{"question": "best siem software for small businesses", "category": "siem-software", "category_name": "siem software", "audience": "small-businesses", "audience_name": "small businesses", "engine": "Claude (Anthropic) with web search", "model": "claude-opus-5", "asked_at": "2026-10-06T21:48:48Z", "permalink": "https://bikoosh.com/answers/s/siem-software-small-businesses-2026-10-06", "question_page": "https://bikoosh.com/answers/q/siem-software/small-businesses", "brands_named": [{"position": 1, "brand": "Blumira", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 2, "brand": "Microsoft", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 3, "brand": "Microsoft Sentinel", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 4, "brand": "Sentinel", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 5, "brand": "Microsoft 365", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 6, "brand": "Defender", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 7, "brand": "Azure", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 8, "brand": "Wazuh", "label": "recommended"}, {"position": 9, "brand": "Arctic Wolf", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 10, "brand": "Graylog Security", "label": "compared"}, {"position": 11, "brand": "Elastic Security", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 12, "brand": "Sumo Logic", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 13, "brand": "Splunk", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 14, "brand": "CrowdStrike", "label": "mentioned"}, {"position": 15, "brand": "CrowdStrike Falcon", "label": "mentioned"}], "sources_cited": [{"url": "https://www.capterra.com/p/208225/Blumira/pricing/", "domain": "capterra.com", "source_type": "review"}, {"url": "https://go.blumira.com/siem-pricing", "domain": "go.blumira.com", "source_type": "vendor"}, {"url": "https://costbench.com/software/siem/microsoft-sentinel", "domain": "costbench.com", "source_type": "other"}, {"url": "https://blog.pa.com.au/it-and-security/how-microsoft-is-bringing-enterprise-grade-security-for-smbs-with-sentinel", "domain": "blog.pa.com.au", "source_type": "other"}, {"url": "https://www.rfp.wiki/it-security/security-information-and-event-management/wazuh/blumira", "domain": "rfp.wiki", "source_type": "other"}, {"url": "https://www.rfp.wiki/it-security/security-information-and-event-management/graylog/wazuh", "domain": "rfp.wiki", "source_type": "other"}, {"url": "https://costbench.com/best/siem-for-small-business/", "domain": "costbench.com", "source_type": "other"}, {"url": "https://securityboulevard.com/2026/04/siem-pricing-2026-leading-siem-providers-compared-how-to-reduce-the-price-of-siem-ownership", "domain": "securityboulevard.com", "source_type": "other"}], "answer_text": "## My short answer\n\nFor most small businesses, **Blumira** - it's the one I'd actually set up first.\n\n**1. Blumira** - Purpose-built for SMBs with little or no security staff. Flat per-user pricing (~$12/user/mo SIEM Starter, $16 SIEM+, $21 XDR), and critically: **unlimited data ingestion, 365-day retention, and 24/7 SecOps support included**. That pricing model matters more than any feature list - per-GB SIEMs punish you for logging more, which is exactly the wrong incentive when you're small. Detections ship pre-tuned with written response playbooks, so you don't need an analyst to interpret alerts. ([pricing](https://www.capterra.com/p/208225/Blumira/pricing/), [Blumira](https://go.blumira.com/siem-pricing))\n\n**2. Microsoft Sentinel** - The right pick *if* you're a Microsoft 365 E5/Business Premium shop. The reason is narrow but decisive: **Defender XDR data ingested into Sentinel is free** (Defender for Endpoint, Office 365, Identity, Cloud Apps), so your most valuable logs cost nothing. Pay-as-you-go beyond that runs ~$5.20/GB, which at 10 GB/day is ~$1,560/mo - so it's cheap if Defender is most of your footprint and expensive the moment it isn't. Needs someone comfortable in ", "answer_truncated": true, "measurement": "One answer from one engine on one date. Not a ranking and not a claim about the world; brands the engine did not name are not recorded.", "limitation": "Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.", "alerts": {"name": "Answer Watch Pro", "price_usd": 79, "period": "month", "gets": "daily change alerts for up to 5 brands in what one AI answer engine says, history, CSV export. Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included", "url": "https://bikoosh.com/answers"}}