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 #12 with an average rating of 7.4, while SolarWinds is ranked #36 with an average rating of 7.7. AT&T holds a 1.4% mindshare in SIEM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.0% 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

4,551 Views
4,460 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Security Event M...

Read 27 SolarWinds Security Event Manager reviews

2,192 Views
2,104 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: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. SolarWinds Security Event Manager

March 2026

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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)

12th

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)

36th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

5.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 1.4%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Security Event Manager is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
AlienVault OSSIM	1.4%
SolarWinds Security Event Manager	1.0%
Other	97.6%

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Featured Reviews

Brandon Pearce

Independent Contractor at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees

Enables cost-effective security management for small businesses

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 implementation. The main area where the AlienVault product was lacking around the 2018 timeframe was in its ability to scale. By pushing it to a cloud-based system, they've largely alleviated scale issues. It's native in Amazon but will also run in Azure. They have worked with cloud service providers to offer enough throughput at a cost reasonable for a corporation. Scaling was their biggest problem, and they've largely conquered those issues.

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Yashokanth Partkunan

Managed Services Engineer at Loop1 Systems

Has supported client needs efficiently but requires deeper analysis features and faster support

The log analyzing capability of SolarWinds Security Event Manager should go into more depth than the current environment. More modification and enhancements are required on the dashboard side in order to make it closer to optimal performance. From observation and feedback from users, they need more functionality related to monitoring, and in-depth analyzing needs to be improved.

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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

"Most of the SOC or SIEM enterprise class products are very expensive, whereas with OSSIM you can start out with a smaller setup and then expand as you wish."

"This solution is very stable; it runs on a Linux box, you only interface with it through the GUI, it works behind the scenes, and it has never crashed in the time that I have used it."

"With AlienVault you get everything in one box."

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

"You can customize the dashboards as well as the reporting."

"If you compare with other companies, like LogRhythm, etc., the top 8 or 10 CMs, I think AlienVault has the best price-performance ratio."

"The open vault component and the checking of vulnerabilities are the most valuable features, and the page management helps with this, because if you know how your device is vulnerable at least you can do something about it."

"The initial setup was straightforward."

More AlienVault OSSIM pros

"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."

"SolarWinds has provided greater visibility into incidents and activities on the network."

"The most valuable feature is the reporting."

"The pricing was low, around 30K so ROI is less than one year."

"SolarWinds is one of the products that I use, amongst many others, to fit the needs of our customers which includes their budget, size, and industry."

"SolarWinds' stability is fine; I don't think we've had any software issues."

"This tool is simple to use."

"It performs network behavior monitoring, log monitoring, and disaster recovery monitoring."

More SolarWinds Security Event Manager pros

Cons

"There needs to be more support or some kind of training program so users can self-learn the system more effectively."

"Lacking in depth of reporting."

"The correlation engine needs to be improved."

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

"The price of this solution is very high and it could be cheaper."

"It's under heavy traffic. If you have heavy traffic, the system is slow."

"AlienVault OSSIM on-premise version is more difficult to implement than the cloud version. Additionally, they should add integration between several different environments at once and improve their online knowledge base."

"The user interface could be improved."

More AlienVault OSSIM cons

"Not very scalable in my opinion. That's why I'm investigating new SIEM replacement."

"The solution's technical support is okay, but we don't have an SLA, and sometimes the response times are very slow."

"The flash-based interface can be improved because sometimes, the speed of monitoring is reduced."

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

"The main area that would mean a big improvement for me would be for the product to include multiple dashboards."

"The product should improve the ease with which you can create event alerts. They are not as hard now but you need to have an easier way."

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

"It is a very technical program. They can simplify it so that it isn't so hard to deal with."

More SolarWinds Security Event Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AlienVault OSSIM is an open-source solution."

"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

"AlienVault OSSIM is expensive compared to its competitors."

"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 free."

"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."

"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."

"We are using the community version, which can be used for free."

More AlienVault OSSIM pricing and cost advice

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

University

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

10%

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	7

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...

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What needs improvement with AlienVault OSSIM?

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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 ?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?

I work with all SolarWinds products mostly, including Network Configuration Manager and NPM. I am a reseller. I usually recommend SolarWinds products for Loop1. It's for the bigger ones; we are the...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM

April 2026

Download AlienVault OSSIM product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Security Event Manager

March 2026

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

March 2026

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: March 2026.

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