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Cybersecurity · head to head

IBM QRadar vs Keil MDK

IBM QRadar logo

IBM QRadar

Cybersecurity

Enterprise SIEM licensed by events per second, whose cloud business IBM sold to Palo Alto Networks in 2024.

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Keil MDK logo

Keil MDK

Developer Tools

Microcontroller Development Kit for Arm-based devices

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Keil MDK has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: IBM QRadar iBM sold the QRadar SaaS business to Palo Alto Networks in 2024 and those customers are being moved to Cortex XSIAM, so anyone buying today is choosing an on-premises product whose vendor has publicly moved the cloud future to a competitor, and the support horizon becomes a contract negotiation rather than an assumption.; Keil MDK pricing for Essential and Professional subscriptions not disclosed on primary site
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which IBM QRadar and Keil MDK actually diverge.

Attributes where IBM QRadar and Keil MDK differ
AttributeIBM QRadarKeil MDK
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionfreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, ApiWeb
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools
Founded1911Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in IBM QRadar

  • Offence model
  • Network flow analysis
  • Device Support Modules
  • Ariel query language
  • Rules and building blocks
  • Deployment topology
  • App Exchange
  • Use Case Manager

Only in Keil MDK

Nothing recorded that IBM QRadar does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

IBM QRadar

  • A regulated enterprise that must keep log data on premises or in a specific jurisdiction and cannot use a shared SaaS SIEMnot Keil MDK
  • A SOC that wants log correlation and network flow analysis in one platform rather than buying an NDR product separatelynot Keil MDK
  • An existing QRadar estate deciding whether to stay on premises or accept the migration path to a different vendor's platformnot Keil MDK
  • Compliance-driven log retention and reporting where the audit requirement is specific about collection, retention and reportingnot Keil MDK

Keil MDK

  • Embedded software developmentnot IBM QRadar
  • ARM microcontroller programmingnot IBM QRadar
  • Professional development environmentsnot IBM QRadar

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

IBM QRadar

  • IBM sold the QRadar SaaS business to Palo Alto Networks in 2024 and those customers are being moved to Cortex XSIAM, so anyone buying today is choosing an on-premises product whose vendor has publicly moved the cloud future to a competitor, and the support horizon becomes a contract negotiation rather than an assumption.
  • Licensing is by events per second and flows per minute, so every additional log source raises the cost directly and teams routinely exclude verbose sources such as DNS, proxy, endpoint and cloud audit logs to stay under the licence, which strips out exactly the data an investigation later needs.
  • It needs a dedicated operator: rule tuning, parser work and offence triage are continuous jobs, and an organisation that deploys QRadar without at least one named engineer accumulates thousands of unreviewed offences and a false sense of coverage.
  • A log source without a matching Device Support Module arrives unparsed, and writing a custom parser with regular expressions against an unfamiliar payload format is specialist work that can take days per source, which quietly determines which systems ever get monitored.
  • On-premises capacity is planned across consoles, processors, collectors and data nodes, so outgrowing the sizing means procuring and racking more appliances rather than changing a subscription tier, and growth becomes a purchasing cycle measured in months.

Keil MDK

  • Pricing for Essential and Professional subscriptions not disclosed on primary site
  • Customers must contact Arm Developer Tools store for subscription rates

Pricing, plan by plan

IBM QRadar

On request
  • QRadar SIEMFree
    • Event and flow processing
    • Offense management
    • Threat intelligence
  • QRadar CloudFree
    • Cloud-native deployment
    • Elastic scaling
    • Managed infrastructure
  • QRadar SuiteFree
    • SIEM + SOAR + XDR
    • Unified analyst experience
    • Federated search

Keil MDK

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Keil MDK review.

Which should you pick?

Choose IBM QRadar if

  • You need offence model.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want network flow analysis.
IBM QRadar review

Choose Keil MDK if

  • You want to start without paying.
Keil MDK review

Questions people ask

Is IBM QRadar or Keil MDK better?
Neither clearly leads. IBM QRadar starts at On request and Keil MDK at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, IBM QRadar or Keil MDK?
Keil MDK has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for IBM QRadar and Free for Keil MDK.
Does IBM QRadar or Keil MDK run on more platforms?
IBM QRadar runs on Web, Api. Keil MDK runs on Web.
Can I use Keil MDK for free?
Yes. Keil MDK has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. IBM QRadar starts at On request.
What is IBM QRadar best used for?
IBM QRadar is most often used for a regulated enterprise that must keep log data on premises or in a specific jurisdiction and cannot use a shared saas siem, a soc that wants log correlation and network flow analysis in one platform rather than buying an ndr product separately, an existing qradar estate deciding whether to stay on premises or accept the migration path to a different vendor's platform, compliance-driven log retention and reporting where the audit requirement is specific about collection, retention and reporting. Of those, a regulated enterprise that must keep log data on premises or in a specific jurisdiction and cannot use a shared saas siem and a soc that wants log correlation and network flow analysis in one platform rather than buying an ndr product separately are not what Keil MDK is typically brought in for.
What can IBM QRadar do that Keil MDK cannot?
IBM QRadar covers Offence model, Network flow analysis, Device Support Modules, Ariel query language.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

IBM QRadar: Who owns QRadar now?

It is split. IBM sold the QRadar SaaS assets to Palo Alto Networks in a deal announced in May 2024 and closed that September, and those customers are being migrated to Cortex XSIAM. IBM retains and supports the on-premises product.

Keil MDK: Does Keil MDK have a free version?

Yes, Keil MDK Community Edition is free for non-commercial projects. Essential and Professional editions are available as monthly or annual subscriptions.

Source
IBM QRadar: Is QRadar being discontinued?

IBM has committed to continuing support for on-premises customers, including security updates, while offering migration assistance. The cloud product's future belongs to Palo Alto. If you are signing a multi-year term, get the support horizon written into the contract.

Keil MDK: How much do Keil MDK paid editions cost?

Specific pricing for Essential and Professional editions is not published on the main site. Rates are available from the Arm Developer Tools store or by contacting Arm sales.

Source
IBM QRadar: How is it licensed?

By events per second for logs and flows per minute for network data, with the software or appliance sized to that rate. Add-on modules in the suite are licensed separately.

IBM QRadar: What is an offence?

QRadar's term for a correlated case. Rules group related events and flows against a common indicator such as a host or user, so an analyst reviews one offence rather than the hundreds of events behind it.

IBM QRadar: Do I need a full-time engineer?

In practice yes for anything beyond a small deployment. Parser development, rule tuning and offence triage do not stop, and the most common failure mode is a well-installed QRadar that nobody has tuned since go-live.

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