What is Microsoft Sentinel used for?

Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native SIEM and SOAR service that helps security operations teams detect threats and automate incident response. It is a good fit for SOC teams centralizing security logs and alerts, and organizations replacing on-premises SIEM infrastructure.

How much does Microsoft Sentinel cost?

Microsoft Sentinel is a paid product with no free plan.

Is Microsoft Sentinel open source?

No. Microsoft Sentinel is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Microsoft Sentinel include Wazuh, Security Onion and Tracecat.

What are some alternatives to Microsoft Sentinel?

Microsoft Sentinel competes with Splunk, IBM QRadar and Exabeam. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Microsoft Sentinel alternatives.

Microsoft Sentinel: features, pricing and alternatives

About Microsoft Sentinel

Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native security information and event management service, with security orchestration and automated response built in. It is aimed at security operations centers that want to detect threats, investigate them and respond from one place without running their own SIEM infrastructure.

Microsoft says it helps teams detect threats faster, automate response and lower SIEM costs through a data lake. It sits within the Microsoft Security portfolio next to Defender, Entra, Intune and Purview, and the page notes that some SIEM capabilities are now in preview as part of a new security operations capability in Defender.

Sentinel is a hosted Microsoft cloud service with a free trial, a pricing overview and extensive documentation, training and certifications. There is no self-hosted edition. Pricing is covered on a separate Microsoft Security pricing overview page, and product trials are available.

Key features

Cloud-native SIEM for security operations
Automated response with SOAR
Threat detection across data sources
Data lake for lower-cost log storage
Integration with Microsoft Defender
Free trial available

Good fit for

→SOC teams centralizing security logs and alerts
→Organizations replacing on-premises SIEM infrastructure

Tags: siem; soar; cloud-security; threat-detection; security-operations; microsoft; azure

Microsoft Sentinel: questions and answers

What is Microsoft Sentinel used for?: Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native SIEM and SOAR service that helps security operations teams detect threats and automate incident response. It is a good fit for SOC teams centralizing security logs and alerts, and organizations replacing on-premises SIEM infrastructure.
How much does Microsoft Sentinel cost?: Microsoft Sentinel is a paid product with no free plan.
Is Microsoft Sentinel open source?: No. Microsoft Sentinel is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Microsoft Sentinel include Wazuh, Security Onion and Tracecat.
What are some alternatives to Microsoft Sentinel?: Microsoft Sentinel competes with Splunk, IBM QRadar and Exabeam. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Microsoft Sentinel alternatives.