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AlienVault OSSIM vs Fortinet FortiSIEM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AlienVault OSSIM
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
12th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiSIEM
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
7th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 2.6%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiSIEM is 3.3%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortinet FortiSIEM3.3%
AlienVault OSSIM2.6%
Other94.1%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

HarshBhardiya - PeerSpot reviewer
An open-source solution that provide good detection and more visibility
The solution is not scalable. It impacts so hard. In the initial stages, AlienVault OSSIM can be suitable for small environments. There may be limitations if the customer expresses a desire to expand and add more devices. In such cases, we would need to either explore additional solutions or work within the constraints of the existing setup. We have set up alerts and configured everything in AlienVault OSSIM. It actively monitors for any security incidents. It provides us with regular updates and notifications about any ongoing activities. Only one person is using the solution. It is the perfect solution for small businesses. I rate the solution’s scalability a three out of ten.
Oliver Jackson - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems monitoring enhanced by firewall and intrusion detection features
My primary use case for Fortinet FortiSIEM is systems monitoring and alerting. I use it for standard functions like log monitoring, incident detection, and notification.  My customers are mostly medium-sized enterprises ranging from engineering companies, mining companies, independent schools, and…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The solution is free to use."
"Inbuilt IDS, inbuilt integration with threat intelligence platform and with vulnerability assessment modules."
"With AlienVault you get everything in one box."
"The initial setup was straightforward. I didn't have any problems."
"The dashboard is the solution's most valuable aspect. It brings everything into one central point where I can actually look at it and go, "Okay, I understand what's going on.""
"I recommend it due to the experience of the people running it."
"AlienVault OSSIM's GUI is very user-friendly."
"Network traffic analysis is highly efficient."
"Technical support is helpful."
"The Threat Hunting feature provides complete traffic analysis."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM is easy to use."
"FortiSIEM sends an email or SMS notifications to admins when there are significant incidents. It's a highly efficient way of responding to incidents."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiSIEM is the user and entity behave as analytics(UEBA). This feature mixes your data and provides useful information based on the behavior of the targeted."
"It's a very nice solution to work with."
"We're able to get real-timec as well as our customer networks that we're monitoring at all times."
"The event correlation is pretty robust. The GUI is pretty good."
 

Cons

"The user interface needs to be friendlier across the board."
"It's so hard to configure and explore something new on it."
"AlienVault OSSIM failed to provide our company a full insight, while also giving out a lot of false positives."
"AlienVault OSSIM on-premise version is more difficult to implement than the cloud version. Additionally, they should add integration between several different environments at once and improve their online knowledge base."
"AlienVault OSSIM is costly."
"AlienVault OSSIM’s configuration and integration could be a little easier."
"AlienVault OSSIM could improve by having better integration with some of the newer tools."
"The solution is not scalable."
"I would like to see more integration with other platforms."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM could improve to extend to several locations or sites."
"Areas for improvement would be the ease of use and the integration with Fortinet's own products."
"There could be improvements like introducing some solutions directly into FortiSIEM to avoid the need for separately purchasing additional tools like FortiStore."
"We need to see incident reports about the event log, without events from the administrator or through human interaction."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM is a little out of sight and needs more marketing efforts to be popular in the market."
"It would be good if the solution offered even more configuration options, especially in relation to the VPN so that it continues to be a very flexible option."
"The only drawback is the licensing model. It can get expensive if you want to integrate more solutions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AlienVault OSSIM is expensive compared to its competitors."
"OSSIM is free."
"The solution is open source, so it's free to use."
"The licensing fees for the non-community edition are paid on an annual basis, and there are no costs in addition to this."
"When comparing AlienVault OSSIM to Microsoft Sentinel, AlienVault OSSIM incurs additional costs due to its licensing price structure. If you are using AlienVault for security purposes at a certain level it can have a higher price point than the current pricing of Microsoft Sentinel."
"AlienVault OSSIM is an open-source solution."
"OSSIM is open source, and USM is the paid license. So, if you want, you can switch to USM. There you will have to buy a license, and they have a support team that helps you out on issues you face."
"The price of AlienVault OSSIM is too high sometimes for us to present to our customers. The price should be lower. We are on a three-year license to use the solution. We had to pay extra for the support."
"The price is competitive."
"Pricing is determined based on the customer's budget."
"The solution is available for both, perpetual and subscription licenses."
"Fortinet FortiSIEM is not an expensive solution."
"This is probably more on the lower cost end of the spectrum compared to competing products. Fortinet's license model is based on events per second, which makes sense, but that's not typical. It makes it very hard to calculate what your costs are going to be as you scale the platform because some log sources, such as firewall logs, are very noisy, and there are lots and lots of events per second, but some of them are not. So, it becomes a bit of a science experiment trying to guess what your costs are going to be as you scale the solution. This is where other competing products perhaps have a more straightforward license model."
"The tool is really expensive. For what the tool does for our team, the price is fair."
"They have a yearly subscription."
"The price of Fortinet FortiSIEM is a lot less when compared to other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
University
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AlienVault OSSIM?
It depends. I would need to review their cost models, but generally, they are on a scaled basis based on throughput usage. Because it's a software as a service solution for their core product for U...
What needs improvement with AlienVault OSSIM?
Scaling for USM is always challenging for any product unless it is purpose-built or overbuilt at the front end. They will use Palo Alto and its competitors, and LevelBlue will manage that implement...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiSIEM?
Fortinet FortiSIEM needs to provide better API integrations to users.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSIEM?
I am not familiar with the price and cost of Fortinet FortiSIEM. I cannot tell you if it is high, expensive, or low. However, I can say that it is cost-effective as it provides everything needed.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiSIEM?
Regarding Fortinet FortiSIEM, I cannot identify any specific areas for improvement because I can find everything I need. For the time being, I cannot find a real point for improvement. Everything i...
 

Also Known As

OSSIM
FortiSIEM, AccelOps
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Council Rock School District
FortiSIEM has hundreds of customers worldwide in markets including managed services, technology, financial services, healthcare, and government. Customers include Aruba Networks, Compushare, Port of San Diego, Cleveland Indians, Infoblox, Healthways, and Referentia.
Find out what your peers are saying about AlienVault OSSIM vs. Fortinet FortiSIEM and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.