ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) vs Splunk Enterprise Security comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
Microsoft Logo
31,886 views|17,713 comparisons
92% willing to recommend
Splunk Logo
24,689 views|20,244 comparisons
92% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Sep 21, 2023

We compared Splunk Enterprise Security and ArcSight ESM across several parameters based on our users' reviews. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below:

  • Features: Splunk Enterprise Security stands out for its efficiency, extensive integration options, and powerful search functionality. Users say Splunk is a highly scalable and customizable solution. ArcSight ESM is praised for its well-designed dashboard, real-time reporting, and threat intelligence capabilities that leverage AI and correlation tools. 

  • Room for Improvement: Splunk users recommended improvements in AI capabilities, user-friendliness, and analytics. ArcSight ESM users have recommended improvements in training, speed, and data administration.

  • Service and Support: While some users found Splunk support to be responsive and helpful, others reported slow response times and a lack of expertise. Some ArcSight ESM users have found the support to be responsive and helpful, while others have faced issues with slow response times and a lack of expertise.

  • Ease of Deployment: Some users thought Splunk Enterprise Security was easy to deploy, while others found it challenging and needed assistance from Splunk engineers or third-party integrators. Some said that ArcSight ESM is straightforward to set up, while others noted that integration with other systems can be challenging and requires specialized knowledge.

  • Pricing: Some users consider Splunk Enterprise Security to be expensive, but others said the price is reasonable. A few users expressed concerns about the cost of scaling up the solution and managing large volumes of data. Users consider the pricing of ArcSight ESM to be reasonable and affordable.

  • ROI: Users said that it’s challenging to calculate an ROI for Splunk Enterprise Security, and the return varies depending on individual circumstances. While some users have observed a substantial ROI, others have not actively explored or been engaged in ROI conversations. Splunk Enterprise Security offers varying ROI outcomes based on different situations, with certain users achieving significant returns. ArcSight ESM delivers an ROI by helping clients achieve compliance objectives and prevent incidents.

Comparison Results: Splunk is highly regarded for its efficient data processing and powerful search features, but users suggested improvements to its AI capabilities and analytics. ArcSight ESM offers robust threat intelligence and real-time reporting but falls short in terms of data administration and speed. 

To learn more, read our detailed ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) vs. Splunk Enterprise Security Report (Updated: May 2024).
770,141 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
"Log aggregation and data connectors are the most valuable features.""The in-built SOAR of Sentinel is valuable. Kusto Query Language is also valuable for the ease of writing queries and ease of getting insights from the logs. Schedule-based queries within Sentinel are also valuable. I found these three features most useful for my projects.""Having your logs put all in one place with machine learning working on those logs is a good feature. I don't need to start thinking, "Where are my logs?" My logs are in a centralized repository, like Log Analytics, which is why you can't use Sentinel without Log Analytics. Having all those logs in one place is an advantage.""Sentinel's most important feature is the ability to centralize all the logs in one place. There's no need to search multiple systems for information.""Sentinel enables us to ingest data from our entire ecosystem. In addition to integrating our Cisco ASA Firewall logs, we get our Palo Alto proxy logs and some on-premises data coming from our hardware devices... That is very important and is one way Sentinel is playing a wider role in our environment.""We are able to deploy within half an hour and we only require one person to complete the implementation.""The machine learning and artificial intelligence on offer are great.""The best functionality that you can get from Azure Sentinel is the SOAR capability. So, you can estimate any type of activity, such as when an alert was triggered or an incident was found."

More Microsoft Sentinel Pros →

"When WannaCry attacks I can minimize the damage. My company had no protection at the time. We get alerts in ArcSight and then whenever a user got a copy of WannaCry and the WannaCry malware wants to connect to the mother ship, it alerts me in the ArcSight dashboard, and that helps us a lot. We then just go to the user and erase the malware.""I am satisfied with the solution's stability.""ArcSight is customizable. You can integrate just about anything. I also like the ease of use.""Once the rules are defined, it is capable of detecting minute changes in the systems, which are effectively based on the entries in the log.​""Stable solution with good customer service support.""What I found most valuable in ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is its good integration with third-party products. The solution also has good core capabilities.""The solution offers very good monitoring.""The feature that I have found the most useful is that it can be deployed to the cloud."

More ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) Pros →

"The initial setup is pretty straightforward.""The graph visualization is the most valuable feature.""The feature that we use the most is the correlation search engine within ES.""It has a rapid response search environment in the event of an incident.""Its usability is the best part. It is easy for our developers to use if they want to search their logs, etc.""Splunk is stable, and this is why many customers want it.""Splunk Enterprise Security is a standard solution providing good customer service and partnership.""You can check up on security from the dashboards."

More Splunk Enterprise Security Pros →

Cons
"Sentinel could improve its ticketing and management. A few customers I have worked with liked to take the data created in Sentinel. You can make some basic efforts around that, but the customers wanted to push it to a third-party system so they could set up a proper ticketing management system, like ServiceNow, Jira, etc.""There is room for improvement in entity behavior and the integration site.""I would like to see more AI used in processes.""Sentinel's alerts and notifications are not fully optimized for mobile devices. The overall reporting and the analytics processes for the end user should also be improved. Also, the compatibility and availability of data sources and reports are not always perfect.""It could have a better API to be able to automate many things more extensively and get more extensive data and more expensive deployment possibilities. It can gain some points on the automation part and the integration part. The API is very limited, and I would like to see it extended a bit more.""We'd like also a better ticketing system, which is older.""We do have in-built or out-of-the-box metrics that are shown on the dashboard, but it doesn't give the kind of metrics that we need from our environment whereby we need to check the meantime to detect and meantime to resolve an incident. I have to do it manually. I have to pull all the logs or all the alerts that are fed into Sentinel over a certain period. We do this on a monthly basis, so I go into Microsoft Sentinel and pull all the alerts or incidents we closed over a period of thirty days.""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."

More Microsoft Sentinel Cons →

"The roadmap is not clear.""What could be improved in ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is its analytics feature. That feature should be more powerful and have more correlation in terms of AI/ML, though MicroFocus has done a good job in adding analytics to ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) which has become a big draw to customers. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is the addition of AI/ML features.""The centralized dashboard for the hybrid cloud environment needs to be more focused. It needs to be redefined because it's missing most of the information. It should be a little bit easy to use. Currently, integration with various applications and connectors is not that easy. Deployment is easy, but integration is not that easy. ArcSight also has a very high bandwidth consumption to pull the local servers. It should have some kind of better process or ability to transfer files from on-premises to the cloud, from the cloud to on-premises, and from a cloud to another cloud.""There are several improvements that we would like to see, including: Building a system based on a log collection (SOC), a scenario for external encroachment, and Operator training.""I would like to have a feature that gives us an entire report listing what devices are integrated.""The correlation engine effectively connects different events, significantly improving our detection reach. However, limitations exist with non-default alerts, where additional costs arise for integration.""ArcSight ESM is not easy to use and it should be integrated with other tools that have infrastructure capabilities.""The way that scaling is set up isn't very cost-effective."

More ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) Cons →

"The solution could improve by giving more email details.""I'd like to see more integration with more antivirus systems.""Its interface and usability can always be improved.""This solution could be improved by better pricing in general and by easier installation.""We usually have to follow up with technical support on our open cases.""The prices are complicated as we operate in a small third-world country.""The upgrading process could be smoother.""The algorithms customization of Splunk could improve. They have limited algorithms for machine learning support. If they can allow the user to add more machine learning algorithms, such as the ability to choose the algorithm that a user might want. Additionally, they should provide the required libraries for those algorithms, and then analyzes the data for use."

More Splunk Enterprise Security 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 →

  • "HPE ArcSight pricing might be more expensive than other SIEM solutions, but in my opinion it has powerful features and great flexibility in developing complex use cases."
  • "ArcSight is pretty expensive compared with its competitors. I believe that is fine as it provides value."
  • "Aggregation can help a lot in pushing down licensing costs."
  • "​It is best to be an institutional buyer and directly contact the sales team, as they can provide over-the-top discounts for bulk orders.​"
  • "Thanks to Micro Focus's licensing model, as an MSSP, we are able to see a complete return on our investment almost immediately."
  • "Customers without a ton of resources to dedicate to deployment may be better served by a managed ArcSight service."
  • "The pricing is great compared to others."
  • "The cost of the solution is not very high, although hiring a qualified analyst to work with the product is expensive."
  • More ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Pricing and licensing is quite expensive. But for the value the product provides, it seems at par in the market."
  • "Although Splunk is an expensive product, it is designed to be utilized across your organization in order to maximize your ROI and lower your TCO."
  • "It is not cheap."
  • "Splunk Enterprise becomes extremely expensive after the 20GB/month license."
  • "You will eat up whatever you purchase quickly. The level of insights that Splunk empowers is addictive."
  • "Splunk licensing model might seem expensive but with all the gain in functionalities you will have compared to traditional SIEM solutions I think it’s worth the price."
  • "Pricing is pretty fair."
  • "While licensing can be a concern, there are ways to reduce the licensing costs including filtering some events."
  • More Splunk Enterprise Security Pricing and Cost Advice →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions are best for your needs.
    770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    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:In my market, a lot of financial companies had or have an ArcSight installation. Just because in former times it was… more »
    Top Answer:We utilize ArcSight ESM for real-time threat detection in our organization. We have custom rules that we've developed on… more »
    Top Answer:The pricing model is expensive compared to open-source alternatives, especially as your needs grow.
    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:Splunk handles a high amount of data very well. We use Splunk to capture information and as an aggregator for monitoring… more »
    Top Answer:Splunk helps us be more proactive. We can take predictive action to identify and block threats so that nothing harmful… more »
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Azure Sentinel
    Micro Focus ArcSight, HPE ArcSight, ArcSight
    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.

    ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is a powerful SIEM solution for analyzing, collecting, correlating, and reporting on security event information. ArcSight ESM analyzes information from all of your data sources while helping your organization maintain high security. In addition, the solution is very customizable and enables users to create their own company-specific rule sets to automatically trigger instant alerts.

    ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) Features

    • Real-time threat detection
    • Visualization and reporting capabilities
    • Patented log management
    • Personalized dashboards
    • Scalable event monitoring
    • Seamless integration with your existing SOC tools
    • Behavior profiling
    • Data and user monitoring
    • Application monitoring
    • Analytics
    • Deployment/support simplicity

    ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) Benefits

    Some of the benefits of using ESM include:

    • Real-time information: ArcSight ESM can correlate data from any source in real-time to detect incidents before they become a breach.
    • Compliance: Optional compliance packs enable packaged reports for PCI, SOX, and IT Governance.
    • Security analytics: With ArcSight ESM, you can build and maintain a security operation center (SOC) through big data security analytics.
    • Integration: ArcSight ESM allows you to integrate SOC with network operations, service desk, CMDB, business intelligence, Hadoop, email security, application security, threat feeds, and more. 
    • Speed: ArcSight ESM provides excellent speed of event collection with patented log management tools. 
    • Advanced detection: ArcSight ESM can detect unusual or unauthorized activities as they occur, preventing business disruptions. 
    • Decrease threat exposure: By implementing ArcSight ESM, you reduce threat exposure because the solution detects threats in real time.  
    • Operational efficiency: ArcSight ESM makes it possible for you to automate responses with ArcSight’s native SOAR, which saves your organization time, and therefore increases your operational efficiency.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) users.

    A Head of Professional Services at a computer software company says, “The simplicity of the solution is the most valuable aspect of the product. The product is quite mature. It's been around for a long time. The integration is easy for the most part.”

    A Managing partner at a tech services company states that the solution is “Good at consolidating logs, fairly stable, and can scale.” 

    PeerSpot user Abbasi P., Vice President Derivatives Ops IT at a financial services firm, explains, “The user interfaces are quite good and speedy, and I like the consoles too. The typology and the setup are also good.”

    A Chief Technological Officer at a tech services company says, "It is a very useful tool for intelligence building because it has many use cases and many rule sets."

    An Associate Vice President at a consumer goods company comments, “We primarily use the solution for its technology including its independent logs, and those types of things. The solution offers very good monitoring. The product's log management and event management capabilities are excellent. There are a lot of really good analytical components. It helps us focus on analysis.”

    Splunk Enterprise Security is a SIEM, log management, and IT operations analytics tool. The solution provides users with the ability to secure their information and manage their data in the cloud, data centers, or other applications. Splunk Enterprise Security also offers visibility from different areas, levels, and devices, rather than from a single system, thus, providing its users with flexibility. Splunk Enterprise Security can monitor data and analyze, detect, and prevent intrusions. This benefits users as it provides alerts to possible intrusions, helps users to be proactive, and reduces risk factors. 

    Full visibility across your environment

    Break down data silos and gain actionable intelligence by ingesting data from multicloud and on-premises deployments. Get full visibility to quickly detect malicious threats in your environment.

    Fast threat detection

    Defend against threats with advanced security analytics, machine learning and threat intelligence that focus detection and provide high-fidelity alerts to shorten triage times and raise true positive rates.

    Efficient investigations

    Gather all the context you need and initiate flexible investigations with security analytics at your fingertips. The built-in open and extensible data platform boosts productivity and drives down fatigue.

    Open and scalable

    Built on an open and scalable data platform, you can stay agile in the face of evolving threats and business needs. Splunk meets you where you are on your cloud journey, and integrates across your data, tools and content.

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Sentinel is trusted by companies of all sizes including ABM, ASOS, Uniper, First West Credit Union, Avanade, and more.
    Lake Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bank AlJazira, Banca Intesa, and Obrela.
    Splunk has more than 7,000 customers spread across over 90 countries. These customers include Telenor, UniCredit, ideeli, McKenney's, Tesco, and SurveyMonkey.
    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 Firm33%
    Comms Service Provider19%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Insurance Company5%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company9%
    Government9%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company20%
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Government10%
    Energy/Utilities Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business33%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise47%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise59%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise54%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise63%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise56%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise68%
    Buyer's Guide
    ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) vs. Splunk Enterprise Security
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) vs. Splunk Enterprise Security and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is ranked 12th in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) with 93 reviews while Splunk Enterprise Security is ranked 1st in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) with 235 reviews. ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is rated 7.8, while Splunk Enterprise Security is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) writes "Allows for monitoring logs according to industry standards within ESM but has a total capacity capped at 12 TB, limiting real-time data retention periods". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Splunk Enterprise Security writes "It has a drag-and-drop interface, so you don't need to know SQL or Java to construct a query ". ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is most compared with ArcSight Intelligence, Trellix ESM, IBM Security QRadar, Elastic Security and LogRhythm SIEM, whereas Splunk Enterprise Security is most compared with Wazuh, Dynatrace, IBM Security QRadar, Elastic Security and Datadog. See our ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) vs. Splunk Enterprise Security report.

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

    We monitor all Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.