Microsoft Sentinel vs NetWitness Platform comparison

Microsoft and NetWitness are both solutions in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category. Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3, while NetWitness is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.6. Microsoft holds a 7.4% mindshare in SIEM, compared to NetWitness’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 75% of NetWitness users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Sentinel

Read 90 Microsoft Sentinel reviews

13,318 Views
8,289 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

NetWitness Platform

Read 37 NetWitness Platform reviews

1,134 Views
721 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

Microsoft Sentinel

NetWitness Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

NetWitness Platform and Microsoft Sentinel are leading solutions in cybersecurity. Based on user reviews, Microsoft Sentinel often stands out due to its comprehensive features and integration capabilities, making it a preferred choice despite potentially higher costs.

Features: NetWitness Platform is praised for its robust threat detection and response capabilities. It offers in-depth packet capture and session analysis, providing granular visibility into network activity. The platform also includes behavior analytics to detect threats based on deviations from normal patterns. Microsoft Sentinel features advanced AI-driven analytics, automating threat detection and response processes. It includes seamless integration with other Microsoft products, enhancing its utility in Microsoft-centric environments. Additionally, Sentinel offers built-in orchestration and automation for streamlined security operations.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest that NetWitness Platform could benefit from enhanced scalability, more intuitive navigation, and better integration with third-party tools. Microsoft Sentinel users request improved alerting mechanisms, more customizable reporting options, and a more user-friendly interface. While suggestions for NetWitness are aimed at usability enhancements, Sentinel users focus on functional refinements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetWitness Platform is noted for its straightforward deployment process and reliable customer support. Microsoft Sentinel receives positive feedback for deployment, especially in cloud environments, but some users find its initial setup complex. Customer service for Sentinel garners mixed reviews, with some users experiencing delays in support.

Pricing and ROI: NetWitness Platform is generally seen as requiring a significant initial investment, but users report good ROI over time. Microsoft Sentinel is perceived as more expensive, yet users feel the comprehensive feature set and integration justify the cost, leading to a strong ROI. Pricing strategies differ, with Sentinel's flexible cloud-based pricing appealing to many users. Differences in perceived value highlight each product's pricing strategy and return on investment dynamics.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Sentinel vs. NetWitness Platform Report (Updated: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Sentinel vs. NetWitness Platform

February 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 Sentinel

Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (1st), Microsoft Security Suite (6th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (5th)

NetWitness Platform

Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

22nd

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Log Management (22nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Sentinel is 7.4%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetWitness Platform is 0.6%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Featured Reviews

KrishnanKartik

Cyber Security Consultant at Inspira Enterprise

Every rule enriched at triggering stage, easing the job of SOC analyst

It's a Big Data security analytics platform. Among the unique features is the fact that it has built-in UEBA and analytical capabilities. It allows you to use the out-of-the-box machine learning and AI capabilities, but it also allows you to bring your own AI/ML, by bringing in your own IPs and allowing the platform to accept them and run that on top of it. In addition, the SOAR component is a pay-per-use model. Compared to any other product, where customization is not available, you can fine-tune the SOAR and you'll be charged only when your playbooks are triggered. That is the beauty of the solution because the SOAR is the costliest component in the market today. Other vendors charge heavily for the SOAR, but with Sentinel it is upside-down: the SOAR is the lowest-hanging fruit. It's the least costly and it delivers more value to the customer. The SOAR engine also uniquely helps us to automate most of the incidents with automated enrichment and that cuts out the L1 analyst work. And combining M365 with Sentinel, if you want to call it integration, takes just a few clicks: "next, next finish." If it is all M365-native, it is a maximum of three or four steps and you'll be able to ingest all the logs into Sentinel. That is true even with AWS or GCP because most of the connectors are already available out-of-the-box. You just click, put in your subscription details, include your IAM, and you are finished. Within five to six steps, you can integrate AWS workloads and the logs can be ingested into Sentinel. When it comes to a third party specifically, such as log sources in a data center or on-premises, we need a log collector so that the logs can be forwarded to the Sentinel platform. And when it comes to servers or something where there is an agent for Windows or Linux, the agent can collect the logs and ship them to the Sentinel platform. I don't see any difficulties in integrating any of the log sources, even to the extent of collecting IoT log sources. Microsoft Defender for Cloud has multiple components such as Defender for Servers, Defender for PaaS, and Defender for databases. For customers in Azure, there are a lot of use cases specific to protecting workloads and PaaS and SaaS in Azure and beyond Azure, if a customer also has on-premises locations. There is EDR for Windows and Linux servers, and it even protects different kinds of containers. With Defender for Cloud, all these sources can be seamlessly integrated and you can then track the security incidents in Microsoft's XDR platform. That means you have one more workspace, under Azure, not Defender for Cloud, where you can see the security incidents. In addition, it can be integrated with Sentinel for EDR deep-dive analytics. It can also protect workloads in AWS. We have customers for whom we are protecting their AWS workloads. Even EKS, Elastic Kubernetes Service, on AWS can be integrated, as can the GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine). And with Defender for Cloud, security alert ingestion is free

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MdZaman

IT manager at a agriculture with 10,001+ employees

Really scalable for enterprise customers

The solution should have more integration capabilities with different platforms. The API is nearly open and scalable, so the solution can integrate with many platforms. The solution has more than 200 log sources in the scalability to support, but this is its limit. Installation is pretty easy. However, there are a couple of modules involved, so it is not as easy as it could be. We are talking about a distributed module, not a single-module type. This is what makes things a bit complex, instead of easier. I rate it as a seven out of ten on its installation and configuration capabilities.

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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

"The most valuable feature is the UEBA. It's very easy for a security operations analyst. It has a one-touch analysis where you can search for a particular entity, and you can get a complete overview of that entity or user."

"If you know how to do KQL (kusto query language) queries, which are how you query the log data inside Sentinel, the information is pretty rich. You can get down to a good level of detail regarding event information or notifications."

"It is always correlating to IOCs for normal attacks, using Azure-related resources. For example, if any illegitimate IP starts unusual activity on our Azure firewall, then it automatically generates an alarm for us."

"I like the KQL query. It simplifies getting data from the table and seeing the logs. All you need to know are the table names. It's quite easy to build use cases by using KQL."

"Having your logs put all in one place with machine learning working on those logs is a good feature. I don't need to start thinking, "Where are my logs?" My logs are in a centralized repository, like Log Analytics, which is why you can't use Sentinel without Log Analytics. Having all those logs in one place is an advantage."

"Mainly, this is a cloud-native product. So, there are zero concerns about managing the whole infrastructure on-premises."

"The UI of Sentinel is very good and easy to use, even for beginners."

"We have no complaints about the features or functionality."

More Microsoft Sentinel pros

"NetWitness Platform offers flexibility for deployment and robust integration capabilities."

"The most valuable feature is the correlation. It can report in real-time and monitor the management."

"Performance and reporting are very good."

"The most valuable features are the packet decoder, log decoder, and concentrator."

"Alerting Module: It provides real-time event processing language on all the logs/packets stream for advanced alerting, i.e., using SQL LIKE statements."

"The software is scalable to whatever is required, and you can also put a lot of resources in the cloud."

"Incident management is its most valuable feature."

"The most valuable feature is that we can create our own connectors for any application, and NetWitness provides the training and tools to do it."

More NetWitness Platform pros

Cons

"The interface could be more user-friendly. It''s a small improvement that they could make if they wanted to."

"Its documentation is not so simple. It is easy for somebody who is Microsoft certified or more closely attached to Microsoft solutions. It is not easy for those who are working on open-source platforms. There isn't a central point where everything is documented, and there is no specific training or certification."

"When it comes to ingesting Azure native log sources, some of the log sources are specific to the subscription, and it is not always very clear."

"We've seen delays in getting the logs from third-party solutions and sometimes Microsoft products as well. It would be helpful if Microsoft created a list of the delays. That would make things more transparent for customers."

"The KQL query does not function effectively with Windows 11 machines, and in the majority of machine-based investigations, KQL queries are essential for organizing the data during investigations."

"We do have in-built or out-of-the-box metrics that are shown on the dashboard, but it doesn't give the kind of metrics that we need from our environment whereby we need to check the meantime to detect and meantime to resolve an incident. I have to do it manually. I have to pull all the logs or all the alerts that are fed into Sentinel over a certain period. We do this on a monthly basis, so I go into Microsoft Sentinel and pull all the alerts or incidents we closed over a period of thirty days."

"For certain vendors, some of the data that Microsoft Sentinel captures is redacted due to privacy reasons."

"In terms of features I would like to see in future releases, I'm interested in a few more use cases around automation. I do believe a lot of automation is available, and more is in progress, but that would be my area of interest."

More Microsoft Sentinel cons

"RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets can improve the threat level aspect, it is lacking compared to other solutions. Whenever any hacking activity or any other threat factor occurred they used to provide the coverages very fast when comparing RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets. I heard the other three solutions, from a discussion with my team members who had experience in other solutions, they used to say that. Whenever any issues happened across the globe RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets are a little bit slow improving those detection mechanisms."

"An area for improvement would be better automation and more inbuilt use cases."

"If we have the ability to run a dynamic analysis through malware in the same suite, it would be great to have a sandbox solution to analyze malware through dynamic analysis."

"Lots of competing products have vulnerability protection built into their products, and this solution would be improved by including that support."

"The system looks like it is a mix of a bunch of different systems, and nothing looked like it was quite together."

"The solution should have more integration capabilities with different platforms."

"More customizability is required, which is something that they need to improve on."

"Sometimes, it gives me static when integrating Windows-based systems. It should produce a precise log of sorts as to where the problem is. For example, a few days ago because of the McAfee application firewall, I couldn't get access to the particular Windows machine. So, my team and I had to figure out by ourselves that there was a virus responsible for the obstacle. This solution should trigger a meaningful log or message indicating the reason the user or implementer can't get into the machine."

More NetWitness Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It varies on a case-by-case basis. It is about $2,000 per month. The cost is very low in comparison to other SIEMs if you are already a Microsoft customer. If you are using the complete Microsoft stack, the cost reduces by almost 42% to 50%. Its cost depends on the number of logs and the type of subscription you have. You need to have an Azure subscription, and there are charges for log ingestion, and there are charges for the connectors."

"Sentinel is a pay-as-you-go solution. To use it, you need a Log Analytics workspace. This is where the logs are stored and the cost of Log Analytics is based on gigabytes... On top of that, there is the cost of Sentinel, which is about €2 per gigabyte. If a customer has an M365 E5 license, the logs that come from Microsoft Defender are free."

"Sentinel is expensive relative to other products of the class, so it often isn't affordable for small-scale businesses. However, considering the solution has more extensive capabilities than others, the price is not so high. Pricing is based on GBs of ingested daily data, either by a pay-as-you-go or subscription model."

"Microsoft Sentinel is expensive."

"It's costly to maintain and renew."

"Cost-wise, Sentinel is based on the volume of information being ingested, so it can be quite pricey. The ability to use strategies to control what data is being ingested is important."

"It is priced fairly given the value that you get from the use of the product. The biggest mistake people make with Microsoft Sentinel is not understanding the pricing model and the amount of data that they are going to be running through the tool because you are paying based on the flow. You are paying based on the amount of data that is moving through the tool. People do not plan, and therefore, they get surprised by the cost associated with using the tool. They connect everything because they want to know everything, but connecting everything is very expensive."

"It is consumption-based pricing. It is an affordable solution."

More Microsoft Sentinel pricing and cost advice

"The NetWitness Platform may be affordable only for enterprise-level customers, as it may not be within the budget of small and medium-sized businesses."

"It’s cheaper to run virtual machines in a VMware environment."

"This is a pricey solution; it's not cheap."

"The product is expensive."

"Compared to the competition, the is price is not that high."

"The new pricing and licensing mechanisms are fair. I would advise always to get the full solution (i.e., not only Logs)."

"In comparison to other SIEM solutions such as Splunk, NetWitness is less costly."

"RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets do not have a subscription model, it's a one-time purchase. There is only a perpetual license."

More NetWitness Platform pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

Vinod Shankar

Manager, Enterprise Risk Consulting at Deloitte & Touche

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…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

17%

Government

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Is there a common threat intelligence tool that aggregates multiple threat intelligence sources?

Yes, Azure Sentinel is a SIEM on the Cloud. Multiple data sources can be uploaded and analyzed with Azure Sentinel and its Threat Hunting functionality with AI available as templates or customized ...

See all answers

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

Which is better - Azure Sentinel or AWS Security Hub?

We like that Azure Sentinel does not require as much maintenance as legacy SIEMs that are on-premises. Azure Sentinel is auto-scaling - you will not have to worry about performance impact, you will...

See all answers

What do you like most about NetWitness Platform?

The product's initial setup phase was not at all difficult.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetWitness Platform?

The product price was reasonable for my region and the market.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetWitness Platform?

From an improvement perspective, the NetWitness Platform needs to release new features and improve in areas like log correlation. The tool needs to have easier integrations with the cloud. Building...

See all answers

Comparisons

AWS Security Hub vs Microsoft Sentinel

Compared 22% of the time

IBM Security QRadar vs Microsoft Sentinel

Compared 9% of the time

Cortex XSIAM vs Microsoft Sentinel

Compared 8% of the time

Wazuh vs Microsoft Sentinel

Compared 6% of the time

Google Chronicle Suite vs Microsoft Sentinel

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Sentinel Competitors

Splunk Enterprise Security vs NetWitness Platform

Compared 30% of the time

IBM Security QRadar vs NetWitness Platform

Compared 19% of the time

RSA enVision vs NetWitness Platform

Compared 12% of the time

Elastic Security vs NetWitness Platform

Compared 11% of the time

More NetWitness Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Sentinel

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

NetWitness Platform

March 2025

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Also Known As

Azure Sentinel

RSA Security Analytics

Overview

Microsoft Sentinel is a scalable, cloud-native, security information event management (SIEM) and security orchestration automated response (SOAR) solution that lets you see and stop threats before they cause harm. Microsoft Sentinel delivers intelligent security analytics and threat intelligence across the enterprise, providing a single solution for alert detection, threat visibility, proactive hunting, and threat response. Eliminate security infrastructure setup and maintenance, and elastically scale to meet your security needs—while reducing IT costs. With Microsoft Sentinel, you can:

- Collect data at cloud scale—across all users, devices, applications, and infrastructure, both on-premises and in multiple clouds

- Detect previously uncovered threats and minimize false positives using analytics and unparalleled threat intelligence from Microsoft

- Investigate threats with AI and hunt suspicious activities at scale, tapping into decades of cybersecurity work at Microsoft

- Respond to incidents rapidly with built-in orchestration and automation of common tasks

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

NetWitness Platform is an evolved SIEM and threat detection and response solution that functions as a single, unified platform for ALL your security data. It features an advanced analyst workbench for triaging alerts and incidents, and it orchestrates security operations programs end to end. In short: NetWitness Platform is all you need to run an intelligent SOC.

NetWitness

Sample Customers

Microsoft Sentinel is trusted by companies of all sizes including ABM, ASOS, Uniper, First West Credit Union, Avanade, and more.

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Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Sentinel vs. NetWitness Platform

February 2025

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