IBM Security QRadar vs Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR comparison

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17,715 views|9,994 comparisons
92% willing to recommend
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7,690 views|4,717 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
Palo Alto Networks Logo
11,001 views|6,061 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Security QRadar and Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed IBM Security QRadar vs. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR Report (Updated: March 2024).
770,616 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
"Microsoft Sentinel enables you to ingest data from the entire ecosystem and that connection of data helps you to monitor critical resources and to know what's happening in the environment.""Mainly, this is a cloud-native product. So, there are zero concerns about managing the whole infrastructure on-premises.""It's easy to use. It's a very good product. It can easily ingest data from anywhere. It has an easily understandable language to perform actions.""The most valuable features in my experience are the UEBA, LDAP, the threat scheduler, and integration with third-party straight perform like the MISP.""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.""In Azure Sentinel, we have found, they do have a store in their capability. AI and intelligence features. We found that to be very helpful for us because some other things we do need to integrate again or find another vendor for the store""The log analysis is excellent; it can predict what can or will happen regarding use patterns and vulnerabilities.""The machine learning and artificial intelligence on offer are great."

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"I think the QDI is very good.""The event collector, flow collector, PCAP and SOAR are valuable.""It's user-friendly when compared to other products.""We have worked with other solutions, such as LogRhythm and Splunk. Compared to others, IBM QRadar has the best price-performance ratio so that you are able to reserve minimum costs. It starts settling in fast and gets the first results very quickly. It is also very scalable.""It comes with many rules disabled. You can tune them and modify them according to your enterprise needs and avoid false positives.""On the back-end, Watson helps me figure out an exact problem, sometimes giving me the result.""The most valuable feature currently is security behaviors and the pdf files.""The simplicity of the solution is the best feature."

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"The strengths of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR stem from the fact that it provides functionalities related to patching and URL blocking...It is a scalable solution.""We use the solution to automate our SIEM tools and incidents.""I have found the solution very useful, it integrates well with other platforms.""The drag-and-drop interface enables analysts with no programming knowledge to create playbooks easily.""The product is quite easy to use.""I have no complaints about Cortex's stability.""Cortex XSOAR's most valuable features are the playbooks, custom integration, the machine-learning model, and the layout, classifier, and mapper.""For organizations that are stable with their security operations, like those with around 50 members in their security team running full-phased operations 24/7, Cortex is necessary."

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Cons
"The dashboards can be improved. Creating dashboards is very easy, but the visualizations are not as good as Microsoft Power BI. People who are using Microsoft Power BI do not like Sentinel's dashboards.""I can't think of anything other than just getting the name out there. I think a lot of customers don't fully understand the full capabilities of Azure Sentinel yet. It is kind of like when they're first starting to use Azure, it might not be something they first think about. So, they should just kind of get to the point where it is more widely used.""When we pass KPIs to the governance department, there's no option to provide rights to the data or dashboard to colleagues. We can use Power BI for this, but it isn't easy or convenient. They should just come up with a way to provide limited role-based access to auditing personnel""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.""There is room for improvement in entity behavior and the integration site.""Sometimes, it is hard for us to estimate the costs of Microsoft Sentinel.""Sentinel should be improved with more connectors. At the moment, it only covers a few vendors. If I remember correctly, only 100 products are supported natively in Sentinel, although you can connect them with syslog. But Microsoft should increase the number of native connectors to get logs into Sentinel.""I believe one of the challenges I encountered was the absence of live training sessions, even with the option to pay for them."

More Microsoft Sentinel Cons →

"It needs more resilience and functionality.""There is one problem with QRadar in regards to the add-on apps. The apps can be frustrating. For example, when I add a big app like one of the add-ons for resiliency, add-on applications for QRadar, these applications require different hardware to implement and to deploy. The resiliency connector because there's a considerable amount of data scanning, operates for these apps correctly.""IBM QRadar User Behavior Analytics is good, but I think the functionality should be much more integrated. You should have easy access to the artifacts if you are doing a particular investigation. It's good, but other team solutions like LogRhythm are actually merging the functionality. So, I think that is something IBM can work on.""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.""The product needs to improve its GUI.""The technical support can be improved a little bit, and the price could be cheaper.""IBM QRadar could improve the plugins and threat detection.""I'm not sure about the stability just yet. We've observed a few issues and we raised a supporting ticket for it."

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"There should be an on-premise version available for customers to have different choices.""We need a little hands-on experience to install the solution.""The formats are not compatible, are readily not available, and are not readable.""In terms of improvement, it needs to be more modular. It's not. When you're working in layouts and you create specific apps within layouts, there's no portability right now in order to reuse that code across multiple layouts. I can't take a tab and say I want to use this tab on these other layouts. I have to physically go in there and recreate it from scratch, which is maddening.""The solution is complicated to learn.""Palo Alto needs to develop more AI-centric products.""For building automation, there is not a lot of good documentation. The documentation is there, but it is not very good from my perspective. There should be an improvement in this area. I don't see issues with anything else. In terms of new features, I have heard that other products have EBA functionality. It would be good if this functionality could be added.""I would love to see more flexibility on what we can display and design on the dashboards."

More Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR 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 →

  • "There is a perception that it is priced very high compared to other solutions."
  • "From the cost perspective, I have heard that its price is a bit high as compared to other similar products."
  • "There is a yearly license required for this solution and it is expensive."
  • "It is approx $10,000 or $20,000 per year for two user licenses."
  • "When I first looked at Demisto, it had a price tag of $250,000 but when we finally purchased it, it was $345,000."
  • "The price of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is expensive."
  • "The price of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is comparable to other solutions in the market."
  • "The solution is based on an annual licensing model that is expensive."
  • More Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR 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:Whether the product is cheap or expensive depends on the company and how much they are willing to spend on security… more »
    Top Answer:The solution is complicated to learn. Customers find it difficult to learn how the solution works. We need professionals… 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
    Demisto Enterprise, Cortex XSOAR, Demisto
    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."

    Palo Alto Networks delivers a complete solution that helps Tier-1 through Tier-3 analysts and SOC managers to optimize the entire incident life cycle while auto documenting and journaling all the evidence. More than 100+ integrations enable security orchestration workflows for incident management and other critical security operation tasks.

    Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is a piece of Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response software that redefines what it means for a program to orchestrate security in an automated manner. It is a next-generation solution that offers all of the features of dozens of siloed security operations center tools in one place. Cortex XSOAR combines case management, automation, real-time collaboration, and threat intelligence management to create a platform that can handle all aspects of system security. Teams that make use of Cortex XSOAR can expect to cut the number of issues that they will have to deal with by 75%. At the same time, the speed at which they resolve those issues that slip through will rise by 90%.

    Cortex XSOAR ensures that all of the IT and security tools that you employ function as a unified system. It does this by employing hundreds of integrations that allow you to run a wide variety of programs at once without ever worrying about them interfering with each other. These integrations are limited only by your imagination. They can be used immediately as they are, if that is what you need. However, they can also be customized according to the requirements of your system. This approach provides you with the maximum levels of both flexibility and utility.

    The model that this platform uses is based on a machine learning algorithm. The level of automation allows you to provide more than an unchanging and inflexible blanket of coverage. Cortex XSOAR takes all of the data that it gathers and uses it to expand its protective capabilities. This creates recommendations that you can use to create a threat playbook that can be deployed uniformly throughout your organization.


    Benefits of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR

    Some of Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR’s benefits include:

    • The ability to have all of your data collected in a single location. Valuable time can be saved now that everything that security analysts need to know in order to diagnose and react to threats has been centralized.
    • Security operations center tasks can be automated. This allows you to assign management and analyst staff to the most essential tasks. The effectiveness of your organization will be increased, which will result in a rise in your company’s overall security and productivity.
    • Many kinds of data can be stitched together by this platform. Network, endpoint, cloud, and identity data can be combined to offer a more complete picture of the threats that are discovered.
    • Integrated threat intelligence management can notify you about threats in real time. Now you can diagnose and address issues as they arise. You can also assign values to the threats so that your resources are being used in the most effective manner possible.


    Reviews from Real Users

    Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR’s centralized monitoring interface and automation are two features that help it stand out. This might help explain why one quarter of the Fortune 500 companies choose Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR over the competition.

    Peerspot users note the effectiveness of these features. One user wrote, “We were looking for a single pane of glass type of solution that would allow us to physically be in one appliance - be able to work in concert with other servers that we have within our environment. We wanted orchestration and automation. The single pane of glass was the most important part.” Another noted, "The automation part and the playbook creation part are awesome. The way it is responding to the customers and incidents is also very good. In the SOC environment, I guess it will carry out around 50% of the work."

    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.
    Cellcom Israel, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, esri, Cylance, Flatiron Health, Veeva, ADT Cybersecurity
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm22%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Comms Service Provider8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    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 Firm20%
    Educational Organization15%
    Comms Service Provider10%
    Security Firm10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company12%
    Financial Services Firm12%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    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 Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise29%
    Large Enterprise50%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise47%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise64%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM Security QRadar vs. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security QRadar vs. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    770,616 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM Security QRadar is ranked 4th in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) with 198 reviews while Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is ranked 2nd in Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) with 42 reviews. IBM Security QRadar is rated 8.0, while Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR 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 Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR writes "Enables the investigators to go through the review process a lot quicker". IBM Security QRadar is most compared with Splunk Enterprise Security, Wazuh, LogRhythm SIEM, Elastic Security and Sentinel, whereas Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR is most compared with Cortex XSIAM, Splunk SOAR, Fortinet FortiSOAR, Swimlane and ServiceNow Security Operations. See our IBM Security QRadar vs. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR report.

    See our list of best Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) vendors.

    We monitor all Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) 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.