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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Splunk Enterprise

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ASplunk is software for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated big data, via a web-style interface. It captures, indexes and correlates real-time data in a searchable repository from which it can generate graphs, reports, alerts, dashboards and visualizations.N/A

    Microsoft SQL Server

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft SQL Server is a relational database.

    $1,418

    Per License

    Pricing
    Splunk EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Subscription
    $1,418.00
    Per License
    Enterprise
    $13,748.00
    Per License
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Splunk EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Splunk EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Splunk Enterprise
    We reviewed a number of different platforms and found Splunk to be the more mature product across the board. Splunk is the market leader and the rest of the industry chances them. We needed a platform from a company with the resources to continue development and meet new …
    Incentivized
    Chose Splunk Enterprise
    I have not used anything else like Splunk.
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    59 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    53 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    49 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    45 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    59 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    53 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    43 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    39 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    50 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    45 Answers
    Features
    Splunk EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server
    Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
    Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of Splunk Enterprise and Microsoft SQL Server
    Feature
    Splunk Enterprise
    8.2
    91 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Microsoft SQL Server
    -
    Ratings
    Centralized event and log data collection9.085 Ratings00 Ratings
    Correlation8.487 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event and log normalization/management8.488 Ratings00 Ratings
    Deployment flexibility8.081 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools8.282 Ratings00 Ratings
    Custom dashboards and workspaces8.887 Ratings00 Ratings
    Host and network-based intrusion detection7.865 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data integration/API management8.334 Ratings00 Ratings
    Behavioral analytics and baselining7.732 Ratings00 Ratings
    Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds7.933 Ratings00 Ratings
    Response orchestration and automation7.529 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and compliance management8.634 Ratings00 Ratings
    Incident indexing/searching8.737 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Splunk EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Amazon RDS
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Score8.9 out of 10
    SingleStore
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Score8 out of 10
    SAP IQ
    Score5.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Splunk EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (112 ratings)
    7.9
    (107 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.5
    (25 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (45 ratings)
    7.6
    (17 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    7.9
    (26 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Data Sources
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Splunk EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    I'm liking the newer products, and I'm looking forward to how they integrate with the overall product when they come together. Just log in and be able to query a large number of systems for similar issues or a unique one. That is a great fit for Splunk Enterprise, looking for a simple case or a simple String or something of that nature across multiple machines. It's a great fit for that to identify issues or particular software, whatever your scenario is, String, to find it across any particular server or group of servers, so that you can update or do a deployment or whatever it is you're looking to do.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft SQL is ubiquitous, while MySQL runs under the hood all over the place. Microsoft SQL is the platform taught in colleges and certification courses and is the one most likely to be used by businesses because it is backed by Microsoft. Its interface is friendly (well, as pleasant as SQL can be) and has been used by so many for so long that resources are freely available if you encounter any issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • It is very useful in creating custom rules for analyzing system logs and display relevant information. The query language is very easy to learn.
    • We can create custom UI to visualize the output of our data. The interface is very flexible. It also allows the sharing of rules among users.
    • There is an open online community to help others. Stackoverflow also has a splunk community. These resources make it more convenient to learn.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Easy to configure and use with Visual Studio and Dot Net
    • Easy integration with MSBI to perform data analysis
    • Data Security
    • Easy to understand and use
    • Very easy to export database and tables in the form of SQL query or a script
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • Splunk light limits number of users to 5. Wish there was a flexible license, where one could add more users.
    • Splunk light does not let you add > few realtime alerts. Wish there was a flexible license, where one could add as many realtime alerts as wanted.
    • Better insight into daily ingestion values
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise edition has a high cost but is the only edition which supports SQL Always On Availability Groups. It would be nice to include this feature in the Standard version.
    • Licensing of Microsoft SQL Server is a quite complex matter, it would be good to simplify licensing in the future. For example, per core vs per user CAL licensing, as well as complex licensing scenarios in the Cloud and on Edge locations.
    • It would be good to include native tools for converting Oracle, DB2, Postgresql and MySQL/MariaDB databases (schema and data) for import into Microsoft SQL Server.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    We are using Splunk extensively in our projects and we have recently upgraded to Splunk version 6.0 which is quite efficient and giving expected results. We keep track of updates and new features Splunk introduces periodically and try to introduce those features in our day to day activities for improvement in our reporting system and other tasks.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We understand that the Microsoft SQL Server will continue to advance, offering the same robust and reliable platform while adding new features that enable us, as a software center, to create a superior product. That provides excellent performance while reducing the hardware requirements and the total cost of ownership of our solution.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    You can literally throw in a single word into Splunk and it will pull back all instances of that word across all of your logs for the time span you select (provided you have permission to see that data). We have several users who have taken a few of the free courses from Splunk that are able to pull data out of it everyday with little help at all.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    SQL Server mostly 'just works' or generates error messages to help you sort out the trouble. You can usually count on the product to get the job done and keep an eye on your potential mistakes. Interaction with other Microsoft products makes operating as a Windows user pretty straight forward. Digging through the multitude of dialogs and wizards can be a pain, but the answer is usually there somewhere.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    When properly setup and configured, Splunk is extremely reliable.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Its does not have outages.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    SSAS data cubes may some time slow down your Excel reports.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    Splunk maintains a well resourced support system that has been consistent since we purchased the product. They help out in a timely manner and provide expert level information as needed. We typically open cases online and communicate when possible via e-mail and are able to resolve most issues with that method.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We managed to handle most of our problems by looking into Microsoft's official documentation that has everything explained and almost every function has an example that illustrates in detail how a particular functionality works. Just like PowerShell has the ability to show you an example of how some cmdlet works, that is the case also here, and in my opinion, it is a very good practice and I like it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    It was good
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Cisco
    The online course was simple clear and described the main capabilities of the solution. There is also an initial module that can be done for free so anyone can familiarize themselves with the functionality of this solution. On the other hand, however, there could be more free online courses. Maybe even with a certificate, this would broaden the group of people who are familiar with the platform while increasing familiarity with the solution itself.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    very hands on and detailed training
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    Smooth without too many major issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Other than SQL taking quite a bit of time to actually install there are no problems with installation. Even on hardware that has good performance SQL can still take close to an hour to install a typical server with management and reporting services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    A lot of products have natively inside their own dashboards and or their own logging repositories. And each one is difficult to learn or they're too complex or they're not verbose in the sense that they're not easy to mine the data that you're looking for. So that could be anything from the native logging that you find in other Cisco products. It's easier to use Splunk to draw the data that you're looking for as opposed to going to the individual's products themselves to get the logs that you're looking for.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    [Microsoft] SQL Server has a much better community and professional support and is overall just a more reliable system with Microsoft behind it. I've used MySQL in the past and SQL Server has just become more comfortable for me and is my go to RDBMS.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cisco
    Splunk can scale in to the petabyte per day range which of course is awesome
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    SQL server does handle growing demands of a mid sized company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Splunk has allowed developers to diagnose production issues when access of control was taken away from them to be allowed to view items in production environments and I believe that is invaluable.
    • At times some developers weren't super happy about using it, but it was more of the fact that they were used to having production access and not creating their splunk queries to get information.
    • Going one place to view logs was very beneficial to have.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Increased accuracy - We went from multiple users having different versions of an Excel spreadsheet to a single source of truth for our reporting.
    • Increased Efficiency - We can now generate reports at any time from a single source rather than multiple users spending their time collating data and generating reports.
    • Improved Security - Enterprise level security on a dedicated server rather than financial files on multiple laptop hard drives.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots