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IBM Security QRadar vs Sentinel vs Splunk Enterprise Security 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.1
IBM Security QRadar offers high ROI through cost-effectiveness, threat mitigation, SOAR integration, and valuable data insights, satisfying users.
Sentiment score
6.0
Sentinel tracks user behavior to prevent security issues, offering financial gain typically within a three-year lease period.
Sentiment score
6.4
Splunk Enterprise Security boosts efficiency, reduces costs, and enhances visibility, providing significant ROI and improving security posture.
With SOAR, the workflow takes one minute or less to complete the analysis.
Investing this amount was very much worth it for my organization.
The documentation for Splunk Enterprise Security is outstanding. It is well-organized and easy to access.
We couldn't calculate what would have been the cost if they had actually gotten compromised; however, they were in the process, so every investment was returned immediately.
On average, my SecOps team takes probably at least a quarter of the time, if not more, to remediate security incidents with Splunk Enterprise Security compared to our previous solution.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
IBM Security QRadar's customer service effectiveness varies with regional differences, personnel expertise, and response times impacting user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
4.5
Clients find Sentinel service excellent overall, but some face delays and difficulties, especially with low-priority issues.
Sentiment score
6.3
Splunk Enterprise Security offers expert support, though response speed varies; the online community and documentation enhance user experience.
They assist with advanced issues, such as hardware or other problems, that are not part of standard operations.
Support needs to understand the issue first, then escalate it to the engineering team.
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.
We have paid for Splunk support, and we’re not on the free tier hoping for assistance; we are a significant customer and invest a lot in this service.
I have had nothing but good experiences with Splunk support, receiving timely and helpful replies.
We've had great customer success managers who have helped us navigate scaling from 600 gigs to 30 terabytes.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
IBM Security QRadar offers strong scalability and flexibility, adapting effortlessly to diverse security needs across various industries.
Sentiment score
8.0
Sentinel efficiently scales and integrates with systems, favored by large organizations for enterprise-grade performance in extensive environments.
Sentiment score
7.4
Splunk Enterprise Security is praised for effortless scalability, effectively managing increased data demands for both cloud and on-prem environments.
For EPS license, if you increase or exceed the EPS license, you cannot receive events.
We currently rely on disaster recovery and backup recovery, which takes time to recover, during which you're basically blind, so I'm pushing my leadership team to switch over to a clustering environment for constant availability.
They struggle a bit with pure virtual environments, but in terms of how much they can handle, it is pretty good.
It is easy to scale.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
QRadar is reliable and efficient, with stability issues often linked to misconfigurations or updates rather than the software itself.
Sentiment score
8.0
Sentinel is generally stable, with some users noting Java-related issues and region-specific outages, but high ratings overall.
Sentiment score
7.5
Splunk Enterprise Security is stable and reliable, with occasional performance issues linked to configuration or resource constraints.
I think QRadar is stable and currently satisfies my needs.
The product has been stable so far.
They test it very thoroughly before release, and our customers have Splunk running for months without issues.
Splunk has been very reliable and very consistent.
It provides a stable environment but needs to integrate with ITSM platforms to achieve better visibility.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Security QRadar users seek better third-party integration, usability, enhanced AI, reporting, support, visualization, and API/cloud features.
Sentinel requires improved web integration, user interface, customization, documentation, and dashboard simplicity, while addressing regional outages and cost concerns.
Splunk Enterprise Security needs enhanced UI, simpler setup, better training, flexible pricing, improved integration, permissions, AI, and dashboards.
We receive logs from different types of devices and need a way to correlate them effectively.
If AI-related support can suggest rules and integrate with existing security devices like MD, IPS, this SIM can create more relevant rules.
IBM Security QRadar does not support Canvas, so we had to create custom scripts and workarounds to pull logs from Canvas.
Price is always a consideration, so the price would be nice if it were lower.
Improving the infrastructure behind Splunk Enterprise Security is vital—enhanced cores, CPUs, and memory should be prioritized to support better processing power.
Splunk Enterprise Security is not something that automatically picks things; you have to set up use cases, update data models, and link the right use cases to the right data models for those detections to happen.
For any future enhancements or features, such as MLTK and SOAR platform integration, we need more visibility, training, and certification for the skilled professionals who are working.
 

Setup Cost

IBM Security QRadar is pricey, ideal for large enterprises, with flexible EPS-based pricing, often more costly than competitors.
Sentinel is a subscription-based enterprise solution with competitive pricing, offering discounts and regular updates, requiring a support contract.
Splunk Enterprise Security is costly yet valued for robust features; best for larger firms despite complex cost management.
Splunk is more expensive than IBM Security QRadar.
It was costly mainly because of the value you can get right now compared to other solutions.
They nearly always bill it in dollars, so if it can be billed in our currency, that would be helpful and fixed in our currency.
I saw clients spend two million dollars a year just feeding data into the Splunk solution.
The platform requires significant financial investment and resources, making it expensive despite its comprehensive features.
I find it to be affordable, which is why every industry uses it.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Security QRadar offers scalable, user-friendly security with advanced analytics, seamless integrations, and effective threat detection capabilities.
Sentinel excels with its scalable, user-friendly design, integrating advanced threat detection and automated incident response, enhancing security management.
Splunk Enterprise Security offers robust log management, analytics, and integration, enhancing threat detection, monitoring, and operational efficiency.
Recently, I faced an incident, a cyber incident, and it was detected in real time.
IBM is seeking information about IBM QRadar because a part of QRadar, especially in the cloud, has been sold to Palo Alto.
We have FortiSOAR and IBM Resilient for IBM Security QRadar orchestration.
Sentinel's best features include that it's a very easy product to use.
This capability is useful for performance monitoring and issue identification.
I assess Splunk Enterprise Security's insider threat detection capabilities for helping to find unknown threats and anomalous user behavior as great.
Splunk Enterprise Security provides the foundation for unified threat detection, investigation, and response, enabling fast identification of critical issues.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of IBM Security QRadar is 7.0%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sentinel is 3.9%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Enterprise Security is 9.2%, down from 11.2% 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 (%)
Splunk Enterprise Security9.2%
IBM Security QRadar7.0%
Sentinel3.9%
Other79.9%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

Mahmoud Younes - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable installation and diverse use cases provide strong value
IBM Security QRadar has some areas for improvement. We have missed some DSM components. We need to customize logs where there is no DSM or connector for certain products. We can integrate but we have missed the DSM, which is the connector to pass logs coming from different applications. For example, with a university customer, we tried onboarding Canvas service. IBM Security QRadar does not support Canvas, so we had to create custom scripts and workarounds to pull logs from Canvas.
Simon Johnston - PeerSpot reviewer
Simple antivirus solution integrates well but could improve pricing and currency options
I don't really have experience working with these solutions. I promote them for our clients, but I don't work with them. I can't share my experience with these tools as I make assumptions about that. For both Adlumin and CrowdStrike, both confirm that they're scalable and enterprise-ready and all those kinds of things. We haven't had any specific problem with either of those. We just have a preference for which one we would prefer. If somebody says they want to use a different one from the one that we prefer, then we have to find reasons why they aren't. But scalability is not one of the reasons that one is better over the other. I don't really have advice for people that are looking into using Sentinel; just do your research across what is available. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Sentinel a seven.
Kyle Vernham - PeerSpot reviewer
Built-in searches and unified data access streamline alert investigation and boosts analyst efficiency
The two features I appreciate the most in Splunk Enterprise Security are the built-in searches, which have been very easy for us to get started with right out of the box, and the fact that it accesses all of our other systems. You can access it as a pane of glass rather than having to search individually. We also have the option to compare our analysts from our service to service. Splunk Enterprise Security helps our SOC team prioritize and investigate high-fidelity alerts more effectively by providing a more in-depth look and the ability to access a lot more of our data. Instead of jumping from several segmented systems, it allows us to have everything brought together in one place. For example, you have to move from our purview to our build system and to Splunk Enterprise Security, and it enables us to streamline that process. The built-in features of Splunk Enterprise Security, which we recently procured, have given us a good starting point and demonstrated the value of the product, providing an easy way to sell it to our company. The ease of getting everything into our purview helps us, and it serves as a good start for the investigation part in one location rather than what we usually have, which is jumping from system to system to system. Splunk Enterprise Security plays a role in our company's strategy to combat insider threats and advanced persistent threats by currently being in its technical test phase. We are still rolling it out, and it should help us find any insider threats based on information that our policy states should not be present in our system. Splunk Enterprise Security's risk-based alerting (RBA) has impacted our alert volume and analyst productivity because we've got many different systems feeding into it. However, it has helped to make it easier for our analysts to go through a set of events rather than 100 alerts. RBA allows us to streamline the process and customize it for our analysts. When it comes to leveraging Splunk Enterprise Security's dashboards and visualizations to communicate security posture to executives, it's pretty straightforward for any type of information. The visualization is easy to understand, but I haven't had any direct conversations with our executives.
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Comparison Review

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Feb 26, 2015
HP ArcSight vs. IBM QRadar vs. ​McAfee Nitro vs. Splunk vs. RSA Security vs. LogRhythm
We at Infosecnirvana.com have done several posts on SIEM. After the Dummies Guide on SIEM, we are following it up with a SIEM Product Comparison – 101 deck. So, here it is for your viewing pleasure. Let me know what you think by posting your comments below. The key products compared here are…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business89
Midsize Enterprise36
Large Enterprise102
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business111
Midsize Enterprise49
Large Enterprise257
 

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, friendli...
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 a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Security QRadar?
When comparing with Splunk, IBM Security QRadar's cost is reasonable. Splunk is more expensive than IBM Security QRadar.
What do you like most about NetIQ Sentinel?
The solution lets us get all the logs properly and regularly monitor customer infrastructure.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetIQ Sentinel?
I don't have too many comments overall about pricing as we're in South Africa, so it makes more sense if it's billed ...
What needs improvement with NetIQ Sentinel?
I'm not sure what the room for improvement is for Sentinel. It needs to stay current, and it does, so I suppose that'...
What is a better choice, Splunk or Azure Sentinel?
It would really depend on (1) which logs you need to ingest and (2) what are your use cases Splunk is easy for ingest...
How does Splunk compare with Azure Monitor?
Splunk handles a high amount of data very well. We use Splunk to capture information and as an aggregator for monitor...
What do you like most about Splunk?
There are a lot of third-party applications that can be installed.
 

Also Known As

IBM QRadar, QRadar SIEM, QRadar UBA, QRadar on Cloud, IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson
NetIQ Sentinel, Novell SIEM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Clients across multiple industries, such as energy, financial, retail, healthcare, government, communications, and education use QRadar.
Faysal Bank, GaVI, Handelsbanken, ISC Mªnster, Lambeth Council, Swisscard, The Municipality of Siena, Tukes, University of Dayton, University of the Sunshine Coast
Splunk has more than 7,000 customers spread across over 90 countries. These customers include Telenor, UniCredit, ideeli, McKenney's, Tesco, and SurveyMonkey.
Find out what your peers are saying about Splunk, Wazuh, Microsoft and others in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). Updated: September 2025.
869,160 professionals have used our research since 2012.