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SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) vs. Splunk Enterprise Security

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer is a network monitoring tool within the broader SolarWinds ecosystem. It includes core traffic monitoring features, as well as customizable traffic reports and alerts.N/A

    Splunk Enterprise Security

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/ASplunk Enterprise Security is an analytics-driven SIEM that helps to combat threats with actionable intelligence and advanced analytics at scale.N/A
    Pricing
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)Splunk Enterprise Security
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)Splunk Enterprise Security
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)Splunk Enterprise Security
    Considered Both Products
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    42 Answers
    99%
    Would buy again
    109 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    90 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    42 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    103 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    80 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    37 Answers
    91%
    Implementation went as expected
    90 Answers
    Features
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)Splunk Enterprise Security
    Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
    Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) and Splunk Enterprise Security
    Feature
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
    -
    Ratings
    Splunk Enterprise Security
    8.4
    107 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings7.1105 Ratings
    Correlation00 Ratings8.9104 Ratings
    Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings8.9105 Ratings
    Deployment flexibility00 Ratings7.9106 Ratings
    Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings8.9101 Ratings
    Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings9.8107 Ratings
    Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings7.9101 Ratings
    Data integration/API management00 Ratings7.9103 Ratings
    Behavioral analytics and baselining00 Ratings8.899 Ratings
    Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds00 Ratings7.9100 Ratings
    Response orchestration and automation00 Ratings7.992 Ratings
    Reporting and compliance management00 Ratings8.9100 Ratings
    Incident indexing/searching00 Ratings8.0106 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)Splunk Enterprise Security
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    Medium-sized Companies
    Darktrace
    Score8.3 out of 10
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Darktrace
    Score8.3 out of 10
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    Score8 out of 10
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    User Ratings
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)Splunk Enterprise Security
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (62 ratings)
    7.1
    (109 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (11 ratings)
    7.0
    (12 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (49 ratings)
    7.3
    (8 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (98 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)Splunk Enterprise Security
    Likelihood to Recommend
    SolarWinds
    We use and depend on it for status state of our network gear, switches and routers. It does an excellent job of getting you the details you need to confirm all devices and products are working at the level needed. At times, it does tend to flag network switch ports and/or switches themselves as exceeding their rated capacity when frequently it was a quick blip of high traffic due to downloads, or uploads causing the max'ing of the device. Again, you can adjust the settings but then you adjust it too high and miss real activity. It can become nuisance alerting when you tend to then ignore
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Based on my experience, Splunk is a strong git for some environments and a poor match for others. The distinction is primarily based on infrastructure complexity and budget. It's perfect for large enterprises with a mix of on-prem/cloud infrastructure. It's not a perfect match for small teams with restricted resources.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    SolarWinds
    • The level of customization possible with Network Bandwidth Analyzer is very valuable. Rather than being stuck with a "one-size-fits-all" presentation, an administrator can easily create customized views, reports, and alerts so that users can have a more tailored view of the data provided by Network Bandwidth Analyzer. This has the effect of making the tool more attractive to the end user.
    • The NetFlow Traffic Analyzer piece of Network Bandwidth Analyzer provides the details on bandwidth usage on the network. More than knowing how much bandwidth is being used, one is provided with detailed information on how that bandwidth is being used. This provides invaluable information for capacity planning and even certain forensic tasks faced by the network engineer.
    • The ability to produce network maps provides an easy way to create an attractive and functional NOC/SOC view of the entire network. Both technician and the occasional passerby can quickly determine if there are issues to be addressed. The ability to customize a map with background images and custom icons and stencils can make these maps really pop.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Writes Powerful Queries: The queries that can be written using the Splunk Query Language are very powerful and highly customizable to meet every need. Ex: Writing queries to search the intersection of two different sources like Network and Endpoint Logs.
    • Offers Dashboard Abilities: Helps build complex panels for Dashboards in addition to providing several out-of-the-box panels. Ex: creating panels to calculate the performance of analysts in a given timezone.
    • Helpful Search Aids: It helps to set up complex custom alerts very easily. The interesting fields section is very helpful while threat hunting. Ex: It shows all the users and the frequency of each in a failed login event. The user list on the interesting fields is useful to look for suspicious logins.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    SolarWinds
    • The ability to intuitively and quickly serve up specified information up to a dashboard for general “public” consumption, that cycles through several pages of information.
    • The ability to intuitively set up alerting on bandwidth levels, instead of having to dig through all types of alerts available to find the one needed.
    • Provide a pricing model based on different support levels: if I want only available update installations, don’t make me pay the same amount as those wanting full support.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Improved User Interface Customization: While the interface is generally intuitive, providing more options for users to customize their dashboards and views would enhance the overall user experience. Tailoring the interface to specific roles or use cases could be a valuable addition.
    • Simplified Alert Management: Streamlining the process of managing alerts, such as grouping or categorizing them based on severity or type, would make it easier for security teams to prioritize and respond to incidents effectively.
    • Expanded Threat Intelligence Feeds: Increasing the variety and sources of threat intelligence feeds available within ES would provide a broader context for identifying and mitigating emerging threats, ensuring a more comprehensive defense against evolving attack vectors.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    We are very happy with Splunk and would advise anyone to take a serious look at it. It might look pricey but the rewards Splunk offers seem endless.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    SolarWinds
    As far as rating for usability is concerned I would give 10/10 as NTA is very easy to use. All you need to do is install that module and ask network Team to configure the Netflow towards Server IP. [The] rest is pre-configured and reports are pre-built. Moment you receive the flows from Network all you will have is information about traffic.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Maintaining hundreds or even 1000+ SOC use cases is really difficult, considering that the Data sources may not always send the data. A module that detects data freshness issues and detect data format changes would be a great help. the main challenge today using Splunk Enterprise Security is making sure that the detection rules are still working properly given all the changes that occur in data source applications. Also, maintaining the data collects on tens of thousands of servers and more than 100k workstations is a real company IT challenge: the splunkbase forwarder may not support old OS anymore, while these are the most important to monitor. Moving to the Open Telemetry collector has become essential so that only 1 agent is required for both SIEM and application observability.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I don't think I've ever seen Splunk ES go fully offline or have any downtime greater than a few minutes on rare occasions.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It takes a long time for items to load if you are just generally searching through logs. It is best to use the data models which load faster but can be strange in terms of what is coming from which logs where. Yes, you can look it up, but this also requires familiarity with where things are and how to look them up.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    SolarWinds
    I know we could probably pay for it, but it would be nice if we could get to a tier 2 technician faster. Spending a couple of hours on the phone with the level 1 technician, when we have already tried the troubleshooting they are walking us through, is just a waste of time.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    It's good when it's responsive, but I've had times where I had to wait quite a while for a response. But these are typically the exceptions rather than the rule. When you do get a response it is always well-informed and appropriate. I would say they've been trending better over time with this.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I experienced only on-line training, but the trainers were very professional and competent. Maybe it could be more useful if they also have an experience in projects because sometimes they didn't have a real project experience to communicate to the students. Anyway, it was very interesting and I learned many thing that's very difficoult (or maybe impossible!) to have by myself, aven if I have more than 10 years of Splunk activity experience.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    SolarWinds
    The training offered by SolarWinds is some of the best out there. They have several different videos that go into great detail from initial setup to advanced configurations. In addition to the view at your own pace video, they also have live training for customers that focus on a single product and you can ask questions with the folks who develop the software. I have had good success with their live sessions and getting questions answered.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    It was very interesting and I learned many thing that's very difficoult (or maybe impossible!) to have by myself. The only problem was that, when I worked with the Splunk Professional Services, I found some difference between the training contents and the information from PS. In addition is required a long experience on Splunk Enterprise for the data ingestion part, in other words I'm able to work with ES because I'm worling on Splunk since 11 years, otherwise I'd some problem.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    It's a fantatic product and it was very useful the presence of Splunk Professional Services for the Design Phase and the final Health Check.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    SolarWinds
    SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer compared to Wireshark and PRTG Network Monitor beats it by just the simple interface. Though all are manual setup, NTA takes it a step further with graphs and reports that analyze the data for you. In comparing to Extrahop from a bandwidth comparison, Extrahop wins but Extrahop is a lot more than just a bandwidth monitoring and cost.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Splunk enterprise is the only solution that we’ve been able to identify that provides risk based alerting, which allows our SOC to reduce analyst fatigue which would be a huge problem without it. Before RBA, there were thousands of alerts a day and it was impossible to review all of them
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    for my exterience, unit pricing and billing frequency are correct. As I already said, I hint to have more discount flexibility, expecially with new customers, because there are competitors less expensive and very aggressive that are dangerous. In addition the possibility to don't pay the license for the development period could be a very interesting feature for the final customers.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    - 8 out of 10 and took 2 for the data pipeline and administration part. Even if you'd like to improve yourself or your team, you have to pay a lot of money and it could be more than GIAC education + cert. - Normalization for Data models and CPU-based searches can be a problem sometimes.
    Incentivized
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    Professional Services
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    I had a fantastic experience with Splunk Professional Services: they worked with us in our last SON project (a SOC migration for a very large customer) and helped to build a multi tenent environment even if ES isn't a multi tenant platform. Th Splunk PS was a very professional and competent people, he is italian and was able to speak with our italian customers.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    SolarWinds
    • Be prepared to answer lots of questions. When people see the data in NTA they are going to want to know why App A is talking to App B. Be ready to explain!
    • Hand the keys to the NTA kingdom to the network team. They will thank you. Everyone wants to have friends on the network team, right?
    • Be prepared to invest in some significant compute and storage performance to keep up with your NTA monitoring
    • Running the latest firmware for your network gear is (often) required to take advantage of all the flow-monitoring. You upgrade regularly, right??
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • We have a 100% success rate on all our ES implementations due to the amazing documentation and Splunk enablement on the subject.
    • Our Splunk ES business has grown 100% YoY for the last 3 years.
    • In terms of long term management and maintenance, ES has been highly stable and predictable, reducing our overhead on costly services team for ad hoc maintenance work.
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