetWitness Platform Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
AlienVault OSSIM vs. NetWitness Platform
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
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetWitness Platform
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
31st
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (35th)
 

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 NetWitness Platform is 0.6%, down from 0.7% 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.
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MOTASHIM Al Razi - PeerSpot reviewer
It is a stable solution, but they should make the user interface easier to understand
The solution's initial setup takes work. We have to organize multiple paths and many features. The deployment process takes less than a week. But it takes a month to complete if we want to make the solution smarter by integrating it with various devices. I rate the process as a six out of ten.
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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 product is easy to use."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the data correlation and vulnerability assessment."
"The threat policies of the solution are always very advanced and the best in the market. They are very persistent in terms of keeping up with security protocols."
"There are a lot of people you will find using OSSIM since they are also offering OTX as a service"
"AlienVault OSSIM's GUI is very user-friendly."
"The initial setup was straightforward. I didn't have any problems."
"The most valuable feature is the logging capability."
More AlienVault OSSIM pros
"The most valuable features are the integration and ease of use."
"Alerting Module: It provides real-time event processing language on all the logs/packets stream for advanced alerting, i.e., using SQL LIKE statements."
"The most valuable feature is that we can create our own connectors for any application, and NetWitness provides the training and tools to do it."
"Performance and reporting are very good."
"The most valuable feature is the hunting ability to work in a CERT."
"The most valuable features are the threat prediction and network forensics."
"The most valuable features are the packet inspection and the automated incident response."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to write rules and triggers for network communication, and then being able to investigate based on that."
More NetWitness Platform pros
 

Cons

"It's under heavy traffic. If you have heavy traffic, the system is slow."
"I don't like to work on OSSIM because it is unpredictable."
"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."
"Sometimes technical issues take very long to get resolved."
"Lacking in depth of reporting."
"AlienVault OSSIM failed to provide our company a full insight, while also giving out a lot of false positives."
"The correlation engine needs to be improved."
"I suggest more in-built rules based on modern threats and environments to make it a more competitive solution."
More AlienVault OSSIM cons
"The solution should have more integration capabilities with different platforms."
"The documentation is not as structured as I would like, personally, and I think that it can be improved and made much more user-friendly."
"The initial setup is very complex and should be simplified."
"The multi-tenant capabilities are lagging compared to IBM QRadar."
"The threat detection capability and centralizing and upgrading capability need to be improved. The threat alert capability needs to be improved as well because there is some lag time at present. They need to work on their database search too."
"If we have the ability to run a dynamic analysis through malware in the same suite, it would be great to have a sandbox solution to analyze malware through dynamic analysis."
"Log aggregation is an issue with this solution because there are a huge number of alerts in a single instance."
"The user interface is a little bit difficult for new users and it needs to be improved."
More NetWitness Platform cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The licensing fees for the non-community edition are paid on an annual basis, and there are no costs in addition to this."
"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."
"The solution is open source, so it's free to use."
"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 OSSIM is an open-source solution."
"We are using the community version, which can be used for free."
More AlienVault OSSIM pricing and cost advice
"We are on an annual license for the use of the solution."
"We have a perpetual license, so the total cost of ownership is not very expensive. It's a good investment."
"It’s cheaper to run virtual machines in a VMware environment."
"The licenses are good but the cost is very expensive."
"It is cheap."
"It provides tools to assist in selecting the appropriate license and usage scenarios."
"We have yearly licensing costs. The license fee can be based on the volume of EPS. Some organizations may have, as a gentlemanly gesture, 10,000 EPS and get a 3,000 EPS license but actually use 5,000 EPS."
"The product price was reasonable for my region and the market."
More NetWitness Platform pricing and cost advice
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Comparison Review

VS
Feb 26, 2015
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We at Infosecnirvana.com have done several posts on SIEM. After the Dummies Guide on SIEM, we are following it up with a SIEM Product Comparison – 101 deck. So, here it is for your viewing pleasure. Let me know what you think by posting your comments below. The key products compared here are…
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
11%
University
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

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.
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?
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...
See all answers
What do you like most about NetWitness Platform?
The product's initial setup phase was not at all difficult.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetWitness Platform?
The pricing is comparable to others, and I consider the cost to be intermediate. Specific cost details are unknown to me.
See all answers
What needs improvement with NetWitness Platform?
There is currently no need for improvement in the SIEM ( /categories/security-information-and-event-management-siem ), though there could be potential enhancements by integrating with AI.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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USM Anywhere vs AlienVault OSSIM
Compared 6% of the time
Venusense USM vs AlienVault OSSIM Logo
Venusense USM vs AlienVault OSSIM
Compared 4% of the time
Elastic Security vs AlienVault OSSIM Logo
Elastic Security vs AlienVault OSSIM
Compared 4% of the time
Splunk Enterprise Security vs AlienVault OSSIM Logo
Splunk Enterprise Security vs AlienVault OSSIM
Compared 4% of the time
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Splunk Enterprise Security vs NetWitness Platform Logo
Splunk Enterprise Security vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 23% of the time
IBM Security QRadar vs NetWitness Platform Logo
IBM Security QRadar vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 19% of the time
Elastic Security vs NetWitness Platform Logo
Elastic Security vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 12% of the time
RSA enVision vs NetWitness Platform Logo
RSA enVision vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 9% of the time
Trellix Network Detection and Response vs NetWitness Platform Logo
Trellix Network Detection and Response vs NetWitness Platform
Compared 9% of the time
More NetWitness Platform Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
AlienVault OSSIM
August 2025
AlienVault OSSIM reportDownload AlienVault OSSIM product report
Buyer's Guide
NetWitness Platform
August 2025
NetWitness Platform reportDownload NetWitness Platform product report
 

Also Known As

OSSIM
RSA Security Analytics
 

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

NetWitness Platform is an evolved SIEM and threat detection and response solution that functions as a single, unified platform for ALL your security data. It features an advanced analyst workbench for triaging alerts and incidents, and it orchestrates security operations programs end to end. In short: NetWitness Platform is all you need to run an intelligent SOC.

NetWitness
 

Sample Customers

Council Rock School District
Los Angeles World Airports, Reply
Buyer's Guide
AlienVault OSSIM vs. NetWitness Platform
July 2025
Free Report: AlienVault OSSIM vs. NetWitness Platform
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