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ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) vs NetWitness Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 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

ArcSight Enterprise Securit...
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
21st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetWitness Platform
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
29th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (38th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is 1.1%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetWitness Platform is 0.6%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

Gaurav Ranade - PeerSpot reviewer
Excels at performing regression and correlation on the data
ArcSight is a legacy technology, and many customers want AI-powered technologies integrated with it. That hasn't been done yet, but ArcSight needs to catch up with the newer solutions and technologies available in the market. It can't just rely on the legacy technology from 2010 or 2012. You can't run that in 2024. It's a legacy technology with its own limitations. Customers often face issues that other software or newer solutions can resolve easily. That's the main challenge we face from customers right now. So, the only concerns are that AI needs to be integrated and scalability improved. Those are the main areas to be improved.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The out-of-the-box rules that help us configure functioning rules within the environment are valuable."
"The product is quite mature. It's been around for a long time."
"The webpage algorithm is the most valuable feature because it was the fastest feature for searching the logs, events, and correlation."
"ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) works perfectly. It's a stable and scalable product."
"We utilize ArcSight ESM for real-time threat detection in our organization. We have custom rules that we've developed on top of the WAN services, along with scheduled licensing activities."
"The most valuable feature of ArcSight ESM is its ease of use."
"​It is a vital tool for live monitoring and helps us to understand the traffic alerts of any major issue on the network, thereby reducing hacking attempts."
"I really like the correlation part and the way the logs are correlated. I have never faced issues with parsing in this product. I like the way it parses, and everything is so clear to me."
"The newer 11.5 version that my team is using has found it to have good mapping."
"Performance and reporting are very good."
"The software is scalable to whatever is required, and you can also put a lot of resources in the cloud."
"The most valuable feature is the correlation. It can report in real-time and monitor the management."
"It's fully scalable. There is no limit. Of course, the license limits per day the number of terabytes. In my opinion, it's very flexible."
"I can have enterprise security, email security, next generation firewall security log, HIDS and NIDS logs, etc. all on the same dashboard. It makes it easy to pinpoint or correlate our server to this. I can find out if there is lateral movement. This is the biggest advantage of this solution."
"What we are mainly using are the RSA concentrator, RSA Decoder, Archiver, Broker, and Log Decoder."
"The most valuable feature is the security that it provides."
 

Cons

"We would like the ability to easily identify either unused resources or those that are being used sub-optimally."
"ArcSight is incredibly complex when configuring and deploying, and if your organization doesn't know what they want and what they need, ArcSight will be a challenge for them."
"Customer service and support is our biggest challenge."
"The security area has room for improvement."
"The initial setup could be more straightforward."
"The stability of ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is not very robust."
"What could be improved in ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is its analytics feature. That feature should be more powerful and have more correlation in terms of AI/ML, though MicroFocus has done a good job in adding analytics to ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) which has become a big draw to customers. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is the addition of AI/ML features."
"Sometimes, it takes ages to get an issue resolved. I have ArcSight experience, so I normally try to fix things on my own or find a workaround, but it's tough to get support when I need it."
"There is no support for this product in this country, so problems have to be resolved through global technical teams."
"Lots of competing products have vulnerability protection built into their products, and this solution would be improved by including that support."
"The initial setup was complex because it takes a lot of time to complete the implementation."
"I'd like to see improvement in its ease of use. It's basically unusable. It's overly complex."
"Security needs improvement."
"The product's licensing models are complex to understand. This particular area needs improvement."
"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."
"Sometimes, it gives me static when integrating Windows-based systems. It should produce a precise log of sorts as to where the problem is. For example, a few days ago because of the McAfee application firewall, I couldn't get access to the particular Windows machine. So, my team and I had to figure out by ourselves that there was a virus responsible for the obstacle. This solution should trigger a meaningful log or message indicating the reason the user or implementer can't get into the machine."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price-wise, ArcSight ESM was a bit high compared to competitors, which factored into our decision to switch to Splunk. It couldn't cover all our business needs for what we wanted to implement."
"​It is best to be an institutional buyer and directly contact the sales team, as they can provide over-the-top discounts for bulk orders.​"
"The product licenses are inexpensive."
"Pricing is good, I'd rate the pricing a seven out of ten, with ten being low price. It's better than Splunk and IBM QRadar because their pricing is based on EPS."
"The pricing model is expensive compared to open-source alternatives."
"There is a license required for this solution."
"HPE ArcSight pricing might be more expensive than other SIEM solutions, but in my opinion it has powerful features and great flexibility in developing complex use cases."
"Customers without a ton of resources to dedicate to deployment may be better served by a managed ArcSight service."
"The tool is very expensive, so I rate the pricing a ten out of ten. The solution has an annual subscription."
"It provides tools to assist in selecting the appropriate license and usage scenarios."
"Compared to the competition, the is price is not that high."
"The licenses are good but the cost is very expensive."
"This is a pricey solution; it's not cheap."
"The new pricing and licensing mechanisms are fair. I would advise always to get the full solution (i.e., not only Logs)."
"There is a licensing fee and the customer can choose whether he wishes this to be subscription-based or perpetual."
"It is cheap."
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Comparison Review

VS
Feb 26, 2015
HP ArcSight vs. IBM QRadar vs. ​McAfee Nitro vs. Splunk vs. RSA Security vs. LogRhythm
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Government
6%
Energy/Utilities Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the best SIEM tool for a mid-sized financial services firm: Arcsight or Securonix?
In my market, a lot of financial companies had or have an ArcSight installation. Just because in former times it was pretty good. Now a lot of them are looking for a more effective solution due to ...
What do you like most about ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM)?
We utilize ArcSight ESM for real-time threat detection in our organization. We have custom rules that we've developed on top of the WAN services, along with scheduled licensing activities.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM)?
ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is very cheap compared to other tools. It is worth the investment if you are considering the cost.
What do you like most about NetWitness Platform?
The product's initial setup phase was not at all difficult.
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.
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.
 

Also Known As

Micro Focus ArcSight, HPE ArcSight, ArcSight
RSA Security Analytics
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lake Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bank AlJazira, Banca Intesa, and Obrela.
Los Angeles World Airports, Reply
Find out what your peers are saying about ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) vs. NetWitness Platform and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.