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IBM Security QRadar vs Splunk SOAR comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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
7.5
IBM Security QRadar is cost-effective, enhancing security while reducing manpower, with positive feedback on financial returns.
Sentiment score
6.6
Adoption of Splunk SOAR varied, with customization enhancing benefits; successful integration linked to experience, despite initial challenges.
With SOAR, the workflow takes one minute or less to complete the analysis.
Investing this amount was very much worth it for my organization.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
IBM Security QRadar support is praised for expertise but criticized for slow response times and inconsistent service quality.
Sentiment score
7.2
Splunk SOAR support is generally responsive, yet telecom and IoT cases may face delays; community offers quicker resolutions.
This process can result in outages lasting three to four hours.
They assist with advanced issues, such as hardware or other problems, that are not part of standard operations.
The problem escalates through level one to level three, and then the process starts over with Novo again.
Splunk's technical support is very good and generally not needed often due to the stable environment.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
IBM Security QRadar is highly regarded for its scalability, with easy vertical and horizontal expansion and seamless cloud deployment.
Sentiment score
7.1
Splunk SOAR is highly scalable and flexible, though some users encounter minor challenges, mainly linked to internal management.
For EPS license, if you increase or exceed the EPS license, you cannot receive events.
It can be extended and adapted as necessary.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
IBM Security QRadar is reliable but stability depends on correct deployment, capacity, and system resources, with minor update issues.
Sentiment score
7.5
Splunk SOAR is stable, reliable, with minimal downtime and effective version control, despite occasional external vendor issues.
I think QRadar is stable and currently satisfies my needs.
The product has been stable so far.
Splunk SOAR provides a stable environment and technology.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Security QRadar needs UI improvement, better integration, enhanced detection, streamlined operations, and customization for cost-effective functionality.
Splunk SOAR users desire better integration, user interface, documentation, and features like automation, debugging, and reporting for improved operations.
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.
This would help identify critical or high-priority alarms in QRadar.
Although it enhances alert handling, it still has a journey to compete with Palo Alto SOAR and FortiSOAR.
To make Splunk SOAR a better solution, there could be better built-in debugging tools, smarter playbook suggestions, and enhanced lifecycle management.
 

Setup Cost

IBM Security QRadar is costly but efficient, offering flexible pricing, EPS discounts, and potential cost savings with negotiation.
Splunk SOAR's pricing is consumption-based, often deemed expensive, with costs varying by data volume and region, impacting smaller organizations.
Splunk is more expensive than IBM Security QRadar.
Splunk SOAR is moderately priced, neither cheap nor overly expensive.
Splunk SOAR is affordable cost-wise only.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Security QRadar excels in log management, scalability, compliance, and integration, enhancing comprehensive security management with ease.
Splunk SOAR enhances threat response with automation, integration, customization, and user-friendly features, streamlining workflows and reducing manual tasks.
Recently, I faced an incident, a cyber incident, and it was detected in real time.
We have FortiSOAR and IBM Resilient for IBM Security QRadar orchestration.
IBM is seeking information about IBM QRadar because a part of QRadar, especially in the cloud, has been sold to Palo Alto.
Creating playbooks using the Playbook Editor in Splunk SOAR is easy. The editor is designed to be user-friendly with visual drag and drop features, allowing for easy workflows without writing any code.
The stable environment and the community provide strong support, reducing the need for technical support.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Security QRadar
Ranking in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
209
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (5th), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (4th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (1st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (18th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (9th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (13th)
Splunk SOAR
Ranking in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) category, the mindshare of IBM Security QRadar is 7.3%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk SOAR is 7.6%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
 

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.
SAURABHYADAV4 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables optimization by reducing manual intervention and increasing automation in the workflow
The product provides 100% automation for certain processes. It needs no manual intervention. We can integrate various tools like VirusTotal and ServiceNow. We can automate all the tasks. It is one of the best things about the tool. It also provides workforce protection. Whenever we get any alerts or make any configurations, we develop workflow automation using the playbooks. We can fully automate some of the security incident resolutions. We can also do identification and redirection using the product. I have integrated Splunk Phantom with Splunk Cloud. Previously, I used it with Splunk on-premise to get the logs into Splunk for tracking and audit purposes. Since Splunk is a SaaS-based product, it has certain maintenance windows. Over time, the vendor does some maintenance during off-production hours. Creating playbooks using the solution’s playbook editor is not tough. For someone who knows the solution, I rate the ease of creating playbooks as four out of five. The solution’s playbook viewer provides full visibility. The product provides different integrations. We can easily integrate the tool with VirusTotal, ServiceNow, and the asset and identity management system. The product is somewhat easier to use in an investigation. We have been able to identify the false positives using the product. The tool has helped reduce false positives by 30%. Splunk SOAR has helped reduce our mean time to detect by 10% to 15%. Splunk SOAR has a major impact on our meantime to resolve. Our mean time to resolve has been reduced by 35% to 40%. I have integrated VirusTotal with Splunk SOAR. Instead of doing manual checks, I can easily get the score by integrating the tool with Splunk SOAR. I have also synced Active Directory with the asset and identity management system. It's been a long time since we have implemented Splunk SOAR. It brings value to our organization. Before Splunk SOAR, everything was done using manual intervention. We had to educate the SOC team on how to do tasks. We also had to create playbooks for them. With Splunk SOAR, we only have to educate the team about how things are done so that they can perform a manual intervention when there is a failure, which is rare. After deploying the product, we had to provide some training to the SOC team. After getting trained, it was hands-on. Along with other Splunk solutions, Splunk SOAR provides the resilience to face any issues and hardships. We easily cope with downtimes. Splunk SOAR offers us end-to-end visibility across our environment. It depends on how much we utilize it. Visualizing and troubleshooting our cloud-native environment using Splunk SOAR is somewhat easy. I have to coordinate with the Phantom administrators if there is any issue. I work mostly on playbook development and integrating it with security instances.
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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
17%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 do you like most about Splunk Phantom?
Splunk SOAR's quick response to incidents is the most valuable part.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk Phantom?
Splunk SOAR is moderately priced, neither cheap nor overly expensive.
What needs improvement with Splunk Phantom?
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 life...
 

Also Known As

IBM QRadar, QRadar SIEM, QRadar UBA, QRadar on Cloud, IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson
Phantom
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Clients across multiple industries, such as energy, financial, retail, healthcare, government, communications, and education use QRadar.
Recorded Future, Blackstone
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security QRadar vs. Splunk SOAR and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,579 professionals have used our research since 2012.