AlienVault OSSIM vs Microsoft Defender XDR comparison

The compared AT&T and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. AT&T is ranked #13 in SIEM , with an average rating of 7.2, and holds a 1.7% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #4 in XDR , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 4.8% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of AT&T users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

AlienVault OSSIM

Read 31 AlienVault OSSIM reviews

4,374 Views
4,287 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Microsoft Defender XDR

Read 106 Microsoft Defender XDR reviews

10,762 Views
6,027 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

AlienVault OSSIM

Microsoft Defender XDR

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between AlienVault OSSIM and Microsoft Defender XDR based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed AlienVault OSSIM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR Report (Updated: May 2023).

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

May 2023

Download the complete report

Helped 881,733 peers since 2012

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

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (13th)

Microsoft Defender XDR

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

106

Ranking in other categories

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (7th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (4th), Microsoft Security Suite (5th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. AlienVault OSSIM is designed for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and holds a mindshare of 1.7%, down 4.2% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender XDR, on the other hand, focuses on Extended Detection and Response (XDR), holds 4.8% mindshare, down 6.8% since last year.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
AlienVault OSSIM	1.7%
Splunk Enterprise Security	7.1%
Wazuh	6.4%
Other	84.8%

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Defender XDR	4.8%
CrowdStrike Falcon	10.1%
Wazuh	7.2%
Other	77.9%

Extended Detection and Response (XDR)

Featured Reviews

Brandon Pearce

Independent Contractor at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees

Enables cost-effective security management for small businesses

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 implementation. The main area where the AlienVault product was lacking around the 2018 timeframe was in its ability to scale. By pushing it to a cloud-based system, they've largely alleviated scale issues. It's native in Amazon but will also run in Azure. They have worked with cloud service providers to offer enough throughput at a cost reasonable for a corporation. Scaling was their biggest problem, and they've largely conquered those issues.

Read full review

Kunle Oluwadiya

House security operator at Cypress Creek Renewables

Advanced threat hunting saves significant time in tracking and responding to incidents

Microsoft Defender XDR could be improved with a lower price. My main suggestion would essentially be what Copilot is providing, which is a single pane of glass, so I don't have to go to different windows. That's just a workflow consideration for me. It would be great to have all the information centralized into one particular data app. If I need to open up extra ones, I can, however, I would appreciate a future where everything I need is right there on one single pane of glass. Beyond that, there's really nothing else I see that I would want Microsoft to improve.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has helped us remediate threats in the past by providing significant events that assisted in identifying suspicious activities, such as logins from multiple countries."

"Network traffic analysis is highly efficient."

"With AlienVault you get everything in one box."

"Asset discovery is good."

"OSSIM is the only solution that includes the large number of modules that we need: a vulnerability scanner, a network IDS system, a host IDS system."

"The most valuable features of AlienVault OSSIM are vulnerability assessment, network intrusion detection system, response to critical events, and awareness of the whole network."

"AlienVault OSSIM is an enterprise solution that sells easily. It is rated highly by organizations."

"The threat alerts it gives me from time to time on harmful code within the network, or if they are generating any network traffic, are very useful."

More AlienVault OSSIM pros

"As a reseller and partner, the advantages of Microsoft Defender XDR are numerous; I have stopped many threats for many organizations using Defender alone, and I have saved significant IT management time by avoiding manual updates and manual work."

"The threat intelligence is excellent."

"Scanning, vulnerability reporting, and the dashboard are the most valuable features."

"I like the easy integration and advanced possibilities. We can implement it at customer sites in a few clicks, but we can also dive deep and drill down to extended features. There's a very good starting point to get into this product and all the features from Defender."

"I like 365 Defender's advanced threat hunting. The dashboard is user-friendly with templates for site policies, etc. The most important use case is evaluating the risk links and applications."

"In our company,we have faced multiple attacks over the last few months, but none of them have been successful, and I think Microsoft Defender XDR has played a major role in it."

"The ability to integrate and observe a more cohesive narrative across the products is crucial."

"It's a great threat intelligence source for us, providing alerts for things it detects on the network and on the machines. We've used it often when there is a potential incident to see what was done on a computer. That works quite nicely because you can see everything that the user has done..."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pros

Cons

"The solution is not scalable."

"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."

"GUI could be improved."

"There are somewhat more false positives with the user behavior analytics, which could benefit from an additional machine learning model to detect user patterns more rapidly."

"I would like the solution to be able to integrate with my firewall, my IDS and my Honeypot solutions so that it can provide real-time reporting as things occur and then have alert sent to me on my phone when suspicious activity is happening."

"The main area where the AlienVault product was lacking around the 2018 timeframe was in its ability to scale."

"AlienVault OSSIM failed to provide our company a full insight, while also giving out a lot of false positives."

"The incidence reporting could be better."

More AlienVault OSSIM cons

"In the beginning, it's difficult to navigate the system because it is quite large. Just trying to find your way and understand how the system works can be hard. After spending quite a lot of time searching it's a lot easier, but I wish it were a bit more user-friendly when you're trying to find things."

"Microsoft could improve on threat hunting and build more on threat detection and handling."

"The customer support aspect can be better because it's the biggest complaint I hear about Microsoft. They can improve the ease of support and licensing processes."

"One of the biggest downsides of Microsoft products, in general, is that the menus are often difficult to find, as they tend to move from place to place between versions."

"This solution could be improved if it included features such as those offered by Malwarebytes."

"There is definitely scope for improvement in the automation area. Because the solution is a SaaS platform, we don't have the overall ability to automate stuff.... There is no direct way to go ahead because it's a SaaS platform."

"Some of our older hardware experienced a slight bump in CPU and memory usage. Although I don't have empirical data to back that up, I would suggest possibly more streamlining in the software."

"There is no comprehensive visibility, making it less user-friendly."

More Microsoft Defender XDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"AlienVault OSSIM is free."

"AlienVault OSSIM is an open-source solution."

"OSSIM is free."

"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."

"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."

"We are using the community version, which can be used for free."

More AlienVault OSSIM pricing and cost advice

"Microsoft Defender XDR is already included in our Office 365 licensing. It is better because we're saving money by using it."

"Microsoft Defender XDR's licensing is complicated."

"The solution is affordable, and we haven't been hit with any hidden costs. The subscription model is straightforward, and it's easy to understand how much additional features cost. If we need to cancel a license or feature, we do that well in advance to avoid being charged for it, but overall, the pricing and licensing are simple and easy."

"The most valuable licensing option is expensive, so pricing could be improved. Licensing options for this solution also need to be consolidated, because they frequently change."

"Sometimes 365 Defender is expensive, but it can be moderate, depending on the organization's size and the license type. We're satisfied with the cost because it gives us a product that protects our entire environment with DLP. To compromise some cost, of course, we are to complete the most secure environment."

"I find the pricing to be quite competitive, especially considering its inclusion in our E5 subscription, which provides a comprehensive set of functionalities."

"I believe the pricing is fair and acceptable. I consider it to be reasonable and satisfactory."

"The solution is too expensive."

More Microsoft Defender XDR pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	47
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	38

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AlienVault OSSIM?

Asset discovery is good.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with AlienVault OSSIM?

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft 365 Defender?

Microsoft Defender XDR provides strong identity protection with comprehensive insights into risky user behavior and potential indicators of compromise.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft 365 Defender?

My experience with pricing, setup, costs, and licensing of Microsoft Defender XDR is tied to our E5 subscription, which is very straightforward for us. We also purchase the uplift for our mobile us...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft 365 Defender?

I am not aware of a mobile app that would be available for my team. With a single analyst, if she is ever away, it would be beneficial to have easier access. While she can use the web portal, the e...

See all answers

Comparisons

Wazuh vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 40% of the time

Venusense USM vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 10% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 7% of the time

USM Anywhere vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 7% of the time

Elastic Security vs AlienVault OSSIM

Compared 5% of the time

More AlienVault OSSIM Competitors

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 11% of the time

Wazuh vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

TrendAI Vision One vs Microsoft Defender XDR

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Defender XDR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM

February 2026

Download AlienVault OSSIM product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Defender XDR

January 2026

Download Microsoft Defender XDR product report

Also Known As

OSSIM

Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Threat Protection, MS 365 Defender

Overview

AlienVault OSSIM, Open Source Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), provides you with a feature-rich open source SIEM complete with event collection, normalization and correlation. Launched by security engineers because of the lack of available open source products, AlienVault OSSIM was created specifically to address the reality many security professionals face: A SIEM, whether it is open source or commercial, is virtually useless without the basic security controls necessary for security visibility.

AT&T

Microsoft Defender XDR is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect against threats in the Microsoft 365 environment.

It offers robust security measures, comprehensive threat detection capabilities, and an efficient incident response system. With seamless integration with other Microsoft products and a user-friendly interface, it simplifies security management tasks.

Users have found it effective in detecting and preventing various types of attacks, such as phishing attempts, malware infections, and data breaches.

Watch the Microsoft demo video here: Microsoft Defender XDR demo video.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Council Rock School District

Accenture, Deloitte, ExxonMobil, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and many others.

Buyer's Guide

AlienVault OSSIM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

May 2023

Free Report: AlienVault OSSIM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR

Find out what your peers are saying about AlienVault OSSIM vs. Microsoft Defender XDR and other solutions. Updated: May 2023.

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