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OpenText Enterprise Security Manager vs SolarWinds Security Event Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

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

OpenText Enterprise Securit...
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
26th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Security Event M...
Ranking in Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
35th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) category, the mindshare of OpenText Enterprise Security Manager is 1.5%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Security Event Manager is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenText Enterprise Security Manager1.5%
SolarWinds Security Event Manager1.0%
Other97.5%
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
 

Featured Reviews

DayaramGoyal - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President, Technology at Cache Digitech Pvt Ltd.
Integration shines but threat detection and technical support need attention
Regarding threat detection capabilities, I think OpenText Enterprise Security Manager covers the MITRE ATT&CK framework at an average level, and on a scale of one to ten, I would rate it only five. They have to improve in those areas in terms of threat detection capabilities. For ArcSight, they need to give the complete package, with UBA being part of that. They have added it, but I question what capabilities are there, especially on the SOAR side where they have to improve because the SIEM was very strong. For the SOAR side, because SIEM was very strong when they were earlier launched, but for SOAR, they were integrating with third-party solutions initially, and then they built the capability. They have acquired some company, but it is not up to that potential. They slowly and gradually lost that ground to Splunk, QRadar, and other companies, so when anybody talks about the full capabilities, they are not thinking about Micro Focus as of now. I would desire additional features in OpenText Enterprise Security Manager, especially on the SOAR side, and maybe on the UBA side, as threats intel and all, which are part of bundled solutions. Those are the areas they have to improve so that customers can trust and enhance those things, and maybe the customers will feel they should go for this product. As of now, if we are evaluating our own scenario, we are not even thinking about it. Earlier, that was not the scenario when they were selling this SIEM solution in the market; everybody was thinking OpenText was the default option, but now, if you're looking for a complete solution stack, nobody is even considering it.
Yashokanth Partkunan - PeerSpot reviewer
Managed Services Engineer at Loop1 Systems
Has supported client needs efficiently but requires deeper analysis features and faster support
The log analyzing capability of SolarWinds Security Event Manager should go into more depth than the current environment. More modification and enhancements are required on the dashboard side in order to make it closer to optimal performance. From observation and feedback from users, they need more functionality related to monitoring, and in-depth analyzing needs to be improved.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its versatility when it comes to vendor support, the powerful ESM and logger tools, the Alert and Case Tracking mechanism, the Express all-in-one component for small businesses, the efficient NTP for blocking identified threats, and the ArcSight Flex Connector Development module for unsupported vendor products make this solution extremely capable."
"SmartConnector: Normalization parses raw logs and converts them into CEF (common event format). This is the core of the product."
"ArcSight gives us better visibility into threats that were unknown earlier."
"It is a vital tool for live monitoring and helps us to understand the traffic alerts of any major issue on the network, thereby reducing hacking attempts."
"Thanks to Micro Focus's licensing model, as an MSSP, we are able to see a complete return on our investment almost immediately."
"It has increased our detective capabilities in the cybersecurity landscape."
"I am satisfied with the solution's stability."
"The tool sends an automated mail to all the operators, which makes it easy to share the information and reporting.​"
"This tool is simple to use."
"It's easy to build rules and actions based on the logs and event types we collect with the software."
"The pricing was low, around 30K so ROI is less than one year."
"SolarWinds is effective for server, network, and log monitoring. It's also good for IP address management. We also have a patch manager, but we're still working on getting that operational."
"The product's most effective part in improving security stems from the fact that the solution is deployed for event management, log viewing, and information management."
"We had to integrate with other teams, and the infrastructure deployment didn't take long. The integration involves learning with different teams, networking, and configuring various network devices and servers. Infrastructure deployment only took one or two days."
"It's extremely easy to deploy."
"User-friendly configuration is key, and the configurations are simple, not complex."
 

Cons

"ArcSight ESM is lacking cloud scalable technology."
"Sometimes, it takes ages to get an issue resolved. I have ArcSight experience, so I normally try to fix things on my own or find a workaround, but it's tough to get support when I need it."
"I have never deployed an ArcSight installation without encountering several issues, I have over 40 deployments to my credit."
"For somebody who is new and just starting with this product, they find it really tough."
"The stability isn't quite perfect. We occasionally run into problems."
"ArcSight ESM's UI is a little cumbersome and complex, especially for first-time and occasional users using the console manager."
"The onboarding process for this solution could be better. It also needs a better GUI."
"In other products, I have found that they use some kind of GUI that is drag and drop. While in ArcSight they use still scripting. They should keep scripting because some people prefer scripting but they should have the option for those who prefer using drag and drop."
"There is no correlation made between log entries, so no threat information is presented."
"The only issue is the pricetag. SolarWinds is a costly solution."
"I think the customization area in the tool can be considered as an area of concern where improvements are required."
"One of the drawbacks of being so flexible is that it is also a fairly complicated software application to install, configure, and maintain."
"I imagine we will have to develop our own reports soon, this seems to be more cumbersome."
"Training for this solution needs to be improved, as new employees are sometimes unfamiliar with the product."
"There are no multiple dashboards which would allow you to see information side-by-side."
"The solution was a little slow when running some larger queries."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a license to use this solution. The price of ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager is expensive."
"ArcSight can be a little bit expensive because of the area that we work in and the cost. Licensing is mostly on a yearly basis, not monthly."
"Aggregation can help a lot in pushing down licensing costs."
"HPE ArcSight pricing might be more expensive than other SIEM solutions, but in my opinion it has powerful features and great flexibility in developing complex use cases."
"The product licenses are inexpensive."
"ArcSight is pretty expensive compared with its competitors. I believe that is fine as it provides value."
"We're paying a fee for an MSSP, and the cost of the total cost of ArcSight ESM was approximately three to four million dollars a year. The price was less than similar solutions. We did not have additional fees."
"Customers without a ton of resources to dedicate to deployment may be better served by a managed ArcSight service."
"The price of SolarWinds Security Event Manager is reasonable."
"The pricing model would benefit from having package deals with other SolarWinds products."
"Licensing is on devices, so if you have many, then this may be high."
"We do a yearly license renewal. For a year, the solution costs roughly $500,000 USD. There are no costs beyond this yearly fee."
"Licenses can only be purchased in blocks of fifty at a time."
"It is in the appropriate mid-range. It is not as expensive as some of the other solutions. It is also not cheap."
"The tool is available at a good price for customers compared to other solutions in the market. I rate the product's price as an eight out of ten."
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Comparison Review

VS
Manager, Enterprise Risk Consulting at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jun 28, 2015
Qradar vs. ArcSight
Continuing with the SIEM posts we have done at Infosecnirvana, this post is a Head to head comparison of the two Industry leading SIEM products in the market – HP ArcSight and IBM QRadar Both the products have consistently been in the Gartner Leaders Quadrant. Both HP and IBM took over niche SIEM…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Performing Arts
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
University
10%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise57
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the best SIEM tool for a mid-sized financial services firm: Arcsight or Securonix?
In my market, a lot of financial companies had or have an ArcSight installation. Just because in former times it was pretty good. Now a lot of them are looking for a more effective solution due to ...
What do you like most about ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM)?
We utilize ArcSight ESM for real-time threat detection in our organization. We have custom rules that we've developed on top of the WAN services, along with scheduled licensing activities.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM)?
ArcSight Enterprise Security Manager (ESM) is very cheap compared to other tools. It is worth the investment if you are considering the cost.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?
The tool is available at a good price for customers compared to other solutions in the market. I rate the product's price as an eight out of ten.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?
The log analyzing capability of SolarWinds Security Event Manager should go into more depth than the current environment. More modification and enhancements are required on the dashboard side in or...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Security Event Manager ?
I work with all SolarWinds products mostly, including Network Configuration Manager and NPM. I am a reseller. I usually recommend SolarWinds products for Loop1. It's for the bigger ones; we are the...
 

Also Known As

Micro Focus ArcSight, HPE ArcSight, ArcSight
SolarWinds LEM, Solarwinds SIEM, TriGeo, Log and Event Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Lake Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Bank AlJazira, Banca Intesa, and Obrela.
NetSuite, EasyStreet, Legacy Texas Bank, and Energy Federal Credit Union, to name a few.
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText Enterprise Security Manager vs. SolarWinds Security Event Manager and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.