Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM Security QRadar vs SmartEvent Event Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

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 Security QRadar
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
211
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (7th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (18th), Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (4th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (8th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (11th)
SmartEvent Event Management
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
52nd
Average Rating
5.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 SmartEvent Event Management is 0.1%, up from 0.0% 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 QRadar7.0%
SmartEvent Event Management0.1%
Other92.9%
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.
Adhi Wahyu - PeerSpot reviewer
Transparent and offers real-time analysis but needs more documentation
The solution provides us with transparency to give us information about what happens in the network. With this information, the administrator can see a lot of things. They can see hacking attempts from the internet that target our servers, and, with that information, they can check the security settings in the server to see if it is strong enough or not, and make sure the servers is safe. They also can see attacks directed to the endpoint. We know which endpoint got infected so we can take action to clean it. The software also has good reporting capabilities. We can create custom reports according to our needs.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"No doubt about it, the solution is extremely stable."
"Provided that the report is prebuilt and I can find what I am looking for, the reporting is the most valuable feature in this solution."
"It provides many options for searching. I can see devices from different vendors, like Cisco, in one interface, which is good for me."
"think QRadar is great overall. We’ve had a positive experience with it and recommend it for deployment. However, there are areas for improvement. The technical support is good, and the documentation is valuable, but it could be enhanced, especially regarding integration with other systems. In terms of support and updates, QRadar’s capabilities are crucial for maintaining high security standards. Network and software administrators can monitor all traffic effectively, which reassures clients and drives further adoption."
"The tool's most valuable feature is real-time detection."
"The most valuable features of IBM Security QRadar are flexibility, IBM support, and scalability."
"One of the most valuable features of this solution is it has very good data correlation."
"The most valuable features are the AI assistant, which is good at detecting known types of behavior."
"The capability of real-time analysis of security events is useful."
"SmartEvent Event Management is a solid platform overall, and I would definitely recommend it."
 

Cons

"For future updates, I'd like to see more advanced threat intelligence features integrated with AI. This would help with analyzing traffic patterns and improving protection. QRadar currently doesn't integrate with AI for threat analysis. However, AI could enhance its capabilities by learning traffic patterns and automatically blocking or quarantining suspicious traffic. This would be especially useful when administrators are not actively monitoring. AI could help by analyzing incoming and outgoing traffic and adjusting policies accordingly."
"Do your research before implementing it, because it is tough to implement."
"Technical support really needs to be improved. Right now, they aren't where they need to be at all."
"The solution does not support the integration of flat file databases."
"We sometimes experience downtime, but it depends on the version. There is some variability."
"The tool is very complicated. One place for improvement would be to have a more user-friendly interface. Having better support in Spanish would be cool."
"The reporting system could use some upgrading."
"A lot of information that we receive for the devices is IP-based, but it would help if we could have a default dashboard in which we can add more details about the assets for which we are receiving the information. For example, if it is a Windows or Linux device, we only get the IP for that particular device. We don't really get the name and other details of that particular device. For that, you have to drill down into your own asset management system. It would be good to have a place where we can probably add this information so that we don't have to look into other tools."
"They should provide easy to access guides or manuals, maybe videos, about how to manage or use the software effectively and efficiently, to maximize its features."
"The only downside I've encountered with SmartEvent Event Management is occasional lag during video calls, especially with a lot of participants."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is priced fairly, there is a license for the solution, and we pay annually."
"Pricing and licensing are competitive. Their new licensing options allow logs to bypass the correlation engine for a flat rate, which is also appealing for log data that is compliance-driven for a small amount of money."
"Our licensing costs for this solution is on a yearly basis."
"The pricing is good."
"The price could be better. I bought a subscription for three years."
"There are additional costs, such as the cost associated with the different hardware required for implementation and deployment. Along with the add-on apps, these are all additional costs, and they require licensing as well."
"In terms of additional costs, it depends on the subscription that you choose. There are plenty of options to choose from."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate IBM Security QRadar's pricing a five out of ten."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions are best for your needs.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

VS
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
15%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business89
Midsize Enterprise36
Large Enterprise102
No data available
 

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?
When comparing with Splunk, IBM Security QRadar's cost is reasonable. Splunk is more expensive than IBM Security QRadar.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SmartEvent Event Management?
The product has annual licensing; make sure you really use it well to help you secure the network so you don't waste the license cost.
What needs improvement with SmartEvent Event Management?
The only downside I've encountered with SmartEvent Event Management ( /categories/event-monitoring ) is occasional lag during video calls, especially with a lot of participants. Although it is not ...
What is your primary use case for SmartEvent Event Management?
Our primary use case involves utilizing SmartEvent Event Management ( /products/smartevent-event-management-reviews ) for video conferencing, file sharing, and integration with other productivity t...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Clients across multiple industries, such as energy, financial, retail, healthcare, government, communications, and education use QRadar.
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security QRadar vs. SmartEvent Event Management and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.