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IBM Security QRadar pros and cons

Vendor: IBM

4.0 out of 5

219 reviews
90% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

IBM Security QRadar is known for its scalability and impressive integration capabilities, enhancing functionality and adaptability. Its User Behavior Analytics and correlation rules improve threat detection and response times. The advanced automation and AI/ML features benefit risk management processes. However, it requires better technical support and ease of customization. Complexity in setup and high pricing also pose challenges, along with the need for improved third-party integration.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM Security QRadar excels in scalability, efficiently managing large-scale deployments while maintaining performance.

The integration capabilities of IBM Security QRadar with other systems are impressive, enhancing its functionality and adaptability.

IBM Security QRadar's User Behavior Analytics feature is highly valued for monitoring and analyzing user activities effectively.

The correlation and detection rules in IBM Security QRadar provide outstanding threat detection, improving incident response times.

IBM Security QRadar's advanced automation and AI/ML features significantly enhance threat detection and risk management processes.

CONS

IBM Security QRadar requires improvement in technical support as the response time is slow and finding the right support is challenging.

There are concerns about the complexity of IBM Security QRadar, particularly in its architecture and initial setup.

Customization and implementation for IBM Security QRadar are difficult, with issues in rule/event tuning and integration with various applications.

There is a need for better integration and ease of use in IBM Security QRadar with third-party solutions and other vendors.

The pricing model for IBM Security QRadar is considered high compared to competitors, requiring attention to cost-effectiveness.

IBM Security QRadar Pros review quotes

Security Consultant at Dimension Data

Apr 10, 2017

The most valuable features are all the implementations, the plug-ins, and the User Behavior Analytics (UBA).

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Network Security Engineer at a wellness & fitness company with 10,001+ employees

Jun 29, 2018

It is the core of our entire SOX.

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SO

Sebastian Osterc

Member at CIFAL Argentina

Jun 28, 2018

The scalability is awesome, because QRadar includes other solutions in the same console.

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IBM Security QRadar

Free Report: IBM Security QRadar Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM Security QRadar. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.

880,315 professionals have used our research since 2012.

DC

Douglas Concepcion

Security Solutions Architect at Micro Strategies

Jun 30, 2018

It showed us where weaknesses were in our environment, so we could actively target those patches first.

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Sr SIEM Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 29, 2018

Network-Based Anomaly Detection (NBAD): Using NetFlow, JFlow, SFlow, or QFlow (all 7 layers), offenses are detected as a response when a rule is triggered.

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Security Operations Center Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Mar 27, 2017

Search capabilities are sufficient for most tasks.

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JS

Jamal Uddin Shaikh

Cybersecurity Architecture and Technology Lead at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Aug 11, 2020

Providing real-time visibility for threat detection and prioritization - QRadar SIEM provides contextual and actionable surveillance across the entire IT infrastructure.

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Information Security Analyst at a transportation company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Apr 5, 2017

The pre-canned rules and reports in this product are a huge plus.

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WP

Vulnerability Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jul 4, 2017

The threat protection network is the most valuable feature, because when you get an offense, you can actually trace it back to where it originated from, how it originated, and why.

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Solution Architect with 201-500 employees

Jan 20, 2018

Improved our organization's TCO.

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Show 10 more reviews (out of 177)

IBM Security QRadar Cons review quotes

Security Consultant at Dimension Data

Apr 10, 2017

Maybe there should be more custom rules in the exchange. Basically, we are using a lot of threat rules, so maybe they'll develop something like that.

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Network Security Engineer at a wellness & fitness company with 10,001+ employees

Jun 29, 2018

The technical support is poor. Mostly because when I open a PMR for IBM, I am stuck with Level 1 staff. As an engineer, nothing that I am bringing them does not require Level 2 or Level 3 support.

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SO

Sebastian Osterc

Member at CIFAL Argentina

Jun 28, 2018

The user interface needs improvement.

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IBM Security QRadar

Free Report: IBM Security QRadar Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM Security QRadar. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.

880,315 professionals have used our research since 2012.

DC

Douglas Concepcion

Security Solutions Architect at Micro Strategies

Jun 30, 2018

Do your research before implementing it, because it is tough to implement.

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Sr SIEM Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jan 29, 2018

Some UI enhancements would be nice, such as exporting custom event properties and the ability to export rules.

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Security Operations Center Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Mar 27, 2017

Search capability and indexing still lag behind competitors. We also need to see improved rule based access controls and rule/event tuning.

Read full review

JS

Jamal Uddin Shaikh

Cybersecurity Architecture and Technology Lead at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Aug 11, 2020

AI is superb but need improvements.

Read full review

Information Security Analyst at a transportation company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Apr 5, 2017

QVM is another instance where they need to revise the vulnerability scoring and the proper remediation details.

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WP

Vulnerability Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jul 4, 2017

I would like to see a more user-friendly product.

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Solution Architect with 201-500 employees

Jan 20, 2018

GUI needs to be improved.

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Show 10 more reviews (out of 177)

Product Categories

Product Categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)

Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)

Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)

Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

CrowdStrike Falcon vs IBM Security QRadar

Wazuh vs IBM Security QRadar

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs IBM Security QRadar

Datadog vs IBM Security QRadar

Dynatrace vs IBM Security QRadar

Splunk Enterprise Security vs IBM Security QRadar

Fortinet FortiEDR vs IBM Security QRadar

Darktrace vs IBM Security QRadar

Microsoft Sentinel vs IBM Security QRadar

SentinelOne Singularity Complete vs IBM Security QRadar

HP Wolf Security vs IBM Security QRadar

Cortex XDR by Palo Alto Networks vs IBM Security QRadar

Microsoft Defender XDR vs IBM Security QRadar

Cribl vs IBM Security QRadar

Elastic Security vs IBM Security QRadar

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