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Microsoft Sentinel vs NetWitness Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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

Microsoft Sentinel
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
108
Ranking in other categories
Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) (3rd), Microsoft Security Suite (5th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (5th)
NetWitness Platform
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
34th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (36th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of Microsoft Sentinel is 3.5%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetWitness Platform is 1.2%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Sentinel3.5%
NetWitness Platform1.2%
Other95.3%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

Kallamuddin Ansari - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Consultant at HR Software Solution
Centralized monitoring has improved threat response but cost control still needs refinement
Based on real operations used in our corporate IT environment, the key features include log correlation and incident view. Microsoft Sentinel's biggest strength is how it correlates multiple related alerts into a single incident. This significantly reduces alert noise and helps the SOC focus on real threats instead of isolated events. Another valuable feature is KQL-based threat hunting with Kusto Query Language. The flexibility of this language allows us to build custom hunting queries based on our environment's behavior. This is extremely useful for detecting low and slow threats or hidden threats that default rules may miss. Cloud-native scalability and stability is another important feature. Being cloud-native, Microsoft Sentinel scales well for medium to large corporate environments without infrastructure management. Stability has been solid in day-to-day production. SOAR automation using playbooks is a feature we highly recommend. Microsoft Sentinel's SOAR functionality helps automate repetitive SOC tasks like alert enrichment and notification. This saves analyst time and improves response consistency.
reviewer1130436 - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Security and Infrastructure Expert at a government with 201-500 employees
Helps to deal with potential attacks and is available at a reasonable price
My company has had many benefits from the use of the product in the last eight years. The tool has streamlined our company's incident response process since it serves as a log repository, which allows us to correlate events and access different technology stacks. In our company, we were able to actually find some potential attacks, so it has been very helpful. The tool's integration capability isn't so great. In my company, we managed to integrate it with our Microsoft Azure Subscription, after which we managed to integrate it with other tools. You will face a lot of difficulties if you want to integrate it with your database monitoring tool, PAM solutions, or IAM products. The product has done well overall for my company's teams to deal with their workflow efficiency. I would not recommend the product to others. I rate the tool a seven 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

"In Azure Sentinel, we have found, they do have a store in their capability. AI and intelligence features. We found that to be very helpful for us because some other things we do need to integrate again or find another vendor for the store"
"The dashboard that allows me to view all the incidents is the most valuable feature."
"Microsoft is continuously improving this product, and we also have private access where we can see what features are being launched and provide input to them."
"Log aggregation and data connectors are the most valuable features."
"I like the unified security console. You can close incidents using Sentinel in all other Microsoft Security portals, when it comes to incident response."
"Microsoft Sentinel's ability to correlate data from multiple sources has enhanced my threat detection capabilities beyond what simple data lake solutions offer."
"The query language of Microsoft Sentinel is easy to understand and use."
"The machine learning and artificial intelligence on offer are great."
"Technically speaking, this is a good product."
"The most valuable feature is the correlation, as it can report in real-time and monitor the management."
"The most valuable feature is the hunting ability to work in a CERT."
"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 product has a user-friendly interface and a valuable feature for threat intelligence integration."
"The development of use cases on the SSA console is quite user friendly, which means that the security analyst or the researcher does not have to learn another language."
"The most valuable features are its ingestion of logs and raising of alerts based on those logs."
"Possibility to investigate incidents based on logs and raw packets, such as extracting files sent over the network"
 

Cons

"The playbook development environment is not as rich as it should be. There are multiple occasions when we face problems while creating the playbook."
"They only classify alerts into three categories: high, medium, and low. So, from the user's point of view, having another critical category would be awesome."
"Our SIEM is only as good as the information we are ingesting. We are all human and we forget to ingest things."
"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."
"Not all information shows up in Sentinel. Sometimes there are items provided in 365 and if you looked in Sentinel you would not see them and therefore think they do not exist. There can be discrepancies between Microsoft tools."
"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."
"To improve Microsoft Sentinel currently, focusing on the quality of the telemetry is essential."
"The multi-tenant capabilities are lagging compared to IBM QRadar."
"I am not happy with the RSA support. Sometimes they can be really annoying because it takes so long to get the support that you need."
"The log system is a bit complex and has room for improvement."
"I'd like to see improvement in its ease of use. It's basically unusable. It's overly complex."
"The documentation is not as structured as I would like, personally, and I think that it can be improved and made much more user-friendly."
"An area for improvement would be better automation and more inbuilt use cases."
"One thing to be improved in NetWitness is the capability to correlate event logs in a general sense."
"The initial setup is complex. It requires some knowledge in order to set it up."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm not happy with the pricing on the integration with Defender for Endpoint. Defender for Endpoint is log-rich. There is a lot of information coming through, and it is needed information. The price point at which you ingest those logs has made a lot of my customers make the decision to leave that within the Defender stack."
"The product is costly compared to Splunk."
"The solution is expensive and there is a daily usage fee."
"The pay-as-you-go model is beneficial to customers."
"It is certainly the most expensive solution. The cost is very high. We need to do an assessment using the one-month trial so that we can study the cost side. Before implementing it, we must do a careful calculation."
"I have had mixed feedback. At one point, I heard a client say that it sometimes seems more expensive. Most of the clients are on Office 365 or M365, and they are forced to take Azure SIEM because of the integration."
"Sentinel is a bit expensive. If you can figure a way of configuring it to meet your needs, then you can find a way around the cost."
"Good monthly operational cost model for the detection and response outcomes delivered, M365 logs don't count toward the limits which is a good benefit."
"It’s cheaper to run virtual machines in a VMware environment."
"It provides tools to assist in selecting the appropriate license and usage scenarios."
"Compared to the competition, the is price is not that high."
"There is a licensing fee and the customer can choose whether he wishes this to be subscription-based or perpetual."
"We have a perpetual license, so the total cost of ownership is not very expensive. It's a good investment."
"The tool is very expensive, so I rate the pricing a ten out of ten. The solution has an annual subscription."
"The new pricing and licensing mechanisms are fair. I would advise always to get the full solution (i.e., not only Logs)."
"Many clients are not able to purchase the packet capability because there is a huge amount of data, and the cost depends on the number of EPS (Events per second), as well as the number of gigabytes of data per day."
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Comparison Review

VS
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Construction Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise47
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise20
 

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 ...
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 ...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetWitness Platform?
The pricing is comparable to others, and I consider the cost to be intermediate. Specific cost details are unknown to me.
What needs improvement with NetWitness Platform?
There is currently no need for improvement in the SIEM ( /categories/security-information-and-event-management-siem ), though there could be potential enhancements by integrating with AI.
What is your primary use case for NetWitness Platform?
I use NetWitness Platform ( /products/netwitness-platform-reviews ) in the financial industry as a good product with excellent capabilities and integration with various devices.
 

Also Known As

Azure Sentinel
RSA Security Analytics
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Sentinel is trusted by companies of all sizes including ABM, ASOS, Uniper, First West Credit Union, Avanade, and more.
Los Angeles World Airports, Reply
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Sentinel vs. NetWitness Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.