IBM Security QRadar vs LogRhythm SIEM comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Jul 12, 2023

We performed a comparison between IBM Security QRadar and LogRhythm SIEM based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Features: IBM Security QRadar users say the solution provides extensive information and helpful leads for locating pertinent data. Users praised LogRhythm SIEM for its user-friendly centralized dashboard, strong integration capabilities, and event-filtering capabilities. QRadar stands out with its comprehensive network visibility and strong SIEM capabilities. IBM Security QRadar could improve its rule deployment and lower its false positive rate. Users would also like expanded storage capacity, streamlined user management, and a more mature architecture. LogRhythm users requested expanded log storage, better load balancing, and streamlined search capabilities.

  • Service and Support: Some customers of IBM Security QRadar have had trouble connecting with knowledgeable support staff and experienced delayed responses. LogRhythm SIEM was generally praised for its helpful and knowledgeable support, although there have been occasional delays and knowledge problems.

  • Ease of Deployment: IBM Security QRadar's initial setup can be complex for users without expertise, and the difficulty may vary depending on the size of the data set. Small or medium-sized companies generally find LogRhythm SIEM's setup to be straightforward. However, it is more time-consuming and complex for enterprise deployments involving multiple components or vendors, and users often require assistance from professional services or LogRhythm-certified engineers.

  • Pricing: IBM Security QRadar can be costly because users need to buy new hardware to upgrade. LogRhythm SIEM’s license typically includes all elements. However, enterprise customers may encounter complexities related to additional features and add-ons.

  • ROI: IBM Security QRadar delivers a high return on investment, improving security through its advanced user behavior analytics. LogRhythm SIEM has proven to be highly valuable, delivering a significant ROI by reducing the mean time to detect and respond.

Comparison Results: Our users prefer LogRhythm SIEM over IBM QRadar. Users value LogRhythm SIEM for its seamless integration, effective log correlation, and efficient event filtering. LogRhythm SIEM yields a solid return on investment and offers stellar customer service. Customers find LogRhythm SIEM's pricing and licensing competitive, making it a more affordable option for those with budget constraints.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Security QRadar vs. LogRhythm SIEM Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The main benefit is the ease of integration.""Azure Application Gateway makes things a lot easier. You can create dashboards, alert rules, hunting and custom queries, and functions with it.""The part that was very unexpected was Sentinel's ability to integrate with Azure Lighthouse, which, as a managed services solution provider, gives us the ability to also manage our customers' Sentinel environments or Sentinel workspaces. It is a big plus for us. With its integration with Lighthouse, we get the ability to monitor multiple workspaces from one portal. A lot of the Microsoft Sentinel workbooks already integrate with that capability, and we save countless amounts of money by simply being able to almost immediately realize multitenant capabilities. That alone is a big plus for us.""The AI capability is one of the main features of the solution because I believe that in the market, there are few solutions that are providing security solutions based on AI and machine learning.""The initial setup is very simple and straightforward.""We didn't have anything similar. So, it really provides value from the incidents and automation point of view. The overview of the security fabric is most valuable.""Sentinel is a Microsoft product, so they provide very robust use cases and analytic groups, which are very beneficial for the security team. I also like the ability to integrate data sources into the software for on-premise and cloud-based solutions.""Another area where it is helping us is in creating a single dashboard for our environment. We can collect all the logs into a log analytics workset and run queries on top of it. We get all the results in the dashboard. Even a layman can understand this stuff. The way Microsoft presents it is really incredible."

More Microsoft Sentinel Pros →

"The simplicity of the solution is the best feature.""The support is very good. We get support whenever we need it. Sometimes they respond immediately and sometimes it will be within 24 hours. We can ask them to please do it right away and they can get a request done within an hour or two.""The flexibility is good in terms of pulling log files.""The most valuable thing about QRadar is that you have a single window into your network, SIEM, network flows, and risk management of your assets. If you use Splunk, for instance, then you still need a full packet capture solution, whereas the full packet capture solution is integrated within QRadar. Its application ecosystem makes it very powerful in terms of doing analysis.""I like the graphical interface. It's so good and easy.""It has a powerful GUI where you can put together your use cases, and don't have to write your own scripts.""IBM QRadar is easy to scale, it doesn't affect the environment. In our office, we have around 40 - 50 users, but our clients have more users on their networks. Our organization has staff in the software department that manages IBM QRadar for us.""We have the abilities to monitor each instance which originates on the process along with the performance of each department."

More IBM Security QRadar Pros →

"The most valuable feature is that we can alternate incident automations.""The ability for me to go into the Web UI, and just learn what's going on in my environment.""We integrated Azure logs with it and that makes it simpler. Rather than having to log into the portal, we can just check everything in one place. We can compare those to our Windows and host logs to see if any problems correlate between them.""Even other products we have that feed into it, instead of having to watch all of them we only have to watch one. For example, we have CrowdStrike, so instead of having to pay attention that solution - because their dashboard doesn't really pop when an alarm comes up - we can see issues with the red on the LogRhythm alarm. That is very nice.""Overall effectiveness is very good. I like how it is oriented to both analysts and technical support people. It's easily adopted by end users as much as by technologists.""It supports most standard log sources.""It has allowed us to dive deeper into our network and figure out what is going on by parsing logs properly and being able to reduce the time it takes to work cases down from seven days to approximately two days.""The correlation engine is extremely valuable because it uses machine learning to process information from the central manager and identifies issues in the network."

More LogRhythm SIEM Pros →

Cons
"The only thing is sometimes you can have a false positive.""Sentinel can be used in two ways. With other tools like QRadar, I don't need to run queries. Using Sentinel requires users to learn KQL to run technical queries and check things. If they don't know KQL, they can't fully utilize the solution.""If their UI was a bit more streamlined and easy to find when I need it, then that would be a great 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.""The troubleshooting has room for improvement.""They could use some kind of workbook. There is some limitation doing the editing and creating the workbook.""There is a wider thing called Jupyter Notebooks, which is around the automation side of things. It would be good if there are playbooks that you can utilize without having to have the developer experience to do it in-house. Microsoft could provide more playbooks or more Jupyter Notebooks around MITRE ATT&CK Framework.""The solution should allow for a streamlined CI/CD procedure."

More Microsoft Sentinel Cons →

"The API integration for AD is a problem when it comes to vulnerability management. If you want to incorporate multiple factor authentication it becomes a problem with the AD. It doesn't integrate well. That needs to be improved.""There are areas in IBM Security QRadar that could benefit from improvement. Its ability to customize knowledge for specific purposes could be enhanced. Also, it lacks clarity in presenting details. It is also difficult to see the reports.""What needs to be improved in IBM QRadar User Behavior Analytics is the user experience. It's not optimal. Some screens are a bit clunky. The solution needs to be more user-friendly.""The product needs to improve its GUI.""IBM QRadar has a margin for development, for out-of-the-box use cases. It can be enhanced with better support and automate the use cases for that.""They should introduce some automation into the product.""The weak signal detection with QRadar needs improvement. You can detect what you know, but what is unknown to the rule engine can't be detected.""Some of the cloud apps need improvement."

More IBM Security QRadar Cons →

"My biggest issue - I know that they say they're doing it - is that the API-building is extremely important. They keep saying it's coming, it's coming. It's not coming fast enough. I don't care if they need to double their team size to get it out there quicker, the world is already in the cloud and we can't monitor it. That's a big problem for us. My boss keeps coming to me about it. That's an issue.""Their ticketing system for managing cases can be improved. They can either do that or adopt some of the open-source ticket systems into theirs. The current system works and gets the job done, but it is very bare-bones and basic. There are some things that could be improved there. They should also bring in more threat intelligence into the product and also probably start to look into the integration of more cloud or SAS products for ingesting logs. They're doing the work, but with the explosion of COVID, a lot of businesses have started to move towards more cloud applications or SAS applications. There is a whole diverse suite of SAS products out there, which is a challenge for them and I get it. They seem to be focusing on the big ones, but it'll be nice to be able to, for example, pull in Microsoft logs from Office 365. They are working towards a better way of doing that, and they have a product in the pipeline to pull logs in from other SAS applications. The biggest thing for them is going to be moving away from a Windows Server infrastructure into a straight-up Linux, which is more stable in my eyes. For the backend, they can maybe move into more of an up-to-date Elastic search engine and use less of Microsoft products.""We need to get better training for things like creating code and playlists. The way it's done now takes a long time.""We've had issues with scaling and local support.""It's not easy for someone new to the solution.""Move it to Linux. I would like to see it get off the SQL Server.""I have Windows administrators who will remove the agent when they think that that's what's fouling up their upgrade or their install or their reconfiguration, etc. The first thing they do is to turn off the antivirus, turn down the firewall, and take off anything else. They don't realize that the LogRhythm agent is just sitting there monitoring. Most antivirus products have application protection features built-in where, if I'm an admin on a box, I can't uninstall antivirus. I need to have to the antivirus admin password to do that.""The solution is likely not the best option for a smaller organization."

More LogRhythm SIEM Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It comes with a Microsoft subscription which the customer has, so they don't have to invest somewhere else."
  • "It is a consumption-based license model. bands at 100, 200, 400 GB per day etc. Azure Sentinel Pricing | Microsoft Azure"
  • "Good monthly operational cost model for the detection and response outcomes delivered, M365 logs don't count toward the limits which is a good benefit."
  • "I have had mixed feedback. At one point, I heard a client say that it sometimes seems more expensive. Most of the clients are on Office 365 or M365, and they are forced to take Azure SIEM because of the integration."
  • "It is kind of like a sliding scale. There are different tiers of pricing that go from $100 per day up to $3,500 per day. So, it just kind of depends on how much data is being stored. There can be additional costs to the standard license other than the additional data. It just kind of depends on what other services you're spinning up in Azure, or if you're using something like Azure log analytics."
  • "I am just paying for the log space with Azure Sentinel. It costs us about $2,000 a month. Most of the logs are free. We are only paying money for Azure Firewall logs because email logs or Azure AD logs are free to use for us."
  • "Sentinel is a bit expensive. If you can figure a way of configuring it to meet your needs, then you can find a way around the cost."
  • "Azure Sentinel is very costly, or at least it appears to be very costly. The costs vary based on your ingestion and your retention charges."
  • More Microsoft Sentinel Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "found other solutions, with more features at the same cost or less. You don’t have to leave the Gartner Magic Quadrant to beat their price."
  • "Most of the time, it is easier and cheaper to buy a new product or the QRadar box."
  • "IBM's Qradar is not for small companie. Unfortunately, it would be 'overkill' to place it plainly. The pricing would be too much."
  • "IBM's Qradar is not for small companie. Unfortunately, it would be 'overkill' to place it plainly. The pricing would be too much."
  • "Go through a vulnerability assessment review for price breaks. A virtualized solution will also cut down on cost."
  • "It is expensive. It is not a product that I can provide for SMBs. It is a program that I can only provide for really large enterprises."
  • "The maintenance costs are high."
  • "Pricing (based on EPS) will be more accurate."
  • More IBM Security QRadar Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Look closely at the cost of licensing of other products. This should include setups and the need for support services. I did a RFQ to 2 other vendors before choosing this product."
  • "If you don't have your staff, absolutely look into the co-pilot and factor that into your cost evaluation."
  • "I would recommend that whatever sales quotes to them upfront, they will probably go up. Because they are probably going to outgrow that very quickly or once they start getting everything into it, they are going to have to move up anyway."
  • "Look for whatever will give you the most value. That's the main point. It is not one size fits all."
  • "I would recommend talking to the rep. That's the biggest thing because they will know what questions to ask."
  • "In comparison to the competition, they are more affordable. This allows us to do more with less."
  • "The solution has provided us with consistency and increased staff productivity through orchestrated automated work flows by at least 20 percent."
  • "I have seen a measurable decrease in the mean time to detect and respond to threats. We went from not detecting them to detecting them. We can actually pick up what is anomalous in our network now."
  • More LogRhythm SIEM Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Vinod Shankar
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Yes, Azure Sentinel is a SIEM on the Cloud. Multiple data sources can be uploaded and analyzed with Azure Sentinel and… more »
    Top Answer:It would really depend on (1) which logs you need to ingest and (2) what are your use cases Splunk is easy for… more »
    Top Answer:We like that Azure Sentinel does not require as much maintenance as legacy SIEMs that are on-premises. Azure Sentinel is… more »
    Top Answer:It mostly depends on your use-cases and environment. Exabeam and Securonix have a stronger UEBA feature set, friendlier… more »
    Top Answer:For tools I’d recommend:  -SIEM- LogRhythm -SOAR- Palo Alto XSOAR Doing commercial w/o both (or at least an XDR) is… more »
    Top Answer:The event collector, flow collector, PCAP and SOAR are valuable.
    Top Answer:Rony, Daniel's answer is right on the money.  There are many solutions for each in the market, a lot depends upon your… more »
    Top Answer:LogRhythm does a very good job of helping SOCs manage their workflows.
    Top Answer:LogRhythm's pricing and licensing are extremely competitive and it's one of the top three reasons we continue to invest… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Azure Sentinel
    IBM QRadar, QRadar SIEM, QRadar UBA, QRadar on Cloud, QRadar, IBM QRadar User Behavior Analytics, IBM QRadar Advisor with Watson
    LogRhythm NextGen SIEM, LogRhythm, LogRhythm Threat Lifecycle Management, LogRhythm TLM
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Sentinel is a scalable, cloud-native, security information event management (SIEM) and security orchestration automated response (SOAR) solution that lets you see and stop threats before they cause harm. Microsoft Sentinel delivers intelligent security analytics and threat intelligence across the enterprise, providing a single solution for alert detection, threat visibility, proactive hunting, and threat response. Eliminate security infrastructure setup and maintenance, and elastically scale to meet your security needs—while reducing IT costs. With Microsoft Sentinel, you can:

    - Collect data at cloud scale—across all users, devices, applications, and infrastructure, both on-premises and in multiple clouds

    - Detect previously uncovered threats and minimize false positives using analytics and unparalleled threat intelligence from Microsoft

    - Investigate threats with AI and hunt suspicious activities at scale, tapping into decades of cybersecurity work at Microsoft

    - Respond to incidents rapidly with built-in orchestration and automation of common tasks

    To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

    IBM Security QRadar is a security and analytics platform designed to defend against threats and scale security operations. This is done through integrated visibility, investigation, detection, and response. QRadar empowers security groups with actionable insights into high-priority threats by providing visibility into enterprise security data. Through centralized visibility, security teams and analysts can determine their security stance, which areas pose a potential threat, and which areas are critical. This will help streamline workflows by eliminating the need to pivot between tools.

    IBM Security QRadar is built to address a wide range of security issues and can be easily scaled with minimal customization effort required. As data is ingested, QRadar administers automated, real-time security intelligence to swiftly and precisely discover and prioritize threats. The platform will issue alerts with actionable, rich context into developing threats. Security teams and analysts can then rapidly respond to minimize the attackers' strike. The solution will provide a complete view of activity in both cloud-based and on-premise environments as a large amount of data is ingested throughout the enterprise. Additionally, QRadar’s anomaly detection intelligence enables security teams to identify any user behavior changes that could be indicators of potential threats. 

    IBM QRadar Log Manager

    To better help organizations protect themselves against potential security threats, attacks, and breaches, IBM QRadar Log Manager gathers, analyzes, preserves, and reports on security log events using QRadar Sense Analytics. All operating systems and applications, servers, devices, and applications are converted into searchable and actionable intelligent data. QRadar Log Manager then helps organizations meet compliance reporting and monitoring requirements, which can be further upgraded to QRadar SIEM for a more superior level of threat protection.

    Some of QRadar Log Manager’s key features include:

    • Data processing and capture on any security event
    • Disaster recovery options and high availability 
    • Scalability for large enterprises
    • SoftLayer cloud installation capability
    • Advanced threat protection

    Reviews from Real Users

    IBM Security QRadar is a solution of choice among users because it provides a complete solution for security teams by integrating network analysis, log management, user behavior analytics, threat intelligence, and AI-powered investigations into a single solution. Users particularly like having a single window into their network and its ability to be used for larger enterprises.

    Simon T., a cyber security services operations manager at an aerospace/defense firm, notes, "The most valuable thing about QRadar is that you have a single window into your network, SIEM, network flows, and risk management of your assets. If you use Splunk, for instance, then you still need a full packet capture solution, whereas the full packet capture solution is integrated within QRadar. Its application ecosystem makes it very powerful in terms of doing analysis."

    A management executive at a security firm says, "What we like about QRadar and the models that IBM has, is it can go from a small-to-medium enterprise to a larger organization, and it gives you the same value."

    LogRhythm SIEM Platform is an award-winning platform in security analytics. With more than 4,000 customers globally, LogRhythm SIEM is an integrated platform that helps security operations teams protect critical infrastructure and information from emerging cyberthreats. Ultimately, LogRhythm SIEM is an integrated set of modules that contribute to the security team’s fundamental mission: rapid threat monitoring, threat detection, threat investigation, and threat neutralization. LogRhythm SIEM is for organizations that require an on-premises solution and offers:

    ● Streamlined workflow

    ● Secure data access

    ● Real-time visibility

    ● A unified user experience

    ● Management customization

    Security information and event management (SIEM) solutions have been evolving for over a decade; their core functionality still acts as the most effective foundation for any organization’s technology stack. A SIEM solution enables an organization to centrally collect data across its entire network environment to gain real-time visibility into activity that may pose a risk to the organization. SIEM technology addresses threats before they become significant financial risks while simultaneously helping better manage an organization’s assets.

    LogRhythm SIEM has many key features and capabilities, including:

    High-Performance Log Management: LogRhythm SIEM offers structured and unstructured search capabilities which allows users to swiftly search across an organization’s vast data to easily find answers, identify IT and security issues, and troubleshoot issues. Users can efficiently process and index terabytes of log data daily.

    Network and Endpoint Monitoring: Forensic sensors allow users to gain deep visibility into endpoint and network activity. Users can see behavioral anomalies and better respond to incidents.

    SmartResponse™ Automation: LogRhythm SIEM allows users to centrally execute pre-staged actions that automate incident investigatory tasks and responses.

    Automated Machine Analytics: LogRhythm SIEM's AI Engine continuously analyzes all collected security incidents and forensic data. Security teams are delivered precise, real-time intelligence about risk-prioritized threats.

    Case and Security Incident Management: LogRhythm SIEM offers an integrated workflow so that threats don’t slip through the cracks. Collaboration tools help centrally manage and track investigations.

    User and entity behavior analytics (UEBA): Embedded deterministic UEBA monitoring helps protect against insider threats.

    Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR): LogRhythm SIEM includes our embedded SOAR solution to increase efficiency and higher-quality incident response with low mean time to response (MTTR).

    Benefits to Using LogRhythm SIEM

    The platform offers great value to security and IT operations. Users have the ability to map their security and IT operations to existing frameworks such as NIST and MITRE ATT&CK.

    ● The platform offers broad integration across security and IT vendors: Users benefit from support for integration with hundreds of security and IT solutions. In turn, this further extends SIEM capabilities and data collection.

    ● The platform provides compliance adherence, enforcement, and reporting: The prebuilt compliance modules automatically detect violations as they occur and remove the burden of manually reviewing audit logs.

    Reviews from Real Users

    LogRhythm SIEM stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to be customized and its quick performance of queries.

    Jason G., a senior cybersecurity engineer, writes, "I have found the Advanced Intelligence Engine has provided the most value to us because we can customize alarms based on our requirements and have created hundreds of alarms that notify different people for different scenarios."

    Andy W., principal consultant at ITSEC Asia, notes, “LogRhythm SIEM covers all our primary security analysis needs. It makes it easier for us to analyze threats and improves our response times. It's a versatile platform that performs queries fast compared to other SIEM solutions.”

    Offer
    Learn more about Microsoft Sentinel
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    IBM Security QRadar is a security and analytics platform designed to defend against threats and scale security operations.

    Learn more about LogRhythm SIEM
    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Sentinel is trusted by companies of all sizes including ABM, ASOS, Uniper, First West Credit Union, Avanade, and more.
    Clients across multiple industries, such as energy, financial, retail, healthcare, government, communications, and education use QRadar.
    Macy's, NASA, Fujitsu, US Air Force, EY, Abbott, HD Supply, SAB Miller, UCLA, Raytheon, Amtrak, Cargill
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm22%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm23%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Security Firm6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization18%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Government6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm26%
    Healthcare Company11%
    Energy/Utilities Company9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization37%
    Computer Software Company9%
    Government6%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise47%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise59%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business39%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise45%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise29%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise23%
    Large Enterprise54%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise45%
    Large Enterprise37%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM Security QRadar vs. LogRhythm SIEM
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security QRadar vs. LogRhythm SIEM and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM Security QRadar is ranked 6th in Log Management with 197 reviews while LogRhythm SIEM is ranked 8th in Log Management with 166 reviews. IBM Security QRadar is rated 8.0, while LogRhythm SIEM is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of IBM Security QRadar writes "A highly stable and scalable solution that provides good technical support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of LogRhythm SIEM writes "The solution reduced our investigation time from days to hours and assists in managing our workflows". IBM Security QRadar is most compared with Splunk Enterprise Security, Wazuh, Elastic Security, Fortinet FortiSIEM and ArcSight Logger, whereas LogRhythm SIEM is most compared with Splunk Enterprise Security, Wazuh, Fortinet FortiSIEM, LogRhythm Axon and Elastic Security. See our IBM Security QRadar vs. LogRhythm SIEM report.

    See our list of best Log Management vendors and best Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) vendors.

    We monitor all Log Management 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.