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SolarWinds Security Event Manager vs Splunk Enterprise Security comparison

SolarWinds and Splunk are both solutions in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category. SolarWinds is ranked #33 with an average rating of 7.8, while Splunk is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.4. SolarWinds holds a 0.7% mindshare in SIEM, compared to Splunk’s 9.4% mindshare. Additionally, 82% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Splunk users who would recommend it.
SolarWinds Security Event M...
Read 26 SolarWinds Security Event Manager reviews
  • 1,320 Views
  • 1,228 Comparison Views
82% willing to recommend
Splunk Enterprise Security
Read 323 Splunk Enterprise Security reviews
  • 25,544 Views
  • 13,027 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

Splunk Enterprise Security and SolarWinds Security Event Manager are two leading products in the security event and log management category. Splunk appears to have the upper hand in complex data queries and third-party integration capabilities.

Features: Splunk Enterprise Security is noted for comprehensive log management, adaptable schema-on-read technology, advanced query capabilities via SPL, and excellent integration across multiple environments. SolarWinds Security Event Manager offers ease of setup, timely alerts, and effective cross-platform integration, making it particularly useful for straightforward monitoring and management.

Room for Improvement: Splunk Enterprise Security could enhance its visualization and machine learning tools, streamline cloud integration support, and address its steep learning curve and pricing. SolarWinds Security Event Manager could benefit from better correlation capabilities, scalability improvements, and a more modern user interface, as well as additional out-of-the-box dashboards and business-level KPIs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk Enterprise Security offers flexible deployment options across various cloud setups but can be costly and challenging to learn, though it has a supportive online community. SolarWinds Security Event Manager is known for quick on-premises deployment, efficient customer support, and cost savings, albeit with fewer community resources and issues with complex architectures.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk Enterprise Security is recognized for depth but comes with a high price tag based on data ingestion, which might be prohibitive for smaller businesses. SolarWinds Security Event Manager is more budget-friendly, with flexible licensing that offers a good return on investment, prioritizing usability and integration efficiency over advanced features.

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To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds Security Event Manager vs. Splunk Enterprise Security Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds Security Event Manager vs. Splunk Enterprise Security
July 2025
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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

SolarWinds Security Event M...
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
33rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Splunk Enterprise Security
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
323
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (2nd), IT Operations Analytics (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Security Event Manager is 0.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Enterprise Security is 9.4%, down from 11.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

Rafal-Stas - PeerSpot reviewer
Helpful in areas like event management, log viewing, and information management
The product's initial setup phase on the cloud is pretty easy but on an on-premises version, I think it is of a moderate level. The solution is deployed on the cloud and on an on-premises model. The time required to deploy the solution depends on the customers' infrastructure, and it may range from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, as it depends on how many additional custom configurations are required. Around two to three engineers are usually involved in the tool's installation process.
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ROBERT-CHRISTIAN - PeerSpot reviewer
Has many predefined correlation rules and is brilliant for investigation and log analysis
It is very complicated to write your own correlation rules without the help of Splunk support. What Splunk could do better is to create an API to the standard SIEM tools, such as Microsoft Sentinel. The idea would be to make it less painful. In ELK Stack, Kibana is the query language with which you can search log files. I believe Splunk has also a query language in which they search their log files, but once you have identified the log file that you want to use for further security correlation, you want to very quickly transport that into your SIEM tool, such as Microsoft Sentinel. That is something that Splunk could make a little bit less painful because it is a lot of effort to find that log file and forward it. An API with Microsoft Sentinel or a similar SIEM tool would be a good idea.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It performs network behavior monitoring, log monitoring, and disaster recovery monitoring."
"SolarWinds is easy to configure, and it provides timely alerts."
"It supports high availability, which is very helpful."
"We did previously use a different solution, but SolarWinds is much better. It's easy to interact with SolarWinds. It's easy to operate, easy to configure and is generally easier compared to what we were working with before."
"Some of the rules are most valuable because you can be notified about various things, such as spyware or things that are going on in the internal network."
"This tool is simple to use."
"The product's most effective part in improving security stems from the fact that the solution is deployed for event management, log viewing, and information management."
"The graphical user interface is very user-friendly. SolarWinds is a hybrid solution so you can use it across many platforms."
More SolarWinds Security Event Manager pros
"You can integrate Splunk with third-party security automation solutions and set rules for automatic response."
"It allows us to digest the information, the data, the different data streams, so we can make decisions based upon information that we receive, and it is pretty robust."
"I am satisfied with the support."
"The solution allows easy gathering and ingestion of the data."
"We primarily use it to correlate logs throughout the enterprise for both searching and use in investigations."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"Splunk's strongest suit is its user interface. We can integrate multiple solutions and adjust settings in the Splunk interface."
"The community marketplace is useful; often, you do not need to rely on Splunk Enterprise Security support due to the wealth of online documentation available—Splunk docs are truly beneficial."
More Splunk Enterprise Security pros
 

Cons

"The solution's technical support is okay, but we don't have an SLA, and sometimes the response times are very slow."
"There is no correlation made between log entries, so no threat information is presented."
"The company had to use a third party for the implementation of the solution."
"We'd like more customization capabilities."
"I think the customization area in the tool can be considered as an area of concern where improvements are required."
"SolarWinds should improve its correlation capabilities. The correlation does not automatically detect and reduce the events fast enough. You have to manually do a correlation report, which means the tool is not scalable in many ways."
"It is a very technical program. They can simplify it so that it isn't so hard to deal with."
"I would like to be able to dig deeper into the visibility of events or incidents to determine whether they are malicious, such as by doing behavior analysis."
More SolarWinds Security Event Manager cons
"Splunk could enhance its services by providing more comprehensive professional assistance aimed at optimizing our investment."
"The GUI can be improved. Splunk has always suffered from having a kind of goofy UI, it needs some updating."
"The initial setup is complex, but this is necessary. We needed to take into consideration how to direct log files from thousands of machines to Splunk, and how to ingest those files."
"Data retention can be better. If we want to look at the data for five months or six months, that is not available to us."
"My biggest struggle with Splunk in general is memorizing all the commands. If I want to know which users have logged in between certain hours, I cannot write that query out. It would be helpful to have AI so that I can explain in simple terms what I want and then the search gives that back to me. I am waiting for that."
"Its deployment is difficult. I remember when I first started learning, I faced several challenges, especially when deploying VMware in a virtual environment."
"The threat detection library needs to increase the frequency at which the playbooks are updated."
"One thing that I probably dislike the most about the Splunk product is their support."
More Splunk Enterprise Security cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is available at a good price for customers compared to other solutions in the market. I rate the product's price as an eight out of ten."
"The pricing model would benefit from having package deals with other SolarWinds products."
"The price of SolarWinds Security Event Manager is reasonable."
"It is in the appropriate mid-range. It is not as expensive as some of the other solutions. It is also not cheap."
"We do a yearly license renewal. For a year, the solution costs roughly $500,000 USD. There are no costs beyond this yearly fee."
"Licenses can only be purchased in blocks of fifty at a time."
"Licensing is on devices, so if you have many, then this may be high."
"Splunk Enterprise Security is not at all cost-friendly to be deployed in very small enterprises like start-ups."
"The tool's licensing is good and we haven't received any complaints from the team handling it."
"Splunk Enterprise Security is affordable."
"Pricing and licensing is quite expensive. But for the value the product provides, it seems at par in the market."
"I think that most of the log analytics solutions are expensive and I'm not sure if it's worth it."
"We had a yearly subscription."
"The pricing of Splunk Enterprise Security is high."
"Splunk Enterprise Security incurs a significant cost because of the amount of data we send, but we are fine with the value we're getting for that price."
More Splunk Enterprise Security pricing and cost advice
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Comparison Review

VS
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…
Read full review
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Insurance Company
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?
The solution helps you monitor database instances, application instances, other customer application things, Linux servers, IBM servers, and Oracle servers.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?
The tool is available at a good price for customers compared to other solutions in the market. I rate the product's price as an eight out of ten.
See all answers
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?
I think the customization area in the tool can be considered as an area of concern where improvements are required In the future, I want to see the tool have better customization abilities with som...
See all answers
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...
See all answers
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 ingestion of anything, but the charge per GB/Day Indexed and it gets expensive as log ...
See all answers
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 monitoring information from different sources. Splunk is very good at alerting us if we...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 35% of the time
IBM Security QRadar vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager Logo
IBM Security QRadar vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager
Compared 11% of the time
ManageEngine Log360 vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager Logo
ManageEngine Log360 vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager
Compared 9% of the time
Rapid7 InsightIDR vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager Logo
Rapid7 InsightIDR vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager
Compared 8% of the time
LogRhythm SIEM vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager Logo
LogRhythm SIEM vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager
Compared 7% of the time
More SolarWinds Security Event Manager Competitors
IBM Security QRadar vs Splunk Enterprise Security Logo
IBM Security QRadar vs Splunk Enterprise Security
Compared 8% of the time
Wazuh vs Splunk Enterprise Security Logo
Wazuh vs Splunk Enterprise Security
Compared 7% of the time
Dynatrace vs Splunk Enterprise Security Logo
Dynatrace vs Splunk Enterprise Security
Compared 7% of the time
Datadog vs Splunk Enterprise Security Logo
Datadog vs Splunk Enterprise Security
Compared 5% of the time
Security Onion vs Splunk Enterprise Security Logo
Security Onion vs Splunk Enterprise Security
Compared 4% of the time
More Splunk Enterprise Security Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds Security Event Manager
July 2025
SolarWinds Security Event Manager reportDownload SolarWinds Security Event Manager product report
Buyer's Guide
Splunk Enterprise Security
July 2025
Splunk Enterprise Security reportDownload Splunk Enterprise Security product report
 

Also Known As

SolarWinds LEM, Solarwinds SIEM, TriGeo, Log and Event Manager
No data available
 

Overview

When TriGeo was acquired by SolarWinds, TriGeo SIM became known as SolarWinds Log & Event Manager. This product is a leading Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) product and log management solution, which provides log collection, analysis, and real-time correlation.

SolarWinds

Splunk Enterprise Security is widely used for security operations, including threat detection, incident response, and log monitoring. It centralizes log management, offers security analytics, and ensures compliance, enhancing the overall security posture of organizations.

Companies leverage Splunk Enterprise Security to monitor endpoints, networks, and users, detecting anomalies, brute force attacks, and unauthorized access. They use it for fraud detection, machine learning, and real-time alerts within their SOCs. The platform enhances visibility and correlates data from multiple sources to identify security threats efficiently. Key features include comprehensive dashboards, excellent reporting capabilities, robust log aggregation, and flexible data ingestion. Users appreciate its SIEM capabilities, threat intelligence, risk-based alerting, and correlation searches. Highly scalable and stable, it suits multi-cloud environments, reducing alert volumes and speeding up investigations.

What are the key features?
  • Comprehensive Dashboards: Provide a holistic view of security operations.
  • Flexible Data Ingestion: Supports various data sources for better analysis.
  • Robust Log Aggregation: Centralizes log management for easier monitoring.
  • Machine Learning Toolkit: Enhances threat detection and prediction capabilities.
  • SIEM Capabilities: Integrates security information and event management.
  • Threat Intelligence: Utilizes external information to improve security measures.
  • Risk-Based Alerting: Prioritizes alerts based on the risk they pose.
  • Correlation Searches: Identifies and correlates security events effectively.
What benefits or ROI should users look for?
  • Enhanced Visibility: Improves monitoring across endpoints, networks, and users.
  • Faster Incident Response: Speeds up identification and resolution of security issues.
  • Reduced Alert Volumes: Lowers false positives and enhances signal-to-noise ratio.
  • Scalability: Adapts to growing and changing security needs.
  • Improved Security Operations: Integrates multiple security facets into one platform.

Splunk Enterprise Security is implemented across industries like finance, healthcare, and retail. Financial institutions use it for fraud detection and compliance, while healthcare organizations leverage its capabilities to safeguard patient data. Retailers deploy it to protect customer information and ensure secure transactions.

Splunk
 

Sample Customers

NetSuite, EasyStreet, Legacy Texas Bank, and Energy Federal Credit Union, to name a few.
Splunk has more than 7,000 customers spread across over 90 countries. These customers include Telenor, UniCredit, ideeli, McKenney's, Tesco, and SurveyMonkey.
Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds Security Event Manager vs. Splunk Enterprise Security
July 2025
Free Report: SolarWinds Security Event Manager vs. Splunk Enterprise Security
Find out what your peers are saying about SolarWinds Security Event Manager vs. Splunk Enterprise Security and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
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We monitor all Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.