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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

"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 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."
"The AlienVault solution has enabled us to create a SOC on a budget with smaller than usual staff requirements, offering a wider range of solutions for our customers."
"I can easily check (in one place) all the logs and data in relation to attacks. It also gives me an overview if a server is not configured properly."
"We had used previous products and found AlienVault centralized the logging for our security."
"This is a USM, so being able to get all the features under one roof makes it a good product with good new features."
"The solution is stable."
"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."
"Using the communication within the security device, it is easier to create plugins."
"The pricing is amazing and really cheap."
 

Cons

"We would like to have more AI capabilities to detect threats and improve its productivity from a cybersecurity standpoint."
"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."
"I would like to see better integration with other systems, solutions, and vendors."
"USM Anywhere relies a lot on the community putting the data in. Often, you'll right-click on the attack, but nothing will be found. That's a weakness of it."
"The only room for improvement I can mention is the initial installation procedures. I found that the online installation instructions for the product were missing important details, they lacked necessary steps."
"More complimentary training needs to be done for use with this tool. If you get into a bind, then it will cost you."
"The reporting is mediocre and is something that needs to be improved."
"AlienVault cannot automatically respond to threats like other SIEM solutions, such as Sentinel and LogRhythm. Most of our clients are far away, so it's often challenging to handle alerts when they come up on our dashboard."
"As this software is in the cloud, you do not have control on updates and general changes which are happening."
"In the future, I would like to see all these features of the solution working properly."
"Maybe logs are the problem, as the database query is too slow. If you want to search something, you need time to find it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"One of the fastest ways to cut costs is reducing staff, and this product can reduce staff by 70 percent."
"Cost is clearly a consideration, but the important thing is what we do with the data and how we protect it."
"It's very reasonably priced. It was one of the lowest among the ones I looked at. Licensing is pretty flexible. They can do a two-year or a three-year, even a one-year, perhaps."
"Use the AlienVault team. They are helpful and the documentation that they provide is second to none."
"We checked out several competitors. For what it can do and the cost, it was the best option!"
"Pricing is very competitive with other products and you get much more functionality from AlienVault."
"I rate the price of AT&T AlienVault USM a four out of five."
"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."
"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."
"AlienVault is certainly not nearly as expensive as Splunk or QRadar. It's decently priced, but I don't have the exact figure."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Performing Arts
8%
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: March 2026.
883,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.