Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users
Rohit-Patil - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Consultant
Top 20
The excellent threat intelligence and machine learning cut our false positives, and automation saves us a lot of time
Pros and Cons
  • "Sentinel is a SIEM and SOAR tool, so its automation is the best feature; we can reduce human interaction, freeing up our human resources."
  • "The data connectors for third-party tools could be improved, as some aren't available in Sentinel. They need to be available in the data connector panel."

What is our primary use case?

Our two primary uses for the solution are incident management and threat hunting. We use Sentinel and other Microsoft security products for security investigations, threat, team, and incident management purposes. The tool is deployed across multiple departments and locations, with around 8,000 total end users.

We use multiple Microsoft security products, the full Defender suite including Defender for Cloud, Cloud Apps, and Identity, all integrated with Sentinel

Integrating multiple solutions is straightforward; as they are all Microsoft products, it's easy for Sentinel to ingest the logs and data connectors. The process is very simple, and we can configure log sources or data connectors in Sentinel in a couple of clicks.  

How has it helped my organization?

As a next-generation AI-powered SIEM and SOAR tool, Sentinel provides an all-encompassing cyber defense at the cloud scale. The solution's machine learning capabilities make threat hunting and identification rapid across the entire cloud environment.

The solution provides excellent visibility into threats; it's integrated with Microsoft's threat intelligence platform, which forwards information to Sentinel. We have robust threat detection 24/7.   

Sentinel helps us prioritize threats across our enterprise, an essential function that lets us focus on investigating and resolving high-priority incidents first. When the most significant threats are dealt with, we can move on to the medium and low-priority issues.  

The multiple Microsoft solutions work natively together to deliver coordinated detection and response across our environment; they work very well together, and we trust these products to investigate matters further. 

The Microsoft solutions provide comprehensive threat protection across our entire organization.  

Sentinel enables us to ingest data from our entire ecosystem, which is crucial to our security operation. We require the data not just from Microsoft products but also from different firewalls and other security products, including firewall proxies, web proxies, logs, etc. We can quickly integrate multiple data sources in just a few steps. 

The solution's threat intelligence helps prepare us for potential threats before they hit and take proactive steps. Sentinel's intelligent and fast threat detection allows us to respond rapidly to critical and high-priority incidents by leveraging built-in automation and orchestration tools. 

Using Sentinel gives us time savings of 30-40%.  

The solution also decreased our time to detect and respond by 30-40%. 

What is most valuable?

Sentinel is a SIEM and SOAR tool, so its automation is the best feature; we can reduce human interaction, freeing up our human resources.

The built-in AI and machine learning are excellent; they reduce the number of false positives by around 90%.

The centralized threat collection is a valuable feature. 

The solution is cloud-native, so it's faster and easier to deploy as there is no hardware or software to implement.

The product is flexible enough to deploy in the cloud and on-prem, which is an advantage over other SIEM tools.

Sentinel allows us to investigate threats and respond holistically from one place, which is crucial because time management is essential during a security investigation. Having all the relevant data in one place enables security analysts to investigate and resolve quickly.   

The solution's built-in SOAR, UEBA, and threat intelligence capabilities provide comprehensive protection. The SOAR capability is excellent and better than other products on the market, reducing our dependence on security analysts, and IT takes less investigation time. We can leverage the UEBA to focus on risky users and entities first during an investigation, which is an integral part of the process. 

Compared to standalone SIEM and SOAR products, Sentinel reduces infrastructure costs by around 50% due to the cloud and reduced maintenance relative to legacy solutions. Sentinel is also approximately 70% faster to deploy than legacy solutions with the same rules. 

The solution helped to automate routine tasks and the finding of high-value alerts. This reduced our dependency on security analysts and their workloads because the solution reduced false positive alerts by about 90%. This freed up our analysts and is the most significant benefit of automation.  

The product helped eliminate having to look at multiple dashboards and gave us one XDR dashboard, which provides us with greater visibility and a reduced time to investigate and resolve.  

What needs improvement?

The data connectors for third-party tools could be improved, as some aren't available in Sentinel. They need to be available in the data connector panel. 

The solution could have more favorable pricing; the cost is relatively high compared to other SIEM tools, which can be prohibitive for smaller organizations. 

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Sentinel
August 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Sentinel. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using the solution for over a year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sentinel is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good and responsive, but in some cases, it took a long time to resolve our issue.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used IBM QRadar as a SIEM tool and switched because Sentinel is cloud-native and has more comprehensive capabilities, including SOAR capabilities. Sentinel fits our clients' requirements better, as many of them utilize the MS Defender security suite, which gives them a specific grant for free data ingestion. The solution also provides greater visibility.

How was the initial setup?

I wasn't involved in the solution's initial setup, and in terms of maintenance, it's very lightweight; updates are Microsoft's responsibility, so we don't need to do anything.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Sentinel is expensive relative to other products of the class, so it often isn't affordable for small-scale businesses. However, considering the solution has more extensive capabilities than others, the price is not so high. Pricing is based on GBs of ingested daily data, either by a pay-as-you-go or subscription model.

The product saved us money, but actual savings depend on the project size, as the pricing is per GB of ingested data. Our savings are approximately 40-50%. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated various solutions, including LogRhythm SIEM, Splunk, and Sumo Logic Security. We chose Sentinel because it's more advanced, cost-efficient has greater capabilities and fulfills our requirements better than the other products.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Sentinel nine out of ten. 

To a security colleague who says it's better to go with a best-of-breed strategy over a single vendor's security suite, it's better to go with multiple vendors. This provides better visibility and avoids a single point of failure.

My advice to others considering the product is it depends on the project requirements. For larger organizations, I recommend Sentinel, as it's very advanced. However, for smaller-scale industries, Splunk and IBM QRadar are good options. For primarily cloud-based organizations with the majority of users in the cloud, then Sentinel is again an excellent choice.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. MSP
PeerSpot user
Sachin Paul - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Manager, Cyber Security at Mactel
Real User
Top 10
Makes data integration very easy for our SOC
Pros and Cons
  • "The features that stand out are the detection engine and its integration with multiple data sources."
  • "One key area that can be improved is by building a strong integration with our XDR platform."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for our security operations center. We have private and multi-cloud environments.

How has it helped my organization?

It enables data integration within our hybrid, multi-cloud environment, and it makes this data integration very easy for our security operations center.

Sentinel has helped improve our visibility into user and network behavior. It helps in identifying risky users, creating a watch list for specific users and their activities, which is very important.

It has also been saving us time. It's a complete cloud-based solution, so there is no time wasted on setting up servers, infrastructure, et cetera.

It also reduces the work involved in event investigation because it puts together detection logic through detection rules. That helps in automating incident identification.

What is most valuable?

The features that stand out are the 

  • detection engine
  • integration with multiple data sources.

And while it does not give the tools to detect and investigate, it provides
the ability to integrate multiple tools together on the platform. This is very important for us. Sentinel provides very good integration with Microsoft Power Apps and Power Automate. That is a very handy feature.

It provides a good user interface for an operations analyst and makes it easy for an ops analyst to do incident analysis and investigations.

What needs improvement?

One key area that can be improved is by building a strong integration with our XDR platform.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Sentinel for over a year. I'm a product manager, and I do not do hands-on deployment, but I do product definition, platform selection, and product feature definition.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support team is good. They have account managers aligned with our customers. It is a good, scalable model.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We started with Sentinel only. We have had some experience with Splunk, but Sentinel is more mature, flexible, and scalable.

How was the initial setup?

The install or setup time is very small. Without Sentinel, it would usually take 15 to 30 days to set up a SIEM solution in an environment. With Sentinel, it is very easy. A completely production-grade environment can be set up within a week.

Setting up Sentinel is straightforward. Because it is a cloud-based solution, there is no infrastructure deployment involved. Much of the implementation can be done in automated ways. We leverage that automation for implementation. It doesn't require much staff. It is very automated.

It requires maintenance, and that is part of what we cover by providing our customers with managed services.

What about the implementation team?

Our team does the deployment.

What was our ROI?

We have seen ROI.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing cost is available on the Microsoft Azure calculator. It depends on the size of the deployment, the size of the data ingestion. It is consumption-based pricing. It is an affordable solution.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Sentinel
August 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Sentinel. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer2017212 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Engineer at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
The solution prioritizes threats, integrates easily with other Microsoft products, and can be deployed within half an hour
Pros and Cons
  • "We are able to deploy within half an hour and we only require one person to complete the implementation."
  • "The playbook development environment is not as rich as it should be. There are multiple occasions when we face problems while creating the playbook."

What is our primary use case?

Our organization is an SSP, a service provider for manual threat detection and hunting. We use Microsoft Sentinel for threat detection. We have a few clients using Microsoft Sentinel, and we provide SOAR services to them.

How has it helped my organization?

Having the ability to respond holistically from one place with Microsoft Sentinel is very useful. We don't need to log into different security consoles. It is less hectic and reduces our time to respond and resolve the issue.

The solution has helped improve our organization by detecting and hunting threats. The solution also correlates alerts from other solutions, such as Defender, Office 365, and other Endpoint solutions. Microsoft Sentinel has automated responses that help us reduce the number of analysts required for example, from ten to six because most of the tasks are done automatically.

The solution's automation of routine tasks helps us automate the finding of high-value alerts by reducing the manual work from 30 minutes down to three. 90 percent of the work is done by Sentinel which runs the playbook and provides us with all the data required to make a decision quickly.

The solution has helped eliminate the need to use multiple dashboards by incorporating SIEM plus SOAR into one convenient location. We don't need to log into each of the solutions individually. We can directly correlate the alerts and incidents from our Sentinel console. Sentinel reduces our time because we don't need to check multiple tabs for multiple solutions. All the information required to investigate and make a decision can be found in the solution's panel view.

We don't have any out-of-the-box threat intelligence from Microsoft, but with the integration of some open-source solutions and premium sources, Microsoft Sentinel helps us take proactive steps before threats enter our environment.

We have custom rules created to check IPs or domains for potential threats. Whenever an IP or domain is visible in our logs, the solution will automatically correlate with the threat intelligence feed and create an alert. If we skip the correlation portion and an alert has been created for a malicious IP or a malicious domain, the solution can check the reputation in different reputation sources such as a virus portal, or threat recorded future, and it will auto-populate the information for the analyst which helps us prepare for potential threats.

The solution has definitely saved us 90 percent of our time. Microsoft Sentinel reduces our time to detect, respond, and resolve incidents. Most of the incidents are detected automatically and we just need the data to make a decision. We don't have to go look for different clues or reputations over the internet or use other solutions.

Microsoft Sentinel has saved us from incurring costs related to a breach by protecting us.

The solution detects incidents and alerts us in real-time based on custom rules that we create or the out-of-the-box rules that are part of Sentinel. The information that auto-populates when we run the playbook reduces our response time in most cases because all the relevant data required for our investigation is provided on the incident details page.

What is most valuable?

Logic apps, playbooks, and dashboarding are all valuable features of this solution. 

Microsoft Sentinel prioritizes threats across our organization because the solution allows us to correlate using multiple solutions including Defender.

Integrating Microsoft solutions with each other is very easy. The integrated solutions work together to deliver coordinated detection and response in our environment.

The solution enables us to investigate threats and respond holistically from one place. We can write AQL queries and also create rules to detect the alerts. In the event that we don't have rules, we can proactively hunt through KQL queries.

The workbook based on KQL queries, which is the query language is very extensive compared to other solutions such as QRada and Splunk.

The solution requires no in-house maintenance because it is all handled by Microsoft. We only need to monitor the updates.

What needs improvement?

The playbook development environment is not as rich as it should be. There are multiple occasions when we face problems while creating the playbook. 

The cost is not straightforward and would benefit from a single charge model. 

The UI is not impressive, we need to train our analysts to conduct the investigation. Unlike IBM QRadar which has a different UI for searching, there is no UI where we can conduct searches with Sentinel. With Sentinel, all our searches require a KQL query, and if our analysts are not familiar with KQL queries, we have to train them. 

The data ingestion can use improvement. There are a few scenarios where we have experienced a delay in data ingestion.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for one and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sentinel is quite stable because it's a SaaS-based offering, so we don't have to worry about our stability. The solution is available 99.99999 percent of the time. The only time we have an issue is if there is a problem with the Azure portal. Microsoft handles the stability well.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We can scale the solution as much as we want, and with a few clicks, we can increase or decrease capacity.

We currently have four engineering teams that handle the deployments and use case development as well as a SOAR team that consists of ten technical people who all use the solution.

How are customer service and support?

Microsoft Sentinel support is really good. They respond quickly to our requests and they try to resolve our issues as soon as possible. From my experience, Microsoft has the best support.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

For SIEM, we previously used IBM QRadar and Splunk Enterprise Security. For SOAR, We have used IBM Resilient, Palo Alto XSOAR, and D3 SOAR, which is a new tool. D3 SOAR is a startup based in Canada and we used it for POC, but we have not used it in production. Sentinel is a SaaS-based solution. There is less administration required and with a few clicks, we can deploy Microsoft Sentinel, whereas, with other solutions, we have to build everything from scratch. There are other SaaS-based solutions but Sentinel is one of the most popular and because a lot of organizations are already using Microsoft and Azure products, Sentinel is the best compatible solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for Sentinel is straightforward and the best I have worked with to date. We are able to deploy within half an hour and we only require one person to complete the implementation. 

What about the implementation team?

The implementation was completed in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

From a cost perspective, there are some additional charges in addition to the licensing. Initially, the cost appears expensive, but over time, the solution justifies that cost. The cost is not straightforward, but instead really complex. We are charged for data ingestion as well as data leaving the environment. We are also charged for running playbooks and for logic apps. Compared with SIEM solutions, whose cost is simply based on EPS or data storage, Microsoft Sentinel's cost is complex. Over time we can predict what the cost of using the solution will be. Other standalone SOAR tools have fixed licensing and their cost is simple. We don't need to pay for each command we run or each integration we have or each automation we do. With Microsoft Sentinel, there is a cost associated with each of the connectors that we use in our playbook. Every time we run that playbook, there will be charges, but the charges are minimal unless we run the playbook repeatedly, then over time the cost shoots up.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We occasionally test POC and we are still evaluating other solutions.

What other advice do I have?

I give the solution nine out of ten.

My impression of the visibility into threats that Microsoft Sentinel provides is that the solution is not perfect, but since it is part of Microsoft Workspace, Microsoft already provides so many services to clients, and Microsoft Sentinel is one of them. If we are already using Azure and other services from Microsoft, then Sentinel is easy to implement and use compared to other similar solutions. If I was not using Microsoft Solutions, then I can use other solutions, such as IBM QRadar or Splunk, and when it comes to XSOAR, Palo Alto XSOAR is a much better solution.

We use multiple solutions from Microsoft within our organization including Defender and Endpoint. We have integrated Endpoint with Defender and Microsoft Security Center to receive alerts.

Microsoft Sentinel has out-of-the-box support for up to 90 percent of solutions where we can find a connector to ingest the data directly, but for the remaining 10 percent, we need to write custom tables.

The ability to ingest data is the backbone of our security. If we don't ingest the data, we won't be able to perform anything at all in SIEM. SIEM is based on data ingestion. Once the data is ingested, then on top of that data, we can monitor and detect or hunt, whatever we want. We can create a reporting dashboard, but the data needs to be there.

Microsoft Sentinel's UEBA is quite capable. For SIEM, Splunk and IBM QRadar are slightly better than Sentinel, but Sentinel is catching up fast. The solution has only been in the market for two or three years and has already captured a large share with increasing popularity. For SOAR, Palo Alto XSOAR is much better than Microsoft Sentinel because Sentinel is a SIEM plus SOAR solution whereas Palo Alto XSOAR is a SOAR-focused solution only. What Microsoft Sentinel provides is one solution for SIEM plus SOAR, where we can detect and also respond in one place.

Currently, we have one environment based in a US data center, but we have the ability for multiple solutions in multiple regions within Azure, and we can integrate them using a master and slave configuration that will allow us to run all the queries from the master console.

Using a best-of-breed strategy rather than a single vendor suite is fine if we have a SIEM solution, a SOAR solution, or an Endpoint detection solution until a time when they are no longer compatible with each other and we can not integrate them. If we can not integrate the solutions it becomes difficult for our teams to log into and monitor multiple solutions separately.

I definitely recommend Microsoft Sentinel, but I suggest basing the decision on proof of concept by gathering the requirements, security solutions, and additional log source devices an organization has before using the solution. There are multiple solutions available that may be more suitable in some cases.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. MSP
PeerSpot user
Arun-Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Consultant, SIEM Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Consultant
Gives us better security and allows us to capture all the data in a single console, which we can analyze from the cloud
Pros and Cons
  • "The best feature is that onboarding to the SIM solution is quite easy. If you are using cloud-based solutions, it's just a few clicks to migrate it."
  • "If we want to use more features, we have to pay more. There are multiple solutions on the cloud itself, but the pricing model package isn't consistent, which is confusing to clients."

What is our primary use case?

We have multiple use cases based on the data sources we have onboarded, like Sophos UTM or Firewall.

We also use Microsoft Defender for cloud and Microsoft Office.

We have integrated MD with Sentinel to receive alerts. If there are any suspicious activities in any of our resources, MD will create an alert. Once an alert comes through MDC, it is converted to Sentinel.

It was easy to integrate the solutions. It took about two or three clicks. The solutions work natively together, specifically to give us coordinated detection and response across our environment.

There is a correlation with the mail-based algorithm. We have an AML model algorithm in Sentinel. It has the capability to catch the pattern of attacks and shows that to us in the Sentinel app.

How has it helped my organization?

We mostly have cloud-based solutions, so Sentinel gives us better security. There's a feature that allows us to capture all the data in a single console, which we can analyze from the cloud itself.

We don't have to use third-party services to check these activities. If we see that one of our accounts is compromised or anything has happened, we can remove that person from other groups.

There's a feature that allows us to see what is in a secure state and what is in a critical state.

Sentinel helps automate routine tasks and find high-value alerts. We can have a custom playbook and create automation rules through that. If there is a false positive address, we can do the automation from there. If we want an email notification based on high-activated rules, we can provide the automation rules that will notify us on Outlook or through Teams.

It minimizes our analyst's workload. Once a high activity comes up, we'll get a notification on Teams. As analysts, they will validate and send us the email or notification within 10 to 15 minutes with more valid data. If there's a playbook with the top 10 critical rules, we can create multiple playbooks and attach them with the data that we want to protect.

Once that incentive is triggered, we'll get notifications with the full details of that incentive. If high severity comes up, that email is sent to the client, and we do more analysis on that rather than wasting time on the first analysis. We can directly get into the deeper version of the automation.

If an incident comes up, we have to validate the load and find out the correlation of the users. We can focus on the advanced test rather than wasting time on the previous one. This saves five to ten minutes.

On a monthly basis, the analyst team saves at least three to four hours with automation. We have multiple rules based on our more critical test. From that perspective, analysts don't want to work more on low priorities because we'll be automatically notified of low and high priorities. We focus more on critical users where the threat is high. By focusing on what is a high priority, our analysts save five to six hours per week.

We have multiple dashboard views that allow us to see logs coming from different solutions and users who were involved in the previous incident.

What is most valuable?

The best feature is that onboarding to the SIM solution is quite easy. If you use cloud-based solutions, it's just a few clicks to migrate it.

The console is user-friendly. We have almost 120 different types of data, so the solution helps us to onboard different types of third-party services to the SIM solution. We have UB features, and the SOAR capability in the Sentinel server is also a good feature.

Sentinel's visibility into threats is very good. We have an investigation graph that allows us to see the correlation between the incident and the users. We can see if there are multiple incidents with the same IP address and if there are multiple breaches. We can correlate with the rules and check if any inside threat activities are going on with the malicious site or the malicious URL link that we have onboarded. The threat view provides good visibility.

We can prioritize threats based on our investigation assets. It's very fast. We're able to see the rest of the threat activities and how impactful they are. Based on the AML algorithm, we can get all the stages of the attack as well.

Sentinel enables us to ingest data from our entire ecosystem.

The importance of this ingestion of data to our security operations depends on the data and the type of solutions we have to onboard. We onboard our critical servers and assets to the same solution so we'll have good visibility.

We're able to investigate threats and respond holistically from one place.

We can validate the logs from where the logs have been received. By doing the log analysis, we'll be able to find them. It's a straightforward function and isn't very hard.

There's an incident pane in Sentinel. We have a query package, and we can have a deep dive alert through that, or we can have a deep look into the log. From the console itself, we have a great view of our threats and the current phase we're in.

We have multiple source features. There are between 20 to 30 in addition to data. Microsoft provides custom features through which we can connect with third-party solutions and correlate the incident. For example, if we have multiple incidents, we can use the SOAR capabilities and correlate them with multiple third-party threats. It's an easier way of understanding whether or not we have a malicious bug.

We can see how much time our analysts have taken to raise the ticket and how much time they have taken to resolve the issue assets. We can create a dashboard for that. They're able to notify us within five or ten minutes for high priorities. For the medium priorities, it is 10 to 12 minutes. Our detection time for low priorities is within three hours, but our team still performs under 15 to 18 minutes.

What needs improvement?

If we want to use more features, we have to pay more. There are multiple solutions on the cloud itself, but the pricing model package isn't consistent, which is confusing to clients.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for almost two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate technical support a six out of ten. Technical support doesn't understand the features well enough. They will give us links to reference, so we go through those links as a team or Google the solution. We reach out to them if we can't find the solution, but they provide us with the same links and URLs that we've already referred to. It's a hassle because it wastes a week and a half of our time. Their solutions and response time aren't very good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The setup is based on our data sources. We have a segregated timeframe of two payments. It depends on the client or who is doing the operation. Onboarding on the cloud is pretty easy. It takes just a few clicks from migrating the data sources to getting the logs.

For an on-premises or third-party software servicer, it will take more time and troubleshooting to do the setup. It won't be hard if you have a good team for the onboarding process. It can be complicated initially, but the rest of the timeframe will involve fine-tuning the logs and creating the custom rules based on your requirement.

It doesn't require a lot of maintenance. It's pretty simple. We just had to play with it for a couple of months.

What was our ROI?

We haven't seen any financial ROI.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Sentinel is the best solution that we use. It's a pay-as-you-go model. We can fine-tune the features we want and choose if we want to remove logs. We can also segregate logs, which helps us minimize costs. Sentinel provides free Office 365 and Azure-based logs without pricing assets. When it comes to the third-party solution or our server logs, we just have to do the fine-tuning of the logs.

The pricing isn't very high. It depends on the number of logs you have. If you're expecting to ingest 50 to 60G in a day, but you're only ingesting 20 to 25G per day at first and you have a good team to analyze the logs, then you can segregate the ingestion at under 15G.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

It's very user-friendly. The only issue is that Microsoft's technical support isn't very good. If you have a good team who can onboard the resources to the solution, then you'll be happy with the solution itself.

For us, it's better to go for multiple solutions rather than a single suite because we cannot strictly trust one client. If you only have one cloud-based solution, it's better to use Sentinel to secure it. It's helpful to have a good team that can do the monitoring and onboarding smoothly. You can go with one solution if you have a trusted partner. If you don't, then I would use multiple solutions.

You should purchase the features that Microsoft provides. It's a configured network, so they will correlate with the end resources, RMD, and receiver identity. The fusion-based algorithm rule will detect advanced multistage attacks to stop the attack.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Harman Saggu - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 10
Provides valuable alerts and saves investigation time, but can use more connectors
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the alert notifications, which are categorized by severity levels: informational, low, medium, and high."
  • "Microsoft Sentinel should provide an alternative query language to KQL for users who lack KQL expertise."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Sentinel serves as a centralized hub for collecting and analyzing logs from various Microsoft tools and other sources. It eliminates the need to develop custom toolsets for detecting malicious activities across different Microsoft tools. Instead, Microsoft Sentinel provides standardized rules and playbooks to streamline the process of identifying and responding to potential threats.

For instance, consider a scenario where an employee clicks on a phishing link in an email, leading to the installation of malware on their system. While the endpoint detection and response tool on the endpoint might not detect malicious activity, Microsoft Sentinel, acting as a central log collector, receives the EDR logs and triggers an event based on pre-defined rules.

Upon detecting the suspicious activity, Microsoft Sentinel automatically executes a playbook, which may involve actions such as killing the malicious process or isolating the affected endpoint. This automated response helps expedite threat containment and reduces the burden on security analysts.

How has it helped my organization?

It is crucial that Sentinel empowers us to safeguard our hybrid, cloud, and multi-cloud environments. We employ a hybrid cloud setup, and securing our environment using Sentinel is significantly simpler than manual methods. We can gather events in the Central Point and develop playbooks and scripts to automate responses. This streamlines the process and enhances our overall security posture. Additionally, if an alert is triggered, we receive an incident notification via email, prompting us to take action and resolve the issue.

Sentinel provides a library of customizable content to address our company's needs.

Microsoft Sentinel has helped our organization with alerts. We'll receive alerts from Sentinel indicating that we're at risk. It's important to address these alerts promptly. We first need to review the information in the email, and then work on the issue in the office. After that, we'll contact the team members on the relevant shift. There's nothing particularly difficult about this process. It's based on our access privileges, which are determined by our role in the company. If we have a high-level role, we'll have access to all the necessary tools and resources. We'll even be able to receive alerts at home if there's a security issue. The company that provides this technology grants work-from-home access based on security considerations. If someone has a critical role, they'll also be equipped with the tools they need to work remotely and connect with their team members. So, the company that provided the technology can resolve the issue first, and then we can address it. Once we've taken care of the issue, everything will be much easier.

By leveraging Sentinel's AI in conjunction with our playbooks for automation, we can enhance the effectiveness of our security team, subject to the specific rules and policies we implement.

The logs provided by Sentinel have helped improve our visibility into our user's network behavior.

Sentinel has helped us save 60 percent of our time by prioritizing the severity of the alerts we receive. When we receive an alert with a high-risk level, we immediately address it to mitigate the potential security threat. Additionally, we have configured our anti-ransomware software, to further protect our systems from cyberattacks. In the event of a ransomware attack, our Halcyon system will generate an encryption key that can be used to unlock our system. This key is securely stored by Halcyon.

Sentinel has helped reduce our investigation times by enabling us to review an alert, generate a ticket, and resolve the issue simultaneously upon receiving the alert.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the alert notifications, which are categorized by severity levels: informational, low, medium, and high. This allows us to prioritize and address alerts based on their urgency. For instance, we would immediately address high-severity alerts. This feature, along with the ability to create playbooks, significantly enhances our workflow.

What needs improvement?

I would like Microsoft to add more connectors for Sentinel.

Microsoft Sentinel should provide an alternative query language to KQL for users who lack KQL expertise. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Sentinel for one and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Sentinel is a stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Sentinel is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

We have to write playbooks to resolve our issues.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The configuration of Microsoft Sentinel involved a complex process that required thorough familiarity with the available connectors and the policies to be implemented.

What was our ROI?

We have seen a 30 percent return on investment.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Sentinel is costly.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Microsoft Sentinel seven out of ten.

We have five people in our organization who utilize Sentinel.

No maintenance is required from our end.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Jagadeesh Gunasekaran - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber security engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Automation features save time by 75% when working on specific incidents and reduces workload for false positives
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the KQL query. It simplifies getting data from the table and seeing the logs. All you need to know are the table names. It's quite easy to build use cases by using KQL."
  • "The performance could be improved. If I create 15 to 20 lines for a single-use case in KQL, sometimes it takes more time to execute. If I create use cases within a certain timeline, the result will show in .01 seconds. A complex query takes more time to get results."

What is our primary use case?

We use Sentinel to manage data based on data connectors and log sources. We have to build the use cases. I create policies and periodically fine-tune them. There are a lot of cloud applications for that, like Microsoft Active Directory, Office 365, and Microsoft Identity Protection.

For instance, when a privileged account's password is changed frequently, it should trigger an alert and will create an incident. Another use case is the ability to summarize all DB activity.

We also use Defender for Endpoint, and I have experience with Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Identity Protection.

The cloud-native solution covers an entire IT organization. It could be located in China, Russia, Pakistan, or India. It doesn't matter.

This solution is mostly deployed on the cloud. The solution is used across our entire organization. There are more than 1,000 end users.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution increases security. It also reduces complexity because we can monitor everything from a single solution. We can manage a firewall, servers,  connected DOS, etc. Even if it's a third-party application, we can manage it.

The solution helps automate routine tasks and find high-value alerts. For example, we can create analytical rules and build the use cases so that any suspicious incoming traffic is blocked.

The solution has eliminated the need to look at multiple dashboards. Everything is accessible from a single dashboard.

Our team is currently being trained on how to use threat intelligence to help prepare and take proactive steps for potential threats before they hit. If there are any zero-day vulnerabilities, Microsoft will update the platform, so that all of the organizations that use Sentinel will have coverage. 

What is most valuable?

I like the KQL. It simplifies getting data from the table and seeing the logs. All you need to know are the table names. It's quite easy to build use cases by using KQL.

Sentinel provides visibility into threats. It provides anonymous IP and URL detection in our environment. We can easily get the logs.

It helps prioritize threats in the organization. We can build analytic rules. Microsoft Sentinel provides a lot of alternative use cases, but we have to prepare them.

Sentinel enables us to ingest data from our entire ecosystem because it's a cloud-native SIEM. We can integrate everything into Sentinel. In any organization, log management is an important aspect. For auditing and compliance, an organization has to validate the logs.

Sentinel enables us to investigate threats and respond holistically from one place. There's an incident option that allows us to view information about a specific instance, an anomaly, and activities that have happened in the last 24 hours. It will show the specific incident, the host, the time, and what the user is accessing. It shows everything in a single pane, which is very useful.

There's a lot of technical documentation for automation. It's easy to understand. You can build it according to your needs. You can automate playbooks. You can integrate a number of digital platforms into your environment.

What needs improvement?

The performance could be improved. If I create 15 to 20 lines for a single-use case in KQL, sometimes it takes more time to execute. If I create use cases within a certain timeline, the result will show in .01 seconds. A complex query takes more time to get results.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. We haven't experienced any outages so far. There is a failover function. If a region has an outage, there is backup support, which is advertised in the software on SIEM.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate technical support as nine out of ten. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Splunk. We switched because of the cost.

How was the initial setup?

I wasn't involved in deployment. Maintenance isn't needed often.

What was our ROI?

Sentinel saves us time. KQL is fast. The response of the query output is quick compared to other products. We can create a lot of automation in that particular environment, which reduces the workload for a lot of false positives. 

Logic App allows us to create mini-automations. XOR plays a huge role in Microsoft Sentinel. It automates soft operations workloads.

The solution saves us time by 75%. By using automation instead of working on a specific incident for 30 minutes, it takes a maximum of five minutes. 

This solution saves us money. Microsoft offers discounts if you purchase GB per day.

Sentinel decreases the time it takes to detect and the time it takes to respond by 70%.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

In a protected cloud, Microsoft is quite manageable. It allows you to pay as you go. If you're replacing cloud resources, you'll eventually have thousands of virtual machines, but you'll be able to pay for only 500 virtual machines.

The pay-as-you-go model is beneficial to customers.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

My organization tried an open-source platform, but it didn't give a proper output, so we compiled some other solutions. We prefer Microsoft products, so we went with Sentinel. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution as nine out of ten. 

To a security colleague who says it's better to go with a best-of-breed strategy rather than a single-vendor security suite, I would say that if you have a single-bundle security solution, you can cover all of your security needs in an IT organization. It's beneficial for support, makes data visibility clearer, and improves security. I would recommend a single-bundle security solution as a better way to go for deployment.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2700180 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cost Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Signal correlation and dashboards are fantastic but can have more automation
Pros and Cons
  • "The signal correlation and dashboards features of Microsoft Sentinel are fantastic because it correlates the signal logs with other products. The customizable dashboards are also valuable."
  • "The signal correlation and dashboards features of Microsoft Sentinel are fantastic because it correlates the signal logs with other products."
  • "Microsoft Sentinel can be improved in terms of automation or connecting with security products so that it is easier to use for general IT admins."
  • "Microsoft Sentinel can be improved in terms of automation or connecting with security products so that it is easier to use for general IT admins."

What is our primary use case?

We are developing our security signals for Microsoft Sentinel, so we are making a connector for Microsoft Sentinel. We try to use several features.

When using mobile devices, if there is an attacker or malware, the signal goes to the Microsoft Sentinel console from there. Our IT admin looks at those incidents.

The importance of that for our organization is because we are using our mobile devices for work. Mobile devices are not safe enough.

What is most valuable?

I focus on mobile devices while using Microsoft Sentinel. Mainly we want to expand our Identity performers. 

The signal correlation and dashboards features of Microsoft Sentinel are fantastic because it correlates the signal logs with other products. The customizable dashboards are also valuable.

Microsoft Sentinel's ability to correlate data from multiple sources and its detection capabilities are essential.

What needs improvement?

Microsoft Sentinel can be improved in terms of automation or connecting with security products so that it is easier to use for general IT admins.

For how long have I used the solution?

I started using Microsoft Sentinel last June, so it has been about a year.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I was not using any other solutions for this specific task before Microsoft Sentinel. We ultimately chose Microsoft Sentinel because we have partnerships.

What was our ROI?

We have not yet seen a return on investment with Microsoft Sentinel. We expect to see a return on investment this year. 

What other advice do I have?

We try to use the security incidents feature in Microsoft Sentinel, but I have not seen the actual incident yet. I could not find good use cases. My experience with the collaboration capabilities of Microsoft Sentinel is limited, as I am still getting used to it.

I would rate Microsoft Sentinel a seven out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Flag as inappropriate
PeerSpot user
Nagendra Nekkala - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager ICT & Innovations at Bangalore International Airport Limited
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Provides a unified set of tools to detect, investigate, and respond to incidents and enables proactive threat hunting
Pros and Cons
  • "The product can integrate with any device."
  • "The AI capabilities must be improved."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution to ensure proper security analytics and threat intelligence across the enterprise. The tool helps me to know the type of attack detection that happens and the kind of visibility, proactive hunting, and threat response we have.

How has it helped my organization?

We use the tool because we want a solution that can quickly analyze large volumes of data across the enterprise. Microsoft Sentinel is a one-stop solution for all our security needs. It gives threat visibility, enables proactive hunting, and provides investigation reports.

What is most valuable?

The product can integrate with any device. It has connectors. So, we do not have big issues in building connectors. Microsoft Sentinel gives us a unified set of tools to detect, investigate, and respond to incidents. It also helps us recover things. It is very important to our organization. It centralizes our total threat collection and detection and generates investigation reports.

What needs improvement?

The AI capabilities must be improved. The product must efficiently leverage the AI capabilities for threat detection and response. The product does not provide auto-configuration features. So, we need to do configuration, policy changes, and group policies ourselves. If AI can do these functions, it will be easier for the customers.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have around 1500 users. We have only one administrator. The product is easily scalable. As long as the enterprise grows, we will continue using Microsoft Sentinel.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support team is very good.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using Splunk before. We decided to switch to Microsoft Sentinel because we were unable to work on large data using Splunk. Splunk did not have AI capabilities and was not user-friendly.

How was the initial setup?

The product is deployed on the cloud. It is a SaaS solution. The initial deployment was easy. We ensured that all the devices and the APIs were configured well. We needed two engineers from our team for the deployment. We have deployed the tool in a single location. The solution does not need any maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

We took help from an integrator to deploy the tool. It was a user-friendly experience.

What was our ROI?

The solution is efficient. We could see the returns on investment immediately. It doesn’t take much time.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is costly compared to Splunk. When we pay for the product, we also have Azure Monitor Log Analytics as part of the package. It is economical for us.

What other advice do I have?

We use the tool to help secure our cloud-native security solutions. By enabling us to secure our cloud environments, it acts as a single solution for attack detection and threat visibility for proactive hunting. The solution gives us a library of customizable content that helps us address our unique needs. It also gives regular patch updates. It helps us to be updated with the latest threats happening across the world.

We use the Microsoft Sentinel Content hub. Integration with Active Directory is also helpful for us. The content hub enables us to see the latest features. We have Extended Detection and Response in SentinelOne. It provides effective protection for the platform. It provides more cybersecurity by providing more visibility and protects our enterprise.

The content hub helps us centralize out-of-the-box security information and event management content. It discovers and manages the built-in content. It provides an end-to-end security for us.

Microsoft Sentinel correlates signals from first and third-party sources into a single high-confidence incident. It can extract the information through the respective APIs of the third parties. It has increased our threat intelligence, monitoring, and incident analysis efficiency.

We use Microsoft Sentinel's AI in automation. The generative AI features enable real-time threat hunting and detection. The solution has helped improve our visibility into user and network behavior. The generative AI provides better detection and response capabilities and faster response times with actionable intelligence.

The product has saved us time. It helps us get various log files. When there’s an incident, it enables us to do investigations faster. The tool saves us three days in a week. It reduces the work involved in our event investigation by streamlining the processes and making automation effective. Event investigation is much faster.

If someone is looking for a comprehensive solution, Microsoft Sentinel is a good choice. It will fulfill all our needs, including attack detection, threat visibility, and response.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Sentinel Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: August 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Sentinel Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.