CRITICALSTART vs Splunk SOAR comparison

Critical Start and Splunk are both solutions in the Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) category. Critical Start is ranked #26, while Splunk is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. Critical Start holds a 1.1% mindshare in SOAR, compared to Splunk’s 7.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Critical Start users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 2024

Splunk SOAR and CRITICALSTART compete in the cybersecurity orchestration, automation, and response market. Splunk SOAR leads with extensive integrations and sophisticated feature sets, whereas CRITICALSTART is notable for its robust threat detection and response capabilities, making it highly valued for its perceived value and ease of use.

Features: Splunk SOAR offers automated workflows, customizable playbooks, and advanced integration capabilities, ideal for sophisticated threat management. CRITICALSTART excels with managed detection and response services, advanced threat analytics, and 24/7 security monitoring. While Splunk SOAR supports complex integration, CRITICALSTART focuses on effective real-time threat detection.

Room for Improvement: Splunk SOAR can improve in deployment complexity, user training, and simplifying integration processes. CRITICALSTART should focus on reducing upfront costs, enhancing mobile app features, and improving the intuitiveness of its user interface. Both solutions could enhance predictive analytics capabilities to match evolving cybersecurity threats.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CRITICALSTART offers a streamlined deployment process with quick onboarding and continuous customer support. Splunk SOAR requires detailed configuration to optimize its powerful tools, demanding more deployment time compared to CRITICALSTART’s seamless setup and supportive customer service approach.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk SOAR requires substantial setup investment for customization and scaling, promising a strong long-term ROI for complex environments. CRITICALSTART has higher upfront costs but offers immediate value in threat mitigation and operational efficiency. Buyers often find CRITICALSTART’s cost appealing due to its tangible returns, while Splunk SOAR provides robust ROI potential over time for larger enterprises.

To learn more, read our detailed CRITICALSTART vs. Splunk SOAR Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

CRITICALSTART vs. Splunk SOAR

April 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

Torq

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) category, the mindshare of Torq is 3.7%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CRITICALSTART is 1.1%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk SOAR is 7.4%, up from 7.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Splunk SOAR	7.4%
Torq	3.7%
CRITICALSTART	1.1%
Other	87.8%

Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)

Featured Reviews

Nimrod Vardi

Global IT Director at OpenWeb

Automation workflows have transformed our IT, enabling secure just-in-time access control

We work with them quite often, so we have a direct line regarding areas in Torq that have room for improvement. If we have a feature request, we can request it. I do not have anything in mind at the moment. We were a design partner for a short while, so we feel that they listen and that users of the system have an impact on the way the system is designed for the better. They have a new community, which is something that I personally suggested years ago. There are many people like me in different places and they might have already built the workflow that I need. Having the option to share workflows or to jump on a thread and say I have this need, did anyone ever build a workflow for it, is amazing. Someone would jump in and say yes, sure, here, take this workflow. I think this is an amazing thing and I really hope that the community will come alive because I think this is really powerful. This is something that I already suggested and it did happen eventually, and I am quite happy with it. I do not have any specific feature in mind that I have a need for at the moment.

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Justin Hadley

Sr. Manager, Security Engineering at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees

The transparency of data in the platform is perfect: You see everything as they are seeing it

Their Zero Trust Analytics Platform (ZTAP) engine, which is kind of their correlation engine, is by far and away one of the best in the business. We can filter and utilize different lists to build out different alerts, such as, what to alert on and when not to alert. This engine helps reduce our number of alerts and false positives. The service's Trusted Behavior Registry helps the provider solve every alert. The way that they have it built out is very intelligent. The way every alert comes in, it gets triaged one direction or another. If it is already a false positive, then it is still getting addressed and reviewed on a regular cadence. Also, true positive alerts get escalated to the appropriate personnel. Its mobile app is great. The ability just to be able to quick reference and see what's coming in when you're on the move or go. You don't always need to have your computer or laptop handy, because you can operate it just from the mobile app. It can communicate with analysts, which is great. The mobile app is great at affecting the efficiency of our security operations. Those guys are using it throughout the day, whether that be at the office, home, or off hours. Typically, they triage from the mobile app. Then, if an escalation needs to be done on a computer, they will pull out a computer. We were on the original UI for a few years, so the updated UI has been a refreshing change. It has significantly more ability to filter and translate data, then load that data. It is rather intuitive to click through for some of our junior analysts or interns, especially as we are starting to onboard and teach them different aspects of the security operations team.

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Shiboo Suren

Manager cybersecurity at Hexion Inc.

Automates threat response and reduces investigation time but needs better threat intelligence integration

One thing that we would like to see with Splunk SOAR is the expandability to the threat intelligence feed. Currently, we have limited ingestion to the threat intelligence feed for the correlation purpose. We would like to see it being integrated, with license cost or without license cost, to leading threat intelligence sources such as Recorded Future, Feedly, or Flare. That is something we would appreciate having integrated. The second thing on the improvement side is about exposed credential-related information. If we start ingesting those data to Splunk SOAR or SIEM with some sort of integration with threat intelligence feed, that will also improve our detection and prediction method or help us with the investigation.

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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

"Once I started to use the system and I saw the potential, it changed all of our work in IT."

"Since we started working with Torq, I am handling much fewer alerts, it is becoming really easy for me to handle an alert, I have all the information that I need, I do not need to connect to different vendors to receive this information, and the main thing I got from Torq is time, which now helps me to build another automated system and learn."

"Torq has helped a lot regarding SOC analyst efficiency."

"Torq's unified platform approach to AI, SOAR, automation, and case management is superior compared to my experience managing multiple point solutions."

"If I review about 100 vendors that I might work with, Torq is definitely in the top five that gave me personally investment back, just because every bit of effort I put into Torq eventually became a workflow that gave it back to me."

"What I appreciate most about Torq is that it is an essential part of our system."

"As an analyst, it has demonstrated potential to reduce workforce requirements and time needed for related activities."

"Using that one piece of AI, we auto-closed 511 cases in quarter four alone."

More Torq pros

"My impression of the transparency of the data is that it has good detail. It allows you to see how many events have come in, how many of those events have made it down to their analysts to review, and then however many from their analysts to be able to close out, have been able to been escalated to us. It's a good metric that we can share with my management. They see the value of what the SOC is bringing on top of what my team is already doing."

"There is a team of people who monitor our traffic and processes 24/7, so if anything raises a flag or alert, it will escalate back to me right away. That's the most incredible part: Humans working behind the scenes 24/7 to monitor our networks."

"The most valuable feature of their service is their tuning... If we were getting 1,000 alerts a day without them, they tune it until they know what to do for 999 of them, and one will make it through to us per day. That tuning is the most valuable part of their solution."

"Their Zero Trust Analytics Platform (ZTAP) engine, which is kind of their correlation engine, is by far and away one of the best in the business. We can filter and utilize different lists to build out different alerts, such as, what to alert on and when not to alert. This engine helps reduce our number of alerts and false positives."

"After a year of using the service, our expectations have been met in terms of services delivered on time, on budget, and on spec."

"The quick interaction between the agents is the most valuable feature. If we have questions, they're quick to answer. If we make a change to our system, they quickly make the changes that are necessary to filter the logs correctly."

"From where we were prior to going into them, the service has increased our analysts’ efficiency to the point that they can focus on other areas of the business."

"Out of all the service providers I've had to work with over the years—I've been here six years—CRITICALSTART is my favorite to work with."

More CRITICALSTART pros

"It helps increase efficiency and productivity."

"Splunk has many features that make work easier, and it's simple to implement in a large production environment. Splunk collects a massive amount of data from cloud servers and handles it perfectly."

"Since deploying Splunk SOAR, there has been a notable reduction in time spent on monotonous security tasks, which I estimate to be around 95%, enabling my team to focus on more strategic initiatives."

"In Splunk SOAR, I find the playbooks valuable. We get to create multiple playbooks, and within each playbook, there is a different type of investigation attached to it, which helps out an analyst or new analysts coming on board."

"The best feature in Splunk SOAR is the visual Playbook Editor. The drag-and-drop interfaces make visualizations and understanding workflows easy."

"Compared to other products, Phantom seems to be easy to use and the ability to customize is high."

"The benefits were immediate when we started using Mission Control Splunk SOAR over a year ago; it has made it easier for our analysts to work on alerts using playbooks and forward them."

"The most valuable feature is the API connector, depending on how it's formatted and who made the actual app offering for it. The REST API is my favorite component. It's very easy to use. The filters are also really valuable. Those are the two primary features but I enjoy using the rest of it."

More Splunk SOAR pros

Cons

"It was able to capture data but was unable to differentiate between the agent hostname we are using and the hostname that resides on the back end of the Internet."

"Regarding stability, I have noticed some lagging, crashing, and downtime, which is one of my largest gripes."

"Additionally, the documentation for Torq is not very clear. Most of the information is presented in videos, which are not ideal for reading; there are mostly paragraphs and other text-based content."

"We have MCP that we are working with our cloud security platform, and we wanted to connect this MCP to the case management."

"Regarding the pricing of Torq, I would say it is expensive."

"Even now, we have workflows that are in production that use AI steps and I get different results, making it unusable to some degree."

"The initial deployment of Torq was not easy."

"In terms of responsiveness, when I open up an alert, sometimes it takes a bit of time to load. However, it only happened once or twice."

"There is room for improvement with the new UI, and that's about it. I would like to see a more intuitive design."

"The updated UI is actually pretty bad. Regarding the intuitiveness, it is fairly easy to use, but the responsiveness, on a scale of one to 10, is a one. It's really poor performance."

"The biggest room for improvement is not necessarily in their service or offering, but in the products that they support. I would like them to further their knowledge and ability to integrate with those tools. They have base integrations with everything, and we haven't come across anything. They should just continue to build on that API interface between their applications and other third-party consoles."

"It has frustrated us that they don't have a native Slack integration, because most things do now. That's something we've asked for, for years, and it just doesn't really seem like it's a priority."

"They could dig a little bit deeper into the Splunk alerts when they feel like they need to be escalated to us."

"There is room for improvement with the new UI, and that's about it. I would like to see a more intuitive design."

"During the six-month integration and rollout, there were some bumpy roads along the way. There were communication breakdowns between the project manager, CRITICALSTART leadership, and us (as the customer). I expressed my displeasure during the integration in their inability to effectively communicate when there were holdups or issues. They were going through some growing pains at that time, but they have been right there for us ever since."

More CRITICALSTART cons

"Improving the integration ecosystem can raise the quality of the bottom tier of the integrations so that they can work better out of the box."

"We've had trouble implementing the solution with Microsoft products. There seems to be an integration gap."

"It could be easier to implement."

"have put a number of ideas on the ideas.splunk.com site for feature requests for the Splunk SOAR product. I posted one of them about three years ago, which finally got implemented in the latest release that just got announced, so the time to implement new features and things like that is a little bit concerning."

"Overall, this product is fairly good but it's not quite mature yet. It needs some enhancement and some stabilization in some areas."

"While I appreciate Splunk SOAR, there are areas for improvement, notably regarding the CI/CD pipeline for playbook lifecycle management, as transitioning playbooks from development to production currently feels cumbersome and requires more manual effort than I would prefer."

"There are areas in Splunk SOAR that have room for improvement. To make Splunk SOAR a better solution, there could be better built-in debugging tools, smarter playbook suggestions, and enhanced lifecycle management."

"It would be ideal if we could automate processes even more."

More Splunk SOAR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The pricing of other services was so insane that they weren't even an option."

"Overall, for what I'm paying for it, and the benefit I'm getting out of it, it is right where it needs to be, if not a little bit in my favor. For what it costs me to actually have this service, I could afford one internal person to do that job, but now I have a team of 10 or more who are doing that job, and they don't sleep because they work shifts."

"It costs a lot for what we felt comfortable to spend."

"As far as the expense goes, it's very competitive pricing and the services you get are almost like you have a person on your team."

"I've told CRITICALSTART that I think the managed service they provide is cheaper than it should be. It's a really good deal."

"There are contractual penalties if their SLAs are not met. This commitment was very important in our decision to go with this service, because not having downtime is extremely important to us. The providers has not missed an SLA in the 18 months that I have worked with them."

"The pricing has always been competitive. They have always been good to us. They will make it a fight. They don't try to hide anything; it's always been fully transparent and well-worth what we pay for it."

"Splunk SOAR is more expensive compared to other options for SOAR."

"When we first purchased our Splunk SOAR license, it was based on an event-count model. It was based on the number of events. I had strong opinions at the time that automation should not be stifled by the amount of automation you can accomplish, so the previous structure was not as beneficial for us. Later that year, we got told or saw at a conference that they announced user-based pricing. We are now in a renewal period, so we migrated to a user-based license model, which is more appropriate for us so that we no longer have to worry about stifling our automation based on the quantity."

"We renewed it this year. This year was the first time there was a dramatic increase in the price. It was kind of non-negotiable. It was just a high increase. We had internal communications, and it was definitely a surprise to us. In a short time frame, we renewed it this year. Prices are going up everywhere, but they are not always justifiable, at least not to our eyes. The pricing this year was definitely a big shock."

"The cost is high and the licensing is on an annual basis."

"Splunk is a fast enterprise tool, but it costs too much. At the same time, it's worth what we pay, in my opinion. We can efficiently perform all the functions and tie together the data. It's the perfect tool for our needs."

"I don't know the exact price, but for my region, it is very expensive."

"The licensing cost is reasonable."

"In my opinion, the price is high, but if you want good products, you have to be willing to pay for them."

More Splunk SOAR pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Construction Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	38

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Torq?

This is exactly what we discussed two days ago with the Torq team. We told them where we want to see improvements. Fo...

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What is your primary use case for Torq?

I use Torq as my case management and alert system. Working as a SOC analyst, the first thing I do every morning is ge...

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What advice do you have for others considering Torq?

I would definitely recommend Torq. I have no doubt, really. When we looked for another vendor, Torq really answered a...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk Phantom?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is perfectly acceptable, helping us significantly wi...

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What needs improvement with Splunk Phantom?

From the improvement point of view regarding Splunk SOAR, I suggest including more types of LLM models such as autono...

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What is your primary use case for Splunk Phantom?

The use cases that I work with mostly in Splunk SOAR include phishing email responses automation, where Splunk detect...

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Comparisons

Tines vs Torq

Compared 27% of the time

Blink Ops vs Torq

Compared 12% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs Torq

Compared 10% of the time

Swimlane vs Torq

Compared 8% of the time

Dropzone AI vs Torq

Compared 8% of the time

More Torq Competitors

ServiceNow Security Operations vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 13% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 10% of the time

SentinelOne Wayfinder Threat Detection and Response vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 9% of the time

Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 6% of the time

Expel vs CRITICALSTART

Compared 6% of the time

More CRITICALSTART Competitors

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs Splunk SOAR

Compared 13% of the time

Fortinet FortiSOAR vs Splunk SOAR

Compared 9% of the time

Tines vs Splunk SOAR

Compared 7% of the time

ServiceNow Security Operations vs Splunk SOAR

Compared 7% of the time

Google Security Operations vs Splunk SOAR

Compared 6% of the time

More Splunk SOAR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Torq

April 2026

Download Torq product report

Buyer's Guide

CRITICALSTART

May 2026

Download CRITICALSTART product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk SOAR

April 2026

Download Splunk SOAR product report

Also Known As

No data available

Critical Start, CriticalStart

Phantom

Overview

Torq is the enterprise AI SOC solution that effectively combines adaptive insights and automation to handle critical threats efficiently. It manages threat lifecycles, swiftly moving from triage to response, ensuring effective risk management.

Torq is designed to streamline security operations by aggregating telemetry across your security stack. It investigates significant risks and manages threats from triage to containment and remediation. This AI-driven tool enhances the capabilities of your SecOps team, allowing them to achieve more impactful results without introducing complicated processes.

What are the key features of Torq?

Adaptive Agentic Insights: Provides real-time threat intelligence tailored to specific security challenges.
Automation: Automates responses to security incidents, minimizing manual intervention requirements.
Threat Lifecycle Management: Comprehensive handling of threats from detection to remediation.
Telemetry Aggregation: Integrates data across platforms for a unified security overview.

Why consider Torq based on reviews?

Efficiency: Users notice significant reductions in time spent managing threats.
Risk Reduction: Enhanced ability to identify and address critical threats promptly.
Resource Optimization: Allows teams to allocate effort to other critical tasks by reducing manual security operations.
Scalability: Adaptable to meet the demands of growing or changing infrastructures.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Torq shows effectiveness by adapting to specific risk scenarios often encountered in these fields. Its integration with existing infrastructures makes it a valuable asset for maintaining stringent security standards, essential for protecting critical data and operations in diverse high-stakes environments.

Torq

CRITICALSTART enhances cybersecurity through advanced alert management, expert guidance, and a user-friendly interface. It promotes efficient monitoring and response to alerts, utilizing a Zero Trust model for heightened security.

CRITICALSTART is designed for organizations seeking to manage security alerts and streamline monitoring processes. Known for its quick response times and efficient alert filtering, it integrates tools like Cylance and Carbon Black to offer managed detection and response services. Users experience enhanced security by focusing on critical threats while the platform's easy navigation aids in efficiently responding to alerts. Improvement areas include better alert prioritization, enhanced compliance disclosure, and smoother integration with third-party communication tools.

What are the key features of CRITICALSTART?

Alert Management: Efficient handling and filtering of alerts to minimize noise.
Expert Guidance: Insights for integrating SIEM and optimizing response strategies.
Mobile Access: Easy access through a mobile app to manage alerts on the go.
Zero Trust Model: Enhances security by minimizing unnecessary access and noise.
User-Friendly Interface: Seamless navigation enhances user interaction and response times.

What advantages and ROI should users consider?

Improved Security Confidence: Advanced alert handling promotes a secure environment.
Increased Efficiency: Streamlined monitoring allows focus on critical threats.
Expert Insight: Professional guidance enhances security strategies and operations.
Quick Response Times: Rapid handling of threats reduces potential impacts.

In industry applications, organizations use CRITICALSTART to bolster cybersecurity measures across finance, healthcare, and technology sectors. Managed detection services and third-party integration make it suitable for enterprises looking to optimize security operations and minimize alert fatigue while ensuring 24/7 monitoring and protection.

Critical Start

Splunk SOAR focuses on automating security operations with seamless third-party integrations and customizable workflows, enhancing incident response and threat management.

Splunk SOAR offers robust playbook automation and powerful API connectivity, allowing organizations to streamline workflows and integrate extensively with tools like Salesforce and ServiceNow. With its capabilities in real-time data visualization and automated threat responses, it significantly enhances security and reduces manual efforts. Users appreciate the ease of creating playbooks, which reduces mean time to detect and resolve. However, attention to its integration challenges with Microsoft products, the need for more playbooks, and improved customization tools is necessary. Enhancements in the development process, visibility, scalability, and case management options are also beneficial. Improving documentation and training resources would add more depth and accessibility.

What are the top features of Splunk SOAR?

Third-party integrations: Supports extensive integration with tools like Salesforce and ServiceNow.
Playbook automation: Facilitates easy creation and management of automated workflows.
Customizable workflows: Offers Python-based customization for tailored security operations.
API connectivity: Powerful API support for seamless tool consolidation and streamlined workflows.
Data visualization: Provides real-time data visualization for enhanced situational awareness.

What benefits or ROI users should consider?

Operational efficiency: Reduces mean time to detect and resolve incidents through automation.
Manual effort reduction: Automates threat responses, minimizing manual workload in security operations.
Enhanced security: Offers end-to-end visibility and automated threat mitigation processes.
Time savings: Optimizes processes and improves response efficiency in cybersecurity operations.

Organizations implement Splunk SOAR in industries to automate tasks in Security Operation Centers, addressing incidents such as phishing, brute force, and ransomware. It integrates with third-party applications for threat intelligence enrichment, commonly deployed both on-premise and cloud, enhancing cybersecurity efforts.

Splunk

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Recorded Future, Blackstone

Buyer's Guide

CRITICALSTART vs. Splunk SOAR

April 2026

Free Report: CRITICALSTART vs. Splunk SOAR

Find out what your peers are saying about CRITICALSTART vs. Splunk SOAR and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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