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Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs Swimlane comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 5, 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

Torq
Sponsored
Ranking in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
AI-SOC (1st), AI-Powered Security Automation (1st)
Palo Alto Networks Cortex X...
Ranking in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
SOC as a Service (2nd)
Swimlane
Ranking in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
AI-Powered Security Automation (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) category, the mindshare of Torq is 3.8%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is 8.6%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Swimlane is 2.7%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR8.6%
Torq3.8%
Swimlane2.7%
Other84.9%
Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)
 

Featured Reviews

AD
Solutions Architect at Swimlane
Automation has streamlined multi-tenant SOC workflows and improves alert handling efficiency
Although the reporting within Torq is not that great, we did ask for many features regarding reporting in Torq, but due to some platform constraints, they could not make the whole dataset available for us to be used in reporting. Except for that, we used some basic reporting. When I used Torq, it was indeed in the early stages of AI capabilities. Only a few customers were allowed to use it, and we were among them. It functioned well as long as we summarized the data properly. If you input garbage, you would get garbage out. Thus, we had to do significant fine-tuning regarding what data context we provided to the AI orchestrator to get meaningful results. In terms of Torq's unified platform approach to AI SOC automation and case management compared to managing multiple point solutions across my security stack, I find it case-centric. The unified view in case management is good since it provides clarity, although there are limitations regarding how many items in case management can be modified at once. Bulk operations are very limited, potentially due to their back-end database or data retrieval processes that can be improved. Regarding improvements for Torq, when we were onboarded, there were aspects we were uncertain about, such as the number of cases that could be generated, what data we could bring in, how many clients we could onboard, and similar concerns. Initially, we also lacked clarity about the number of playbooks or workflows we could build. Different triggers like system triggers, case-based triggers, and others can be employed without restrictions, but when it comes to on-demand and scheduled jobs, there is a limitation based on the subscription and pricing tier that notably caps the number of workflows we can create. No bulk editing across cases was one issue, along with limited filtering related to single grouping constraints. Additionally, the out-of-the-box case templates provided require substantial modifications before they become usable. There is also a feature in the cases for notes that cannot be searched. They are only visible through the UI, which is another area for improvement. The workflow and execution-based charges seem misleading as this was not discussed initially. I am not sure if new customers are made aware of this. It seems that workflows revolving around cases hinder functionality outside of case management, as we have many use cases needing on-demand triggers and schedules for functions like reporting or polling devices. Creating additional workflows to achieve basic functionalities raises costs significantly, which disadvantages customers. While they facilitate optimization and scaling, the support received tends to be very basic. Improvements can be made in that area as well.
Sricharan R - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Application Security Engineer Iv at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Security automation has transformed incident workflows and now reduces response time dramatically
I think the areas of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR that could be improved are mainly in UX. We have communicated with the vendor team about this, but they are prioritizing product functionality over usability because most target customers are technical and understand a primitive UI. They face difficulties in implementing UI changes as their team is stretched. Thus, the UI/UX of the tool needs significant improvement. There are plans on their roadmap, but a lot remains to be done. Parts of the tool run on an older framework, causing slowness. Usability is a broader issue than features alone. This usability problem is common in many cybersecurity tools, unlike customer-facing applications. Some integrations have speed issues and might not function seamlessly with different upstream configurations, requiring manual updates. These are the main pain points we encountered, particularly with UI/UX, integration speed, and the usability of certain inbuilt playbooks.
reviewer1248516 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager, Cyber Security at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Has reduced alert triage time but requires skilled developers for maintenance
One of the disadvantages of Swimlane is that to manage the platform, we need hardcore developers. We have recently seen new products such as Tines and Blink Ops coming into the market, where a person with a good knowledge of APIs and JSON format can manage the platform and create playbooks. Even a security analyst can create some playbooks on those platforms. However, on Swimlane, it's difficult for security analysts since they must mandatorily know Python to create the playbooks. In terms of pricing, Swimlane is on the slightly expensive side. Swimlane is scalable in general, but there are some limitations. It involves maintenance overhead because you need a complete engineer who knows the product in and out to scale it for the on-prem environment, while in a SaaS model, it works without many problems. Installation can be quite complex, especially when we have to use Kubernetes, and if we need to create load balancing. In those situations, it requires a good engineer to deploy the platform. In relation to bugs, sometimes the enrichment playbook we have does not enrich the alert, resulting in missing details, so in those scenarios, the automation team has to manually run the playbook again. Improvements could be made in terms of quality, particularly.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Using that one piece of AI, we auto-closed 511 cases in quarter four alone."
"Once I started to use the system and I saw the potential, it changed all of our work in IT."
"Under one SOC tool in Torq, analysts get to know everything within the context of an alert or incident they are working on, and this ability to view the whole picture within Torq is one of the major breakthroughs and best offerings of Torq."
"If I review about 100 vendors that I might work with, Torq is definitely in the top five that gave me personally investment back, just because every bit of effort I put into Torq eventually became a workflow that gave it back to me."
"Torq has exceeded expectations by delivering workflows in a timely and lower effort manner than XSOAR, and it meets all my needs while saving a ton of time and targeting $600,000 saved this year, which is a substantial amount of money."
"Any request that comes in, regardless of how complex it is, I can accomplish it with Torq."
"What I appreciate most about Torq is that it is an essential part of our system."
"Torq has helped a lot regarding SOC analyst efficiency."
"It is quite scalable. I would rate it a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is automation."
"The automation part and the playbook creation part are awesome. The way it is responding to the customers and incidents is also very good. In the SOC environment, I guess it will carry out around 50% of the work."
"What I like most about Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is how user-friendly it is for development. It is much simpler to work with compared to similar tools I've used."
"Many different playbooks are available and can be customized."
"The most valuable features of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR are its overall track record and features that fit our use case."
"It has an extensive list of integrations that are available out of the box which makes it easy to start."
"Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR has had a huge impact on our organization's mean time to resolution for incidents, improving the security SOC operations efficiency tremendously, by more than 80% to 90%."
"We are using it for a SOAR platform at a Cyber Security company which is MSSP."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the support."
"This is the best SOAR product available on the market right now and I recommend it."
"On a scale of one to ten, this solution deserves a rating of nine."
"The biggest advantage of Swimlane for us is that it saves time, which in turn helps us in cost-saving."
"Our primary goal was to reduce analyst time, and we have been successful in that."
"Swimlane has positively impacted my organization by helping us quickly work on alerts and document them, leading to improved response times and efficiency since we are able to work very easily using the amazing UI and the tool."
"Swimlane is a very effective way to represent workflows involving multiple users."
 

Cons

"Torq does extensive marketing saying that SOAR is dead and markets itself as an all-in-one solution, but this is not actually true."
"Regarding the pricing of Torq, I would say it is expensive."
"The workflow and execution-based charges seem misleading as this was not discussed initially, and creating additional workflows to achieve basic functionalities raises costs significantly, which disadvantages customers."
"Additionally, the documentation for Torq is not very clear. Most of the information is presented in videos, which are not ideal for reading; there are mostly paragraphs and other text-based content."
"I wish Torq's AI assistant for building templated workflows from scratch worked better; when you start with a blank slate, asking AI to help you build or template the workflow out does not go well."
"Regarding stability, I have noticed some lagging, crashing, and downtime, which is one of my largest gripes."
"The initial deployment of Torq was not easy."
"Torq can probably use more ML and look at what can be closed and what cannot be closed in terms of data classification."
"The solution is complicated to learn."
"The user interface (UI) is quite heavy and takes time to load, which is a major drawback."
"The dashboard could be better."
"The product can be tailored for each deployment to respond to specific customer needs, and this complexity may be seen as a downside."
"They should provide integration with machine learning platforms."
"The solution is not a Palo Alto product so technical support is inadequate."
"The solution requires DV but does not support open-source DV elastic searches."
"It's quite lagging and not very fast."
"I would like to see improvements in the minor bugs that occur with each update, as some features might have issues."
"We faced a lot of issues with the product’s stability."
"Swimlane can be improved by being faster and quicker so it is easier for us and does not hang sometimes."
"One of the disadvantages of Swimlane is that to manage the platform, we need hardcore developers."
"Swimlane is currently two-dimensional. If a third dimension could be added, it might be more useful."
"The stability of the solution has room for improvement."
"Swimlane's scalability was adequate to some extent, but then it needed a DevOps engineer to maintain it properly, which we lacked."
"I would prefer to have more colors added to represent different risks or notations, which can be used for the prioritization of risks and the significance of information."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The price of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR could be reduced. We are always looking for a discount. There is an annual license needed to use this solution."
"The solution's cost is high."
"The price of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is comparable to other solutions in the market."
"Palo Alto offers significant discounts to customers who purchase the products repeatedly."
"From the cost perspective, I have heard that its price is a bit high as compared to other similar products."
"Cortex XSOAR's price could be lower."
"It is approx $10,000 or $20,000 per year for two user licenses."
"There is a perception that it is priced very high compared to other solutions."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise26
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Torq?
I do not dislike anything about Torq because it has satisfied all of our use cases and requirements. We contacted sup...
What is your primary use case for Torq?
Initially, we were using Slack for small automations, such as creating pipelines or shutting down servers. For exampl...
What advice do you have for others considering Torq?
I have been working for five years with experience in the IT field. Torq is very good. It manages everything. I would...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR?
Comparing pricing to Micro Focus, they were offering bundles, making it free with their SIEM. For customers, it is ze...
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR?
Regarding areas for improvement in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR, I want to highlight one concern about playbook cr...
What is your primary use case for Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR?
My primary use cases for Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR are malware incidents, specifically phishing-related inciden...
What needs improvement with Swimlane?
Customizing workflows or scripts in Swimlane was a bit challenging, perhaps too challenging because of how the code b...
What is your primary use case for Swimlane?
My main use case for Swimlane is security automation workflows, automating most of the daily SOC workflows, especiall...
What advice do you have for others considering Swimlane?
My advice for others considering using Swimlane is to ensure it is the right fit for you and to have someone capable ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Demisto Enterprise, Cortex XSOAR, Demisto
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Cellcom Israel, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, esri, Cylance, Flatiron Health, Veeva, ADT Cybersecurity
LinkedIn, TransUnion, Citrix, Aetna, Perspecta
Find out what your peers are saying about Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR vs. Swimlane and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.