Microsoft Purview Audit vs Splunk Enterprise Security comparison

Microsoft and Splunk are both solutions in the Log Management category. Microsoft is ranked #35 with an average rating of 8.0, while Splunk is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. Microsoft holds a 0.7% mindshare in Log Management, compared to Splunk’s 7.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Purview Audit

Read 3 Microsoft Purview Audit reviews

1,184 Views
805 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Splunk Enterprise Security

Read 375 Splunk Enterprise Security reviews

24,784 Views
13,383 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Microsoft Purview Audit

Splunk Enterprise Security

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Splunk Enterprise Security and Microsoft Purview Audit are competing in the security and compliance sector, focusing on monitoring and data analysis. Microsoft Purview Audit gains a competitive edge due to its seamless integration within the Microsoft ecosystem, while Splunk's comprehensive data analytics capabilities stand out.

Features: Splunk Enterprise Security provides in-depth threat intelligence, advanced search capabilities, and customizable dashboards. Microsoft Purview Audit offers robust data governance features, audit management, and seamless compatibility with Microsoft's suite. A key distinction is Splunk's focus on threat analysis compared to Microsoft's comprehensive governance capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk Enterprise Security involves a complex deployment process requiring technical expertise, supported by thorough customer service. Microsoft Purview Audit ensures a smoother deployment experience, especially benefiting customers within the Microsoft ecosystem, with extensive support resources. The fundamental difference is Purview’s integration-centric approach versus Splunk’s detailed customization.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk Enterprise Security requires substantial initial investment promising high ROI for large-scale operations. Microsoft Purview Audit offers a more economical setup, especially advantageous for organizations within the Microsoft ecosystem, presenting itself as a cost-effective choice with strategic integration benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Purview Audit vs. Splunk Enterprise Security Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Purview Audit vs. Splunk Enterprise Security

December 2025

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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

Microsoft Purview Audit

Ranking in Log Management

35th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Microsoft Security Suite (31st)

Splunk Enterprise Security

Ranking in Log Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

375

Ranking in other categories

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (1st), IT Operations Analytics (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Log Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Purview Audit is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Enterprise Security is 7.1%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Log Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Splunk Enterprise Security	7.1%
Microsoft Purview Audit	0.7%
Other	92.2%

Log Management

Featured Reviews

Matthew Hoerig

President at Trustsec Inc.

Audit function refines log retrieval and drives application assessments with evolving features

From a service assessment and authorization process perspective, when conducting an assessment on an application or system, we use controls essentially equivalent to the NIST 800-53 framework. This includes examining audit logs, data quality, and various KPIs required for log configuration. It factors into our application assessments. When producing documentation packages for application or system authorization, audit logging and monitoring are crucial parts of the assessment process. The evidence we gather includes screenshots and outputs from these tools and capabilities. For Microsoft Purview Audit specifically, we provide examples of audit function configuration and log output details, which are incorporated into our evidence documents.

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reviewer1469784

Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Helps us detect cyber threats quickly and integrate multiple feeds effectively

Overall, the product is good, but when it comes to some infrastructure issues, we have to dig into more logs. There is no straightforward indication of an issue. Health check kind of dashboards are not available. More AI would help us, and more optimization, since security products run more queries. The AI module could suggest solutions, optimizing queries or workload balancing. If the product itself advises on running queries during peak times, it would be similar to what ChatGPT currently offers. We see quite a few issues on stability. Even last week, we faced something, and identifying bottlenecks is not easy. We need more SMEs, and there is no mechanism to tell us about indexer or search head issues. Self-monitoring dashboards could be beneficial. The technical support still requires more improvement. Often, primary support takes a lot of time and forwards most solutions to the engineering side. The primary support team has very limited knowledge to provide.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We're easily saving at least one hour per day using this solution."

"The overall user experience with Microsoft Purview Audit is of higher quality than when it was branded as Compliance Center, and Microsoft consistently updates and evolves functionalities and the overall experience."

"The platform has significantly enhanced our operational insight into the overall Microsoft 365 environment."

"The features of Splunk Enterprise Security that I prefer most are the correlation engine and the common information model, basically the aggregation of data."

"I appreciate the integrations with the SOAR architectures and the expandability that can be used throughout the entire ecosystem of Splunk Enterprise Security."

"My customer was integrated with many third-party credentials and other threat sources as well. The integration part was seamless and easy. The rates for allocating valuable information and IOCs from different sources are also good."

"Its integration is most valuable. Its UI is also pretty much easy."

"Splunk Enterprise Security scales well with the growing needs of our company."

"Splunk has been recognized by Gartner as a leader in providing visibility for observability and monitoring across various platforms, including physical, virtual, and container environments, for several years."

"The most valuable feature is that it's very good for log aggregation."

"The two features I appreciate most in Splunk Enterprise Security are the content management system and the inter-incident review dashboard."

More Splunk Enterprise Security pros

Cons

"We are still in the early stages of leveraging Microsoft Purview Audit. Currently, it's primarily used for the audit function."

"We do have a Denial of Access happening."

"Areas for product improvement include enhancing customization options and integrating more comprehensive compliance features."

"The main issue that I have with it is that the field transformations sometimes overlap with those in Splunk Enterprise, and then you get permissions issues that lead to troubles."

"Queries are not always as easy or straightforward as they might be, so it can be difficult to figure out what you need to look for."

"The way Splunk Enterprise Security could improve is by pulling in and mapping my DHCP data and tracking users' IP addresses as it changes throughout sessions, and being able to keep track of who is actually assigned to what IP address more natively."

"Search head clustering is often temperamental in its current state and should be improved, replaced by something better, or be reverted to search head pooling."

"The user interface is the main area for improvement."

"When deploying Enterprise Security, the biggest challenge or the most amount of work that you're going to spend time on is onboarding your data and getting it into a position that allows you to search it uniformly. So applying things like the common information model is the biggest time investment that you'll have in the deployment."

"There is another new term called benign positives. It is better to clearly identify each definition of those terms since it has not been popular in the industry, and everyone needs to be aware of those things."

"The CIM model is the method Splunk uses to normalize data and categorize its important parts, but it is quite complex."

More Splunk Enterprise Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"It is a pretty high cost solution, but if your organization has the funds, it can bring many benefits."

"Splunk differs from other SIEM solutions by using a gigabyte-based pricing model, rather than the agent-based licenses common with its competitors."

"We have an unlimited one, and we pay yearly, but I don't know how much it costs. Previously, I worked for a startup, and when they started building it up, it was complicated for them because they didn't have the budget for that many licenses. It was very costly for them. So, startups might find it a little bit problematic because of the licensing, but for bigger companies, there is no issue."

"The variables and the flexibility that Splunk provides are helpful, especially in a hybrid and multi-cloud environment."

"I would highly recommend anyone evaluating this option to download the free trial which allows for the ingestion of 500MB of data per day in order to get a feel for what Splunk does at its core. It will get pricey once your ingestion rates start to sky rocket, but I would consider it expensive given the amount of information that it allows you to analyze and react on straight out-of-the-box."

"Splunk has always been on the expensive side."

"Free Splunk license for PoCs on personal machines and the ability to scale the PoC to an enterprise level app."

"My experience with the solution's setup cost, pricing, and licensing was really good."

More Splunk Enterprise Security pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

Vinod Shankar

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	109
Midsize Enterprise	50
Large Enterprise	264

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Audit?

I'm not aware of the pricing of licensing terms.

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What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Audit?

We are still in the early stages of leveraging Microsoft Purview Audit. Currently, it's primarily used for the audit function. In a year's time, we will be able to provide more clarity and context ...

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What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Audit?

Microsoft Purview Audit functions as a compliance center. Whenever these systems generate logs, we use Microsoft Purview Audit to capture or retrieve those logs. While there are more tools availabl...

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What SOC product do you recommend?

For tools I’d recommend: -SIEM- LogRhythm -SOAR- Palo Alto XSOAR Doing commercial w/o both (or at least an XDR) is asking to miss details that are critical, and ending up a statistic. Also, rememb...

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What is a better choice, Splunk or Azure Sentinel?

It would really depend on (1) which logs you need to ingest and (2) what are your use cases Splunk is easy for ingestion of anything, but the charge per GB/Day Indexed and it gets expensive as log ...

See all answers

How does Splunk compare with Azure Monitor?

Splunk handles a high amount of data very well. We use Splunk to capture information and as an aggregator for monitoring information from different sources. Splunk is very good at alerting us if we...

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 4% of the time

Sentinel vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 4% of the time

Datadog vs Splunk Enterprise Security

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Log Management

January 2026

Download Microsoft Purview Audit product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Enterprise Security

January 2026

Download Splunk Enterprise Security product report

Overview

The unified auditing functionality in Microsoft 365 provides organizations with visibility into many types of audited activities across many different services in Microsoft 365. Advanced Audit helps organizations to conduct forensic and compliance investigations by increasing audit log retention required to conduct an investigation, providing access to crucial events that help determine scope of compromise, and faster access to Office 365 Management Activity API.

Microsoft

Splunk Enterprise Security delivers powerful log management, rapid searches, and intuitive dashboards, enhancing real-time analytics and security measures. Its advanced machine learning and wide system compatibility streamline threat detection and incident response across diverse IT environments.

Splunk Enterprise Security stands out in security operations with robust features like comprehensive threat intelligence and seamless data integration. Its real-time analytics and customizable queries enable proactive threat analysis and efficient incident response. Integration with multiple third-party feeds allows detailed threat correlation and streamlined data visualization. Users find the intuitive UI and broad compatibility support efficient threat detection while reducing false positives. Despite its strengths, areas such as visualization capabilities and integration processes with cloud environments need enhancement. Users face a high learning curve, and improvements in automation, AI, documentation, and training are desired to maximize its potential.

What Are the Key Features of Splunk Enterprise Security?

Log Management: Efficiently manages and organizes a vast amount of logs for better data handling.
Rapid Data Search: Quickly retrieves relevant data for fast decision-making.
Flexible Dashboards: Customizable dashboards provide clear data visualization.
Comprehensive Threat Intelligence: Offers detailed insights to preemptively defend against threats.
Real-Time Analytics: Analyzes data in real-time to enhance response times.
Integration with Third-Party Feeds: Streamlines information flow from multiple sources.

What Benefits Should Users Investigate in Reviews?

Efficient Incident Response: Enhances the ability to respond promptly to threats.
False Positive Reduction: Minimizes incorrect threat alarms, making monitoring more efficient.
Threat Detection Speed: Accelerates the identification and evaluation of security threats.
Cost-Effectiveness: Potential savings through better licensing options and operational efficiency.
User Adaptability: Enhancements in documentation and training resources aid in overcoming the learning curve.

In specific industries like finance and healthcare, Splunk Enterprise Security is instrumental for log aggregation, SIEM functionalities, and compliance monitoring. Companies leverage its capabilities for proactive threat analysis and response, ensuring comprehensive security monitoring and integration with various tools for heightened operational intelligence.

Splunk

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Splunk has more than 7,000 customers spread across over 90 countries. These customers include Telenor, UniCredit, ideeli, McKenney's, Tesco, and SurveyMonkey.

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Purview Audit vs. Splunk Enterprise Security

December 2025

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