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Fortinet FortiSIEM vs IBM Watson for Cyber Security comparison

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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

Fortinet FortiSIEM
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
17th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
AI Observability (25th)
IBM Watson for Cyber Security
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
52nd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiSIEM is 2.1%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Watson for Cyber Security is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiSIEM2.1%
IBM Watson for Cyber Security0.8%
Other97.1%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

SY
Network Engineer at Ogma Consulting
Comprehensive monitoring boosts security, yet incident management features need expansion
Fortinet FortiSIEM should broaden its remediation part to include more features for incident management. Currently, to manage repetitive incidents or for remediation, I need to use a separate software called FortiSOAR. Additionally, the search functionality in FortiAI should be improved to provide more precise results, making it easier for me to understand what actions need to be taken.
Elena Stefanovska - PeerSpot reviewer
Sales Account Manager at InTec System
Knowledgeable support, reliable, and useful compliance policies
IBM Watson for Cyber Security can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud and it is used as a SIEM solution The most valuable features of IBM Watson for Cyber Security are ease of use and out-of-the-box reports and compliance policies. Additionally, if there are aspects that are missing IBM add…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Our customer did not have security monitoring in the first place. With this solution, it provided security posture management and visibility about the security landscape and threats that they had."
"To add workers and even collectors is pretty easy."
"We have many application systems, and I can set up Fortinet FortiSIEM for users to monitor their systems."
"The solution’s IP database is awesome."
"Both the collecting logs and duo correlation are valuable features for us."
"We have found the most important features in Fortinet FortiSIEM to be the correlation, file utility check, latest file, and hash changes. These features are important for us."
"The beautiful thing about Fortinet is that they have integrated many, many solutions."
"There's a great feature on the solution that allows us to analyze security issues and incidents."
"From what I have seen so far, this is an excellent product."
"The most valuable feature of this product is innovation, where the research and upgrading of technology never ends."
"IBM Watson for Cyber Security is very stable."
"The customer support is very good."
"The most valuable features of IBM Watson for Cyber Security are ease of use and out-of-the-box reports and compliance policies. Additionally, if there are aspects that are missing IBM add them in the next release."
 

Cons

"Their product support, in general, is not that great. The product support is in the same ecosystem. Their support is improving but it's not that great.vvv"
"Customer support service could be better."
"Sometimes, if there are changes made by a user on a database server, it can be difficult to get that information on the fly. I would like to see a situation where once I specify a user with the database server I need, and with the changes they have performed on that, I don't need to continue my search pattern to drill down just to get the information."
"The nodes on our network did not comply with the SIEM solution. They use a different format parking log."
"This solution is not very scalable if you have a lot of security events; it's focused more around smaller companies."
"Does not have load-sharing or high-availability, and these are important things to implement. I can do the same things in another way, but not naturally having these features makes it complicated."
"The process of installing Fortinet FortiSIEM and the customization of the alerts take too long."
"The initial setup was quite complex."
"This is an expensive product, so making it more cost-effective would be an improvement."
"In the future, I would like to see threat intelligence included."
"They need to continue to build the AI capabilities."
"The dashboard could improve in IBM Watson for Cyber Security."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If one is cheap and ten is expensive. I rate the tool's price as an eight out of ten. Compared with Splunk or Oracle, Fortinet is cheap."
"Fortinet's products are not expensive, it is less than the competition."
"The price is competitive."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM is not an expensive solution."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM is very cost-efficient compared to other SIEM solutions."
"The price of Fortinet FortiSIEM was reasonable compared to other solutions."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the product. The free version license of the product is available for two months."
"Pricing is determined based on the customer's budget."
"The price of this solution should be lower, although I understand why IBM charges a premium price."
"IBM Watson for Cyber Security is very simple to license and is priced well."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise24
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSIEM?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiSIEM is wonderful, as it offers an excellent license compared to other vendors.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiSIEM?
Fortinet FortiSIEM is great overall. Performance could be enhanced, but I do not wish to elaborate on needed improvements.
What is your primary use case for Fortinet FortiSIEM?
My main use case for Fortinet FortiSIEM is building a SOC and serving as an event management platform for correlating events in my work. I use Fortinet FortiSIEM for event correlation by building a...
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Also Known As

FortiSIEM, AccelOps
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

FortiSIEM has hundreds of customers worldwide in markets including managed services, technology, financial services, healthcare, and government. Customers include Aruba Networks, Compushare, Port of San Diego, Cleveland Indians, Infoblox, Healthways, and Referentia.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet FortiSIEM vs. IBM Watson for Cyber Security and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.