

IBM Security QRadar and Fortinet FortiAnalyzer are key players in the security information and event management category, each offering distinct advantages. QRadar seems to have the upper hand in scalability and integration capabilities, while FortiAnalyzer leads in centralized log management within the Fortinet ecosystem.
Features: IBM Security QRadar stands out with its ease of extracting information from raw logs, superior scalability, and seamless integration with numerous log sources. Its strength in threat detection is enhanced by Watson's cognitive capabilities for user activity analysis. Fortinet FortiAnalyzer excels in centralized log analysis and reporting for Fortinet devices, efficiently managing network events with detailed traffic analysis and customizable reports.
Room for Improvement: IBM Security QRadar could improve in enhancing API access, refining its user interface, and improving vulnerability management. Its reporting and search functionalities could be made more user-friendly and efficient. Fortinet FortiAnalyzer would benefit from better integration with third-party systems, improved dashboard visualization, and a streamlined interface, as well as greater flexibility in supporting diverse devices outside the Fortinet suite.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Security QRadar offers versatile deployment options for both on-premises and cloud environments, with technical support praised for its responsiveness, despite some concerns over slow response times in escalation. Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is known for its ease of integration within the Fortinet ecosystem, while its local support is appreciated, though complex issues sometimes require more expertise than is readily available.
Pricing and ROI: IBM Security QRadar is perceived as expensive with pricing based on events per second, but its extensive functionalities justify the investment for many users. In contrast, Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is seen as cost-effective within its ecosystem, though additional features can increase expenses, and it may not be as economical for those needing extensive third-party integration.
The impact of the tool is low when the functionalities are inaccessible due to resource consumption.
Fortinet is highly efficient for moderate deployments and provides a secure platform for medium-sized networks and data centers.
I have seen a return on investment with Fortinet FortiAnalyzer due to its competitive pricing and straightforward licensing model based on the amount of log data processed per day.
With SOAR, the workflow takes one minute or less to complete the analysis.
AWS gives the chance to implement a solution out of the box with use cases that are already in IBM Security QRadar.
I have seen a return on investment; I can share that it includes time saved, money saved, and fewer employees needed.
Customer service and support for Fortinet FortiAnalyzer are quite helpful and responsive.
Technical support is good, and I rate it ten out of ten.
The support service is very slow and incompetent.
They assist with advanced issues, such as hardware or other problems, that are not part of standard operations.
Support needs to understand the issue first, then escalate it to the engineering team.
The support is really good; for instance, if a critical ticket is submitted, you will get paged right away as it gets logged, and their analyst will look into it, letting you know as soon as possible so you can work on it.
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is scalable, especially for the VM versions, as additional space can be provisioned from the servers as needed.
FortiAnalyzer is a scalable product.
It typically handles three to five years of expansion effectively.
For EPS license, if you increase or exceed the EPS license, you cannot receive events.
IBM Security QRadar's scalability is great; you can have a new collector to deploy if you have increased EPS per second.
We faced some CPU consumption issues, which caused the machine to slow down and required a restart of FortiAnalyzer.
It remains stable during implementation for one or two years.
It provides a reliable solution for managing network-wide data.
On cloud, you don't see any disconnections or instability.
I think QRadar is stable and currently satisfies my needs.
The product has been stable so far.
When licensing, each device is licensed separately, such as the firewall, which can become expensive.
This would help in analyzing various security incidents and events more effectively by delivering a handful of relevant logs instead of thousands.
Enhanced deep inspection features would make troubleshooting easier.
We receive logs from different types of devices and need a way to correlate them effectively.
If AI-related support can suggest rules and integrate with existing security devices like MD, IPS, this SIM can create more relevant rules.
IBM Security QRadar does not support Canvas, so we had to create custom scripts and workarounds to pull logs from Canvas.
Its licensing model is based on the amount of log data processed per day, making it more cost-effective compared to QRadar, which is EPS and device-based.
In terms of pricing, FortiAnalyzer is not expensive.
In the Indian market, Fortinet's pricing is very competitive, allowing us to win most of our deals.
Splunk is more expensive than IBM Security QRadar.
It was costly mainly because of the value you can get right now compared to other solutions.
It depends on how much you want to spend.
The advanced analytics capabilities aid in threat detection by providing visibility into indicators of compromise.
The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is its ability to simplify and display logs clearly, providing details like which IPs are accessing the system, the destination, and the policies applied.
The log management is useful as we have connected around two hundred eighty-five walls and around fifteen to twenty plus firewalls with Fortinet FortiAnalyzer, making it highly beneficial compared to logging into each individual firewall.
Recently, I faced an incident, a cyber incident, and it was detected in real time.
IBM Security QRadar gives the opportunity to improve the time to market of the releases with a great evaluation of cybersecurity breaches.
Compared to ArcSight, Splunk, or any other SIEM tools where you need their processing language such as structured query language, SPL, and in Sentinel there is KQL query languages, IBM Security QRadar doesn't require reliance on query languages.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| IBM Security QRadar | 3.7% |
| Fortinet FortiAnalyzer | 1.7% |
| Other | 94.6% |


| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 58 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 20 |
| Large Enterprise | 31 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 91 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 39 |
| Large Enterprise | 105 |
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer is a powerful platform used for log management, analytics, and reporting. The solution is designed to provide organizations with automation, single-pane orchestration, and response for simplified security operations, as well as proactive identification and remediation of risks and complete visibility of the entire attack surface.
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer Features
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Fortinet FortiAnalyzer Benefits
There are many l benefits to implementing Fortinet FortiAnalyzer. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:
Reviews from Real Users
Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the Fortinet FortiAnalyzer solution.
PeerSpot user Imad A., Group IT Manager at a manufacturing company, says, “You can monitor all appliances from a centralized location. You have a front dashboard for all our operations and all the logs. If you need to search for anything you can just dig deep into the logs. The solution offers excellent customizable reports. In our case, we needed a monthly report of all internet consumption, and we were able to easily create this.” He goes on to add, “There are pre-defined templates. The logs cover any question or need that we populate within these templates. However, you can also build your own template. There is great analytics that can be used in different departments. For example, our marketing department can go more into media patterns and not just into browsing patterns. Everything is easily visible and can be tracked and studied.”
Luis G., Systems Architect at Zentius, mentions, “Log collection is the most valuable [feature]. The UI looks great. It has a very good look and feel. We don't have the need to use solid state drives. We use mechanic drives, and we don't see any performance issues, so basically, it is doing fine.”
Rupsan S., Technical Presales Engineer at Dristi Tech Pvt.ltd., comments, "The feature that I have found the most valuable is to be able to see everything in our network in a single task. A single menu and the graphical bar charts that it provides to give insights are very useful. It also gives very good metrics on bandwidth utilization, CPU, and device performance. It is very simple and easy to use as well."
Dilip S., Regional Head at Mass Infonet (P) Ltd., explains, “With FortiAnalyzer, you can see what the user is doing and what sites he goes to. You can also see how much quota there is and how much (size-wise) you want to hit, as well as what the incoming or outbound traffic is, and if it is through the ISP or not. Basically, you can see absolutely all activity using FortiAnalyzer. The solution is very complete. The product is very simple to use. It's regularly updated with many versions constantly adding more content and information. The solution has sandboxing, IPS, and DPS as well. The solution allows for a lot of customization.”
IBM Security QRadar (recently acquired by Palo Alto Networks) is a security and analytics platform designed to defend against threats and scale security operations. This is done through integrated visibility, investigation, detection, and response. QRadar empowers security groups with actionable insights into high-priority threats by providing visibility into enterprise security data. Through centralized visibility, security teams and analysts can determine their security stance, which areas pose a potential threat, and which areas are critical. This will help streamline workflows by eliminating the need to pivot between tools.
IBM Security QRadar is built to address a wide range of security issues and can be easily scaled with minimal customization effort required. As data is ingested, QRadar administers automated, real-time security intelligence to swiftly and precisely discover and prioritize threats. The platform will issue alerts with actionable, rich context into developing threats. Security teams and analysts can then rapidly respond to minimize the attackers' strike. The solution will provide a complete view of activity in both cloud-based and on-premise environments as a large amount of data is ingested throughout the enterprise. Additionally, QRadar’s anomaly detection intelligence enables security teams to identify any user behavior changes that could be indicators of potential threats.
IBM QRadar Log Manager
To better help organizations protect themselves against potential security threats, attacks, and breaches, IBM QRadar Log Manager gathers, analyzes, preserves, and reports on security log events using QRadar Sense Analytics. All operating systems and applications, servers, devices, and applications are converted into searchable and actionable intelligent data. QRadar Log Manager then helps organizations meet compliance reporting and monitoring requirements, which can be further upgraded to QRadar SIEM for a more superior level of threat protection.
Some of QRadar Log Manager’s key features include:
Reviews from Real Users
IBM Security QRadar is a solution of choice among users because it provides a complete solution for security teams by integrating network analysis, log management, user behavior analytics, threat intelligence, and AI-powered investigations into a single solution. Users particularly like having a single window into their network and its ability to be used for larger enterprises.
Simon T., a cyber security services operations manager at an aerospace/defense firm, notes, "The most valuable thing about QRadar is that you have a single window into your network, SIEM, network flows, and risk management of your assets. If you use Splunk, for instance, then you still need a full packet capture solution, whereas the full packet capture solution is integrated within QRadar. Its application ecosystem makes it very powerful in terms of doing analysis."
A management executive at a security firm says, "What we like about QRadar and the models that IBM has, is it can go from a small-to-medium enterprise to a larger organization, and it gives you the same value."
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