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AlienVault OSSIM vs USM Anywhere comparison

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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)
25th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
USM Anywhere
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
29th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (28th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (37th), Compliance Management (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of AlienVault OSSIM is 1.2%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of USM Anywhere is 1.5%, 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 OSSIM1.2%
USM Anywhere1.5%
Other97.3%
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.
Kris Nawani - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder/Director at Bangkok MSP Company Limited
Offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software
USM Anywhere is used for threat detection and investigation. It provides a solution with built-in threat intelligence and various other investigation tools The solution offers complete coverage without the need to install additional software, as it is maintained by the vendor. It helps in saving…

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."
"You can customize the dashboards as well as the reporting."
"A very good feature of AlienVault OSSIM is that it has many domains that can be integrated from different solutions."
"Its user-friendliness is the most valuable. It is very easy to use and explore. The dashboard is very well packaged and integrated. You don't have to spend a lot of time in configuring it and checking out the RPM etc. It is also free and very powerful."
"With AlienVault you get everything in one box."
"AlienVault OSSIM is an enterprise solution that sells easily. It is rated highly by organizations."
"There are a lot of people you will find using OSSIM since they are also offering OTX as a service"
"AlienVault gave our organization a centralized tool to manage our security with its intrusion detection, asset management, vulnerability assessments, along with all of its other features, it has become an invaluable asset for our small organization."
"Pricing was a very important consideration and lower than the other SIEM solutions evaluated."
"Undoubtedly having all security core technology under one roof, as provided by the all-in-one USM solution from AlienVault, is a big advantage for day-to-day business security operations."
"Our main focus was intrusion detection, alerts, and correlation. It's easy to use AlienVault and integrate it with other alert tools because it includes lots of connectors. Either the tool is already there, or AlienVault will write an API for us if they don't have a connector for the solution that is providing the logs."
"Customer Service: The customer service is excellent, we have quick and knowledgeable help on all our calls."
"The dashboards are very descriptive and contain just the right amount of information. The activity alarms and events contain a plethora of data that is very descriptive and useful."
"OTX is a great module that lets staff maintain and monitor updates regarding events in the infrastructure and takes decision to improve the security perimeter."
"The setup of AlienVault is extremely easy; it is very simple to understand for someone who is trying a SIEM solution for the first time, and the integration of servers and other devices is extremely easy, as it is a piece of cake where you just double-click and start, and you are up and running."
 

Cons

"The solution is not scalable."
"The initial setup was a bit complex. You've got to do a lot of reading. It's not an intuitive implementation."
"The main area where the AlienVault product was lacking around the 2018 timeframe was in its ability to scale."
"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."
"The price of this solution is very high and it could be cheaper."
"I don't like to work on OSSIM because it is unpredictable."
"Sometimes it takes very long for your issue to get resolved."
"Its reporting tools need improvements. It would be good if they can provide integration with other ticketing systems. Currently, we only have integration with Slack and Jira. It is also a bit slow, and its replication engine can be improved."
"In the future, I would like to see all these features of the solution working properly."
"In emergency cases, it is difficult to reach them."
"There are scalability issues due to a 60 TB limit, which restricts its use for large customers like banks."
"I've experienced frequent slowness, and we had to downgrade to filter out many logs."
"It would be great if there was a feature to add in watch lists, like McAfee or QRadar have -- to keep track of IPs, domain, etc. that I have identified as being malicious."
"I would not recommend anyone to use it. I rate ATT AlienVault USM a one out of ten."
"The solution is a bit complicated. It could be simplified quite a bit."
 

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."
"I used the paid version of the tool and found it to be expensive. It has been a while since I changed to Securonix. I will have to check whether AlienVault charges per device, user, or log."
"OSSIM is free."
"AlienVault pricing is the best. Whatever cost you are paying, you are getting a return on every penny... It's not like your IBM, your QRadar, or Splunk, where the cost is too high."
"We are using the community version, which can be used for free."
"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."
"AlienVault OSSIM is free."
"​The vulnerability management solution is worse than buying a Nessus Professional license.​"
"Its price is much lower than McAfee ESM."
"It allows you to do a lot with a small price tag... The pricing is the best on the market."
"It's very reasonably priced. It was one of the lowest among the ones I looked at. Licensing is pretty flexible. They can do a two-year or a three-year, even a one-year, perhaps."
"We pay around $12,000 a year including storage."
"It is affordable, and it also has many features that the premium products such as ArcSight and QRadar have. It is a very good platform for a SIEM solution. Everything is included in the price."
"The pricing is a good value. The key thing is that for the new product, the licensing of it, is subscription-based and it's based on data. Clients need to be really careful when thinking about that, because odds are they're going to need to put a lot more data into it than what they initially estimate, which is going to drive their subscription costs up."
"The price for this solution is very good, but since the features do not work the price is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
7%
Construction Company
20%
Outsourcing Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

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 Business65
Midsize Enterprise29
Large Enterprise25
 

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 primary use case for AlienVault OSSIM?
This solution is very similar to most of the other MSSPs that you would find out there. When I look at use cases, AlienVault was initially aimed at small to medium businesses. It grew, and that was...
What needs improvement with AT&T AlienVault USM?
There are scalability issues due to a 60 TB limit, which restricts its use for large customers like banks. It is also limited when used with bigger products and has complex password requirements.
What is your primary use case for AT&T AlienVault USM?
USM Anywhere is used for threat detection and investigation. It provides a solution with built-in threat intelligence and various other investigation tools.
 

Also Known As

OSSIM
AT&T AlienVault USM, AlienVault, AlienVault USM, Alienvault Cybersecurity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Council Rock School District
Abel & Cole, Bank of Ireland, Bluegrass Cellular, CareerBuilder, Claire's, Hays Medical Center, Hope International, McCurrach, McKinsey & Company, Party Delights, Pepco Holdings, Richland School District, Ricoh, SaveMart, Shake Shack, Steelcase, TaxAct, Taylor Morrison, Vonage and Zoom
Find out what your peers are saying about AlienVault OSSIM vs. USM Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.