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IBM Security QRadar vs OpenText Enterprise Security Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.3
IBM Security QRadar delivers cost-effective, rapid deployment, reducing incident response times and employee needs, enhancing organizational resilience.
Sentiment score
4.9
ROI from OpenText Enterprise Security Manager varies widely, influenced by threat detection, compliance benefits, and prevention of incidents.
With SOAR, the workflow takes one minute or less to complete the analysis.
CyberSecurity Architects at VaporVM
AWS gives the chance to implement a solution out of the box with use cases that are already in IBM Security QRadar.
Strategic Account Executive at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I have seen a return on investment; I can share that it includes time saved, money saved, and fewer employees needed.
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
IBM Security QRadar support quality varies, with inconsistent service; knowledgeable agents appreciated but response times and expertise are concerns.
Sentiment score
5.4
OpenText Enterprise Security Manager support receives mixed reviews, with common complaints about slow resolution and inadequate expertise in complex issues.
They assist with advanced issues, such as hardware or other problems, that are not part of standard operations.
Network and Security Architect at Deutsche Telekom
Support needs to understand the issue first, then escalate it to the engineering team.
CyberSecurity Architects at VaporVM
The support is really good; for instance, if a critical ticket is submitted, you will get paged right away as it gets logged, and their analyst will look into it, letting you know as soon as possible so you can work on it.
Cyber Security Intern at a retailer with 1,001-5,000 employees
If I raise a P1 or P0 ticket, the response time is often delayed by four to eight hours.
Senior Security Engineer at Valuepoint Systems
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
IBM Security QRadar is highly scalable, easily integrates hardware, and efficiently manages extensive networks for cloud or on-premises deployments.
Sentiment score
5.9
OpenText Enterprise Security Manager is scalable for large deployments but faces cost challenges at the logger level.
For EPS license, if you increase or exceed the EPS license, you cannot receive events.
CyberSecurity Architects at VaporVM
IBM Security QRadar's scalability is great; you can have a new collector to deploy if you have increased EPS per second.
Cybersecurity Team Leader at EMAK For Integrated Solutions
It lacks some capabilities compared to other tools available in the market.
Senior Security Engineer at Valuepoint Systems
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
IBM QRadar is seen as reliable, with stability dependent on proper configuration, version updates, and sufficient hardware resources.
Sentiment score
5.1
OpenText Enterprise Security Manager is stable and reliable, though performance varies with challenges in virtualization and specific components.
On cloud, you don't see any disconnections or instability.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
I think QRadar is stable and currently satisfies my needs.
Architect of Cybersecurity at ASSIST - Software Services
The product has been stable so far.
Information Security Analyst at Banglalink
The stability of ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is not very robust.
Senior Security Engineer at Valuepoint Systems
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Security QRadar needs UI improvements, better integration, faster support, enhanced features, and competitive pricing to address user concerns.
OpenText Enterprise Security Manager needs user interface upgrades, better integration, improved documentation, and enhancements in analytics and scalability.
We receive logs from different types of devices and need a way to correlate them effectively.
Network and Security Architect at Deutsche Telekom
If AI-related support can suggest rules and integrate with existing security devices like MD, IPS, this SIM can create more relevant rules.
Information Security Analyst at Banglalink
IBM Security QRadar does not support Canvas, so we had to create custom scripts and workarounds to pull logs from Canvas.
CyberSecurity Architects at VaporVM
The integration aspect of ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) needs improvement.
Senior Security Engineer at Valuepoint Systems
 

Setup Cost

IBM QRadar is costly but efficient, flexible in licensing, negotiable, and ideal for large enterprises over smaller ones.
OpenText Enterprise Security Manager is costly but offers robust features and scalability, with possible discounts and cost management strategies.
Splunk is more expensive than IBM Security QRadar.
CyberSecurity Architects at VaporVM
It was costly mainly because of the value you can get right now compared to other solutions.
CTO at Sabyk
It depends on how much you want to spend.
Strategic Account Executive at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is very cheap compared to other tools.
Senior Security Engineer at Valuepoint Systems
 

Valuable Features

IBM Security QRadar is scalable and user-friendly, excelling in threat detection, event analysis, and third-party integration for large operations.
ArcSight offers advanced threat detection, robust integration, customizable dashboards, and automates event correlation for efficient security operations.
Recently, I faced an incident, a cyber incident, and it was detected in real time.
Information Security Analyst at Banglalink
IBM Security QRadar gives the opportunity to improve the time to market of the releases with a great evaluation of cybersecurity breaches.
Strategic Account Executive at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Compared to ArcSight, Splunk, or any other SIEM tools where you need their processing language such as structured query language, SPL, and in Sentinel there is KQL query languages, IBM Security QRadar doesn't require reliance on query languages.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
The ability to interpret data is highly valued.
Senior Security Engineer at Valuepoint Systems
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Security QRadar
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
219
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (7th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (17th), Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (4th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (7th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (11th)
OpenText Enterprise Securit...
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
21st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of IBM Security QRadar is 5.6%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Enterprise Security Manager is 1.6%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Security QRadar5.6%
OpenText Enterprise Security Manager1.6%
Other92.8%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

HarshBhardiya - PeerSpot reviewer
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
Have managed daily asset and alert monitoring effectively but have encountered limitations with manual processes and interface usability
It's still very manual and doesn't work on its own. It's still in an early stage and not on par where we can consider it a really successful detection system. The accuracy is not there. The UI could be better when compared to Sentinels where we can use flags and tagging. It could be much more user-friendly. IBM Security QRadar has all features and is fully competitive with other SIEM tools, but when it comes to user-friendliness, a new user takes time to get used to it. More intuitive, user-friendly interfaces and more helpful documentation would be beneficial. The query searching and data fetching could be faster. In large to very large organizations with around 5,000 or 6,000 assets or beyond, even with proper configurations and RAM and hardware backing up, the query is fairly slow.
NM
Senior Security Engineer at Valuepoint Systems
Interpreting data effectively despite challenges in integration and support
If someone lacks the budget for a new SIEM tool with advanced capabilities, I would recommend ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM). However, if they have the budget, I would suggest looking into other options. Overall, I would give ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) a rating of seven out of ten.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions are best for your needs.
880,745 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

VS
Manager, Enterprise Risk Consulting at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jun 28, 2015
Qradar vs. ArcSight
Continuing with the SIEM posts we have done at Infosecnirvana, this post is a Head to head comparison of the two Industry leading SIEM products in the market – HP ArcSight and IBM QRadar Both the products have consistently been in the Gartner Leaders Quadrant. Both HP and IBM took over niche SIEM…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Performing Arts
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business91
Midsize Enterprise39
Large Enterprise105
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise57
 

Questions from the Community

What are the biggest differences between Securonix UEBA, Exabeam, and IBM QRadar?
It mostly depends on your use-cases and environment. Exabeam and Securonix have a stronger UEBA feature set, friendlier GUI and are not licensed based on capacity (amount of logs and information in...
What SOC product do you recommend?
For tools I’d recommend: -SIEM- LogRhythm -SOAR- Palo Alto XSOAR Doing commercial w/o both (or at least an XDR) is asking to miss details that are critical, and ending up a statistic. Also, rememb...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Security QRadar?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is great compared to the other vendor.
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.
 

Also Known As

IBM QRadar, QRadar SIEM, QRadar UBA, QRadar on Cloud, IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson
Micro Focus ArcSight, HPE ArcSight, ArcSight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Clients across multiple industries, such as energy, financial, retail, healthcare, government, communications, and education use QRadar.
Lake Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bank AlJazira, Banca Intesa, and Obrela.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security QRadar vs. OpenText Enterprise Security Manager and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
880,745 professionals have used our research since 2012.