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LevelBlue USM Anywhere vs Security Onion comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 24, 2026

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

LevelBlue USM Anywhere
Ranking in Log Management
29th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (27th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (37th), Compliance Management (12th)
Security Onion
Ranking in Log Management
22nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of LevelBlue USM Anywhere is 1.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Security Onion is 1.6%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Log Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Security Onion1.6%
LevelBlue USM Anywhere1.5%
Other96.9%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

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…
Hiten Nandasana - PeerSpot reviewer
Angular developer at Flourish software
Centralized monitoring has strengthened threat detection and supports faster incident investigations
Security Onion is a completely open-source and free platform, making it a cost-effective solution that works smoothly and effectively for our organization. Security Onion integrates well with our existing tools, primarily using Linux systems in our organization, allowing us to monitor logs and manage threat detection and operations in the public cloud effectively. Security Onion is very helpful in meeting compliance requirements and supports regular standards for our environment. I advise organizations that use Linux or have network security knowledge to consider Security Onion, as it satisfies requirements such as threat detection and log management systems. I would rate this review eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has all the features that we need, however they do not work correctly."
"AlienVault USM Anywhere provides us with SIEM, at a low price-point and with a great array of functionality."
"The product has been very stable."
"The UI is clean and easy to use."
"We have a better detection rate for malware and other cyber-attacks, and it really helps when USM is integrated in the incident response plan."
"The Event Correlation and vulnerability scans have been the most useful. As a 24/7 SOC, we use the incoming alarms to give an overview of suspicious traffic going through the network. It's easy to look at the correlated events and see the broad picture of traffic for that customer. Vulnerability scans are good for providing patch and remediation guidelines to keep customer systems secure."
"We now get a better view into what is happening on our network and to the servers than previously."
"As it includes a logger feature for gathering all logs from all devices (network devices, servers, hosts etc.) it has basically become the only software that we look at when we have a problem."
"We use Security Onion for internal vulnerability assessment."
"Security Onion is the most mature solution in the market."
"The most valuable feature of Security Onion for security monitoring is its ability to find infected ports."
"Security Onion is a completely open-source and free platform, making it a cost-effective solution that works smoothly and effectively for our organization."
 

Cons

"The solution already has quite good tools, however, they need better integration tools for linking with Office 365, Google Suite, and so on."
"It would be nice to see some machine learning and monitoring of the configuration in network devices."
"The system slows down considerably when a large number of events are fed in."
"IPv6 not supported Correlate with external logs from other sources makes little bit difficult to work"
"Creating directives is a pain on its own, but editing them can be a nightmare filled with tedious unnecessary steps."
"There are many reports included but would be nice to have better access to the data."
"They should improve the reporting capabilities. Different functions to customize reports should be added."
"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."
"The initial setup of the solution is a little bit difficult."
"Security Onion's user interface could be improved."
"The product is not easy to learn."
"Security Onion can be made easier to set up initially, as it is somewhat difficult at the start, but once configured, it becomes a great tool to use."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't know exactly, but I know it is based on the number of logs and the retention duration, such as 30 days or something like that. So, the smallest package is about 500 a month for 30 days of logs. There is a virtual machine. You need resources for it. It is a log collecting VM. They provide the software, and you just have to load a virtual machine. So, you're going to incur some CPU RAM and storage for wherever this log collecting appliance is running, which typically is in our cloud and on our platform for the customer."
"It allows you to do a lot with a small price tag... The pricing is the best on the market."
"It's affordable for most customers."
"We pay around $12,000 a year including storage."
"​The vulnerability management solution is worse than buying a Nessus Professional license.​"
"Its price is much lower than McAfee ESM."
"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."
"We ran a few PoCs. The price and feature set were the best with AlienVault."
"Security Onion is a free solution."
"Security Onion is an open-source solution."
"It is an open-source solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
18%
Outsourcing Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
13%
University
11%
Government
10%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business65
Midsize Enterprise29
Large Enterprise25
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Security Onion?
Security Onion does not require any cost, as it is open-source and free.
What needs improvement with Security Onion?
Security Onion can be made easier to set up initially, as it is somewhat difficult at the start, but once configured, it becomes a great tool to use. I assigned a rating of eight out of ten because...
What advice do you have for others considering Security Onion?
Security Onion is a completely open-source and free platform, making it a cost-effective solution that works smoothly and effectively for our organization. Security Onion integrates well with our e...
 

Also Known As

AT&T AlienVault USM, AlienVault, AlienVault USM, Alienvault Cybersecurity
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about LevelBlue USM Anywhere vs. Security Onion and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
916,771 professionals have used our research since 2012.