No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

AlienVault OSSIM vs Trellix ESM 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)
16th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Trellix ESM
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
30th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 1.3%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trellix ESM is 1.2%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
AlienVault OSSIM1.3%
Trellix ESM1.2%
Other97.5%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

BP
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.
MD
Senior Vice President IT at AS IT Consulting Pvt. Ltd.
Offers comprehensive report generation while maintaining ease of integration
We need to improve Trellix ESM by making sure that most of the logging devices available in the global market should be covered, and if there is any device which is not covered, there should not be any additional charges for writing the custom parsers on that. We can add some new features regarding AI in the future for Trellix ESM, but the maturity will take a longer time. There are many false positives that happen in an environment during the first couple of months, or around six months, so the system analyst is not able to identify whether the event which has occurred is a true positive or a false positive.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The threat policies of the solution are always very advanced and the best in the market, and they are very persistent in terms of keeping up with security protocols."
"The solution is very stable, and compared to QRadar and Splunk, it's very stable."
"The threat policies of the solution are always very advanced and the best in the market. They are very persistent in terms of keeping up with security protocols."
"The most valuable features of AlienVault OSSIM are vulnerability assessment, network intrusion detection system, response to critical events, and awareness of the whole network."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"The paid version of the solution has reporting and better scalability options."
"I have worked with LogRhythm in the past, since 2015, and I find that AlienVault is a better product."
"The solution has a very good open source community, and whenever we have problems, we are always able to resolve it online."
"It blocks the things which are not to be allowed. It has an adaptive mode where it learns for itself."
"The strongest part of Trellix ESM is that we get quite good reports."
"The most valuable feature is that if the scanning does find something, it quarantines it."
"The most valuable features of McAfee ESM are intrusion detection, malware protection, and the device controller."
"It is a good central viewpoint for issues, which can then be investigated in more detail on the subnet servers and endpoints."
"The tool's effectiveness depends on how you define your log sources. To build visibility of incoming and outgoing traffic, you need logs from perimeter defense, firewalls, web application firewalls, and endpoint protection. With good traffic visibility, incident response time is really quick."
"The most valuable feature is the correlation rules."
"It enables us to detect malicious threats, issues, or vulnerabilities in our network."
 

Cons

"They can add more compliance templates."
"They can add more compliance templates."
"AlienVault OSSIM is costly."
"The solution needs more integration with cyber intelligence systems."
"I would advise others to not implement it for any enterprise-level organization."
"It's so hard to configure and explore something new on it. It is not easy to find the steps we need to follow in order to use the solution effectively."
"There needs to be more support or some kind of training program so users can self-learn the system more effectively."
"I suggest more in-built rules based on modern threats and environments to make it a more competitive solution."
"It is more difficult to operate Trellix ESM than other solutions."
"I would like to see good analytics in future releases."
"The only issue I have with McAfee is the amount of computer resources that it takes... it's definitely impacting some of the other applications that are running on a computer at the same time."
"We need to improve Trellix ESM by making sure that most of the logging devices available in the global market should be covered, and if there is any device which is not covered, there should not be any additional charges for writing the custom parsers on that."
"Executives don’t see ROI on this solution as the reports are not meant for C-levels."
"We cannot add new data sources to the most recent version."
"Yes, sometimes it seems that versions with major upgrades come with some bugs and regressions that affected stability."
"Product currently requires Flash."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using a free version of the solution. If you purchase a license there are more features available but the price is a little high. The solution should be cheaper to allow more customers to be able to afford it."
"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."
"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 solution is open source, so it's free to use."
"AlienVault OSSIM is free."
"We are using the community version, which can be used for free."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."
"The licensing fees for the non-community edition are paid on an annual basis, and there are no costs in addition to this."
"The cost is dependent on the customer's environment and requirements."
"The price of McAfee ESM is higher than some of the other solutions. There are additional features that can be added at an additional fee."
"The product is slightly expensive."
"The pricing is fair."
"We pay for our licensing fees on a yearly basis, and there are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"Regarding pricing, Trellix ESM is not that expensive. It's less than half the cost of IBM QRadar."
"The licensing cost is based on EPS."
"McAfee is the right choice for a low-budget solution."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions are best for your needs.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

VS
Manager, Enterprise Risk Consulting at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 26, 2015
HP ArcSight vs. IBM QRadar vs. ​McAfee Nitro vs. Splunk vs. RSA Security vs. LogRhythm
We at Infosecnirvana.com have done several posts on SIEM. After the Dummies Guide on SIEM, we are following it up with a SIEM Product Comparison – 101 deck. So, here it is for your viewing pleasure. Let me know what you think by posting your comments below. The key products compared here are…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
16%
Construction Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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 Business15
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise24
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for McAfee ESM?
When discussing Trellix ESM pricing and licensing, if you consider some premium product, the pricing also has to be premium, however, enterprise customers who look for a premium product, alongside ...
What needs improvement with McAfee ESM?
Areas of Trellix ESM that could be improved or enhanced include checking on the clients who are still on-prem, especially banks, as most are not moving everything to the cloud due to confidentialit...
What is your primary use case for McAfee ESM?
My customer's usual use case for Trellix ESM involves one client, as most of the users have moved to ESM. Nowadays, they don't use IPS only, since McAfee IPS is standalone; they incorporate firewal...
 

Also Known As

OSSIM
McAfee ESM, NitroSecurity, McAfee Enterprise Security Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Council Rock School District
San Francisco Police Credit Union, Wªstenrot Gruppe, Volusion, California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, Government of New Brunswick, State of Colorado, Macquarie Telecom, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Cologne Bonn Airport
Find out what your peers are saying about AlienVault OSSIM vs. Trellix ESM and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.