IBM QRadar SIEM vs Amazon GuardDuty

IBM QRadar SIEM8.9Visit Amazon GuardDuty8.5Visit

Higher score IBM QRadar SIEM #4 in Security Monitoring 8.9/10 Pricing on request ✓ 0 of 2 features Visit IBM

vs

Amazon GuardDuty #8 in Security Monitoring 8.5/10 30-day trial Free trial✓ 0 of 2 features Visit AWS GuardDuty

• IBM QRadar SIEM fits best

  Organizations standardizing on a self-hosted SIEM

• Amazon GuardDuty fits best

  Teams running workloads on AWS

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Side by side

Feature	IBM QRadar SIEM 8.9/10 Visit ↗	Amazon GuardDuty 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.9	8.5
Ranking	#4 in Security Monitoring	#8 in Security Monitoring
Best for	Organizations standardizing on a self-hosted SIEM	Teams running workloads on AWS
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	Pricing on request	—
Free plan	Not checked yet	—
Free trial	—	30 days
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud
Integrations	1 integrations	15 integrations
Features IBM QRadar SIEM 0/2 · Amazon GuardDuty 0/2
Automated response	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Log search	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Deployment	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Data source coverage	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Data retention	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Alerting channels	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Centralizes security visibility across data sources Combines real-time detection with user and network analytics Supports Sigma, custom rules, AQL searches, and 700+ integrations	Monitors AWS logs, workloads, and data across multiple protection plans Covers EKS, EC2, Fargate, Lambda, S3, RDS, and AI workloads Routes findings into EventBridge-based notification and response workflows
Cons	Self-hosted deployment requires on-premises hardware or virtual appliances Pricing is custom and requires contacting IBM Retention varies by deployment and retention bucket	Coverage is limited to AWS cloud environments Pay-as-you-go costs vary by data source and AWS Region The 30-day offer is a trial, not a permanent free plan
Our verdict	IBM QRadar SIEM brings security events and network activity into a centralized environment for security operations teams. Its self-hosted deployment is aimed at organizations that want to standardize SIEM operations on premises, using… Read the review →	Amazon GuardDuty is a managed threat detection service for teams monitoring AWS accounts, workloads, and data. It analyzes AWS logs and activity to generate security findings with severity and resource details. Coverage spans foundational… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• IBM QRadar SIEM — where it wins

  • Centralizes security visibility across data sources
  • Combines real-time detection with user and network analytics
  • Supports Sigma, custom rules, AQL searches, and 700+ integrations

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires on-premises hardware or virtual appliances
  • Pricing is custom and requires contacting IBM
  • Retention varies by deployment and retention bucket

• Amazon GuardDuty — where it wins

  • Monitors AWS logs, workloads, and data across multiple protection plans
  • Covers EKS, EC2, Fargate, Lambda, S3, RDS, and AI workloads
  • Routes findings into EventBridge-based notification and response workflows

  Where it doesn't

  • Coverage is limited to AWS cloud environments
  • Pay-as-you-go costs vary by data source and AWS Region
  • The 30-day offer is a trial, not a permanent free plan

• IBM QRadar SIEM8.9/10 · Pricing on request

  A self-hosted SIEM with real-time detection, analytics, custom rules, and broad integrations.

  Visit IBMFull verdict →
• Amazon GuardDuty8.5/10 · 30-day trial

  Broad AWS threat detection with findings and response workflows, limited to AWS environments.

  Visit AWS GuardDutyFull verdict →