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IBM X-Force Exchange vs USM Anywhere comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

IBM X-Force Exchange
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
8.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) (15th)
USM Anywhere
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (37th), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (30th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (44th), Compliance Management (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM X-Force Exchange is designed for Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) and holds a mindshare of 1.5%, down 1.6% compared to last year.
USM Anywhere, on the other hand, focuses on Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), holds 1.0% mindshare, up 1.0% since last year.
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM X-Force Exchange1.5%
Recorded Future7.6%
CrowdStrike Falcon4.7%
Other86.2%
Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP)
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
USM Anywhere1.0%
Splunk Enterprise Security7.2%
Wazuh5.8%
Other86.0%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

IM
IT Infrastructure Security Lead at South Consult
Speed threat assessment ,security investigations leveraging on real time actionable threat intel integrated to your Security Intelligence Platform
The most valuable features I found include : The ability to add a vulnerability report Support for STIX and TAXII Threat Feed Manager- While viewing X-Force reports, users can enrich IP, URL and malware reports using threat intelligence So suppose you're investigating an a possible threat and you just found that there is an offense that is saying, one of your users had access to some honey port defined address You can quickly leverage X-Force to help you by doing an X-Force exchange look-up quickly. If you have an aspect of interest, such as an email, file , vulnerability data for, you can leverage X-Force to understand this in-depth.
Kris Nawani - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder/Director at Bangkok MSP Company Limited
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

"The most valuable feature is you have the expertise of human experience directly involved. There is a team of experts."
"This product has helped to increase staff productivity."
"It's quite integratable so you can actually integrate and get IP malware and URL information. It also gives you some form of intelligence into what you're trying to investigate or what you're trying to understand."
"The pricing is amazing and really cheap."
"Asset discovery and vulnerability scanner are good features. The integration between this solution and OTX, which is an AlienVault platform for Open Threat Exchange, is also a valuable feature. It is also quick and easy to deploy, so you can quickly engage with a customer's environment."
"Allowed us to help our customers satisfy compliance needs around logging and monitoring."
"It allows for a lot of out-of-the-box features: vuln scanning, HIDS/HIPS, and IDS."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is security management for PCI DSS."
"The new cloud-based panel is excellent both for client review as well as for our SOC to review and respond to threats. It is much easier to configure and use than the previous solution from AlienVault.​"
"It has allowed us to see what is happening on our servers."
"The solution has all the features that we need, however they do not work correctly."
 

Cons

"I would like to see better integration with other systems, solutions, and vendors."
"You have to look for the new information from X-Force. X-Force will provide it but you have to look for it. We need clearer visibility."
"We would like to have more AI capabilities to detect threats and improve its productivity from a cybersecurity standpoint."
"We develop additional rules and scripts to make it more usable."
"The solution already has quite good tools, however, they need better integration tools for linking with Office 365, Google Suite, and so on."
"The solution is a bit complicated. It could be simplified quite a bit."
"AlienVault must improve their correlation feature. Some of the events do not match with the correlation rules and some of the correlation events are false-positive."
"It would be hard for any legitimate MSSP to use it."
"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."
"There are many reports included but would be nice to have better access to the data."
"The GUI needs to improve because it's not user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cost is clearly a consideration, but the important thing is what we do with the data and how we protect it."
"One of the fastest ways to cut costs is reducing staff, and this product can reduce staff by 70 percent."
"It's saved security costs."
"​The price point is good.​"
"So far, I feel the product's pricing is a good value. The technology is decent. You get what you pay for. I think it's fair."
"AlienVault is certainly not nearly as expensive as Splunk or QRadar. It's decently priced, but I don't have the exact figure."
"Do the one month trial and try to work out the kinks during it, as it has free support and service hours."
"They charge a license based on the storage. ATT AlienVault USM is a less expensive solution than IBM QRadar."
"The price for this solution is very good, but since the features do not work the price is expensive."
"We checked out several competitors. For what it can do and the cost, it was the best option!"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Performing Arts
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business64
Midsize Enterprise29
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for IBM X-Force?
It's a threat intelligence platform, and we aim to enhance its intelligence by integrating additional security solutions.
What advice do you have for others considering IBM X-Force?
It falls under the category of AI-embedded threat intelligence, which makes detection more efficient by reducing the rate of false positives and improving the overall detection rate. When the threa...
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.
What is your primary use case for AT&T AlienVault USM?
USM Anywhere is used for threat detection and investigation. It provides a solution with built-in threat intelligence and various other investigation tools.
 

Also Known As

X-Force Exchange, X-Force
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 CrowdStrike, Recorded Future, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIP). Updated: January 2026.
883,546 professionals have used our research since 2012.