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Cortex XSIAM vs Varonis Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

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

Cortex XSIAM
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (14th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (7th)
Varonis Platform
Ranking in Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (9th), Data Governance (6th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (5th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (8th), Compliance Management (8th), Ransomware Protection (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) category, the mindshare of Cortex XSIAM is 5.7%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Varonis Platform is 5.8%, up from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
 

Featured Reviews

AKASH MAJUMDER - PeerSpot reviewer
Incident response times have significantly reduced with efficient device integration and log parsing capabilities
Cortex XSIAM needs improvements in terms of data onboarding, parsers, and third-party integration supports. Additionally, a future update request is to enable tagging of endpoints in groups, similar to a feature available in Cortex XDR. The AI analytics need fine-tuning because some use cases are not working from my side.
Frederic  Delos - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers the ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data
The most effective feature for me is its ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data, provided you have access, to determine whether it's a false positive or a true positive. That's the best thing for me, out of all of it. It's got everything, like other ones, but I like to be able to look at something if I'm doing forensics on the alert and say, "Okay, do I really need to do something with this?" For example, we don't want sensitive data in our OneDrive. So it identifies the sensitive data that's possibly in the OneDrive. And what I can do is look at it and identify whether it's actually sensitive data in Datalert or whether it looks like sensitive data, but I know it's a false positive. If it is a false positive, I can basically say ignore this pattern based on X, Y, and Z, you know, whether it's Redjax or keyword proximity. So I like that. With other tools, I gotta go through a whole process because it's a little bit more complex. Here, I can tag it and bag it in one shot. And the next good time I scan, it slips over it. So it helps in that.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of Cortex XSIAM are the machine learning used to identify threats, the complexity of the environment of products, and efficiency."
"The automation capabilities significantly improve response times by allowing us to respond to incidents from a single dashboard rather than navigating multiple dashboards."
"Cortex XSIAM enhances our ability to apply endpoint protection policies, implement restrictions, conduct scans, and engage in sandboxing."
"The flexibility for creating manual workflows stands out."
"Since implementing Cortex XSIAM, incident response times have been significantly reduced by approximately twenty percent."
"The most valuable feature is the integration capability."
"One of the valued aspects of the product is its use of artificial intelligence to detect security vulnerabilities."
"It does a better job of identifying anomalies that are more likely to be incidents of compromise without as many false positives or false negatives."
"Technical support from Varonis is rated as nine out of ten."
"I also appreciate the reporting feature, which allows for the extraction of various reports based on specific needs. These reports can be used for audit purposes, such as tracking changes in file locations or deletions."
"The analytics would have to be our most valuable feature."
"Varonis offers robust data access governance, allowing us to understand which sensitive data exists and who has access to it."
"That alerting and reporting service is great."
"There's also a 90-day policy where if a user is not using the warehouse, it will automatically delete that username."
"The telemetry to capture everything and the reports are very easy to configure without having a developer degree."
"The solution's classification engine is highly configurable and efficient."
 

Cons

"I would rate the overall stability a six or seven, as we have only used it for a few months and need a year of experience to provide a full assessment."
"The standard integrations are very limited, and the integrations available are not listed in the marketplace. Obtaining validation for integrations from Palo Alto takes around eight months, which is quite long."
"There is room for improvement in expanding integrations to include more cybersecurity solutions."
"The platform isn't very developer-friendly and it should provide more flexibility and ease."
"Further integration capabilities with various other software products that can seamlessly tie into Cortex XSIAM would be advantageous."
"Cortex could improve the detection and online resolution of security vulnerabilities."
"I am not sure if any improvements are needed right now."
"The support could be a bit faster."
"The GUI should be more functional. There should be a process for connecting through Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc."
"The solution's interface is a little complicated with regard to setting up filters and reports."
"The remediation process can be improved. There will be no existing permission group for the McAfee channel domains. We can create a new permissions group for the required folder."
"The solution's areas of improvement are the interface and the dependency on on-premises deployment for some components."
"The product is very complicated."
"For unstructured data monitoring, it's one of the top ones, if not the top one, due to its usability."
"I would like it to have cloud integration."
"I'd like to see automatic updates for this solution. Currently, it's a manual process to update all the keywords"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of pricing, we found Cortex XSIAM to offer a very reasonable and competitive rate."
"Since Palo Alto is trying to get as many new customers as possible, they're offering very competitive pricing."
"The solution is expensive compared to its competitors."
"The product cost could be considered value for money compared to other solutions in the market, though it is quite high."
"The solution comes at a significant cost."
"You could do a subscription, where you pay yearly, or you could purchase it outright. The licensing cost is based on the number of users on the system that you are monitoring."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."
"Varonis Platform wasn't certainly the cheapest solution."
"The platform is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."
"Licensing is on an annual basis. Maintenance and renewal fees are separate. Varonis Datalert is quite expensive."
"It's expensive, kind of, really expensive."
"The pricing is good. It neither expensive nor cheap. It is average."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cortex XSIAM?
It is an effective solution in terms of performance and functionalities.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cortex XSIAM?
The licensing cost of Cortex XSIAM is more or less the same as Splunk, making it quite expensive compared to other tools. There are additional expenses for more functionalities.
What needs improvement with Cortex XSIAM?
Cortex XSIAM needs improvements in terms of data onboarding, parsers, and third-party integration supports. Additionally, a future update request is to enable tagging of endpoints in groups, simila...
What do you like most about Varonis Platform?
The solution has significantly improved data security and compliance posture by allowing us to track and monitor activities. We can see who accesses data and when files are created and understand w...
What needs improvement with Varonis Platform?
Varonis started as an on-premises solution and is transitioning to cloud. It hasn't fully moved yet, which is an area for improvement. Varonis requires more access permissions for its core function...
What is your primary use case for Varonis Platform?
The primary use case for Varonis Platform is data discovery, specifically for discovering sensitive data in our organization to protect it. We are looking for a solution that can scan our repositor...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Nottingham Building Society
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex XSIAM vs. Varonis Platform and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.