Exabeam vs. QRadar: Four Ways to Compare and Evaluate

Security is a top priority for any organization, and choosing the right security information and event management (SIEM) solution is crucial for protecting against cyber threats. IBM QRadar and Exabeam Fusion are two popular SIEM options, but which one is the best choice for your organization? In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at the four ways Exabeam delivers better security outcomes than IBM QRadar and why Exabeam Fusion is a better choice.

Four ways to compare and evaluate Exabeam and QRadar

1. Exabeam scored higher in third-party analyst reviews. IBM’s lack of movement from their position reflects their lack of innovation. In a leading analyst firm’s reviews, customers complained about IBM’s poor analytics capabilities, or manual process for mapping to MITRE ATT&CK™  — and generally a slowdown of innovation. On the other hand, Exabeam enjoys an 88% “would recommend” with frequently-mentioned ease of use.

2. QRadar UBA (user behavior analytics) app provides limited value and requires an additional machine learning app. It has a small rule set and is largely limited to static rules. Its poor behavioral analytics engine results in a lot of noisy alerts. It requires a separate app for machine learning-based detections and can’t enable all of them. Customers that use their new Analyst Workflows UI will need to pivot back and forth between interfaces because they are not integrated. In contrast, Exabeam threat detection, investigation, and response (TDIR) use cases look at user and asset behavioral context and their normal operating activity, identifying anomalous, high-risk behavior with greater accuracy and less maintenance.

3. QRadar’s user interface lacks integration and streamlined investigation capabilities. IBM tries to sell customers on its Cloud Pak for Security to unify its disjointed security product interfaces, but the platform doesn’t work the way they say it does, as not all products integrate. Their Analyst Workflows app consolidates information to reduce clicks, but they did little to streamline investigations, requiring customers to pay for the Advisor with Watson add-on. IBM claims that the QRadar UBA app has a timeline, but it only groups alert types into 24-hour buckets where they are ordered based on a simple frequency and severity weighting. Exabeam Smart Timelines^TM recreate user sessions with all activity, normal and abnormal, and stitch it together chronologically, as well as automate manual querying.

4. QRadar offers limited pre-built content, while Exabeam provides advanced automation and analytics. The add-ons required to get modern functionality out of QRadar are at varying levels of maturity and provide an incohesive user experience. Exabeam pre-built content adds automation at every level of TDIR. With Advanced Analytics, Exabeam defines normal activity for users and entities to detect deviations compared to that baseline, the baseline of a peer group, and that of the organization. Anomalies are placed into machine learning-based Smart Timelines to provide a full chronological picture of all associated events.

Conclusion

Exabeam Fusion delivers better security outcomes than IBM QRadar in all aspects: better reports and scoring in Gartner Peer Insights, offering more value with user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA), more pre-built content for automation, and a better user experience. Exabeam Fusion is the clear choice for organizations looking for a comprehensive, robust, and easy-to-use SIEM solution.