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NetWitness Platform vs USM Anywhere comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

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

NetWitness Platform
Ranking in Log Management
35th
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
31st
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
USM Anywhere
Ranking in Log Management
45th
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
32nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (51st), Compliance Management (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of NetWitness Platform is 0.6%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of USM Anywhere is 0.9%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

MOTASHIM Al Razi - PeerSpot reviewer
It is a stable solution, but they should make the user interface easier to understand
The solution's initial setup takes work. We have to organize multiple paths and many features. The deployment process takes less than a week. But it takes a month to complete if we want to make the solution smarter by integrating it with various devices. I rate the process as a six out of ten.
Kris Nawani - PeerSpot reviewer
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…

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 that we can create our own connectors for any application, and NetWitness provides the training and tools to do it."
"The most valuable features are the threat prediction and network forensics."
"Performance and reporting are very good."
"The most valuable features are the packet decoder, log decoder, and concentrator."
"NetWitness Platform is valuable for creating rules that the solution must detect."
"It gives the ability to investigate into network traffic in the Net and the organization what we couldn't do before."
"The most valuable feature of RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets are the alerts and correlations tools."
"Offers a good wireless feature."
"Easy to use, scalable, stable, and very intuitive platform that provides protection against security threats."
"The asset discovery and inventory capabilities in USM Anywhere is quite good."
"The USM is a work horse, no matter what devices or the number of logs we throw at it, the system processes them in real time, correlates the events, and alerts on only events that need human review."
"Allowed us to help our customers satisfy compliance needs around logging and monitoring."
"The most valuable features of AT&T AlienVault USM are the ease of management and knowledge of what is on the network of my customers. It's easy to understand the problems, and management our alarms and events."
"Asset discovery and vulnerability scanner are good features. The integration between this solution and OTX, which is an AlienVault platform for Open Threat Exchange, is also a valuable feature. It is also quick and easy to deploy, so you can quickly engage with a customer's environment."
"The other big selling feature for us was its integration capabilities with all the other security-based products."
"It brought our logs into one place for review and set up alarms based on changes we were missing due to lack of having one place for everything to go."
 

Cons

"There are instances where you try to run the reports and then it does not give you the desired outcome."
"The solution should have more integration capabilities with different platforms."
"I'd like to see improvement in its ease of use. It's basically unusable. It's overly complex."
"There is no support for this product in this country, so problems have to be resolved through global technical teams."
"It is not so easy to customize this product."
"We have encountered issues with unresolved crashes."
"Nowadays, their support is a little subpar compared to other solutions. I rate RSA support six out of 10."
"The threat detection capability and centralizing and upgrading capability need to be improved. The threat alert capability needs to be improved as well because there is some lag time at present. They need to work on their database search too."
"I've been using it just for my own personal upskilling in terms of how the product works. At the moment, it is pretty straightforward and simple, and it is working how it is supposed to. The feedback would come once it is deployed to customer sites. They'll be using it on a more frequent basis, and that's when the feedback would come in terms of the areas in which they're facing issues or are looking for simplicity."
"There is room for improvement in Log parsing."
"USM Anywhere relies a lot on the community putting the data in. Often, you'll right-click on the attack, but nothing will be found. That's a weakness of it."
"The only room for improvement I can mention is the initial installation procedures. I found that the online installation instructions for the product were missing important details, they lacked necessary steps."
"The reporting module could be a little easier to handle, as it requires quite some trial and error until you get the reports you want. Also, it would be great to have a graphical interface for the Network Intrusion Detection System's rule management."
"AlienVault cannot automatically respond to threats like other SIEM solutions, such as Sentinel and LogRhythm. Most of our clients are far away, so it's often challenging to handle alerts when they come up on our dashboard."
"The solution already has quite good tools, however, they need better integration tools for linking with Office 365, Google Suite, and so on."
"Reporting is convoluted and difficult at times, although they claim to have hundreds of pre-built reports, very few of them are actually useful for anything but what the USM is doing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It’s cheaper to run virtual machines in a VMware environment."
"This is a pricey solution; it's not cheap."
"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."
"Our license is for one year."
"In comparison to other SIEM solutions such as Splunk, NetWitness is less costly."
"We are on an annual license for the use of the solution."
"The new pricing and licensing mechanisms are fair. I would advise always to get the full solution (i.e., not only Logs)."
"RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets do not have a subscription model, it's a one-time purchase. There is only a perpetual license."
"So far, I feel the product's pricing is a good value. The technology is decent. You get what you pay for. I think it's fair."
"Use an MSSP instead. It is much cheaper."
"It has good pricing."
"I don't think the product's pricing is a good value because they try to raise the price 50 percent every year... AlienVault needs to understand that not all customers are huge enterprises... Their sales team is way too aggressive. The price they advertise is not always the price you get."
"The price of this solution is reasonable, which is one of the reasons why we selected it over other solutions."
"QRadar, ArcSight and Splunk are some of the most expensive SIEM products out there in the market and not everyone has the budget to buy them. In such cases, AV USM is a very cost effective alternative."
"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."
"It is affordable, and it also has many features that the premium products such as ArcSight and QRadar have. It is a very good platform for a SIEM solution. Everything is included in the price."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions are best for your needs.
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Comparison Review

VS
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
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about NetWitness Platform?
The product's initial setup phase was not at all difficult.
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 do you like most about AT&T AlienVault USM?
The most valuable feature of the solution is the ease of deployment that it provides to users. The integrations that the product has with third-party applications are useful.
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.
 

Also Known As

RSA Security Analytics
AT&T AlienVault USM, AlienVault, AlienVault USM, Alienvault Cybersecurity
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Los Angeles World Airports, Reply
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
Find out what your peers are saying about NetWitness Platform vs. USM Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.