Cybersecurity · head to head
Semperis vs Splunk Enterprise Security
Semperis
Cybersecurity
Identity threat detection and Active Directory forest recovery for AD, Entra ID and Okta, from a privately held US vendor.
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Splunk Enterprise Security
Cybersecurity
The platform for operational intelligence
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Semperis scope is limited to Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta, so an organisation whose critical identity lives elsewhere gets little from it, and the recovery value declines in direct proportion to how much has already moved off on-premises AD.; Splunk Enterprise Security splunk Enterprise Security is licensed separately from the Splunk platform, so a SIEM deployment needs both
- They diverge on capability: Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery, Splunk Enterprise Security covers Security monitoring.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Semperis and Splunk Enterprise Security actually diverge.
| Attribute | Semperis | Splunk Enterprise Security |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | quote | subscription |
| Platforms | Web | Web, Api |
| Founded | Unknown | 2003 |
Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).
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 Semperis
- Active Directory Forest Recovery
- Malware-free restore
- Replication-stream monitoring
- Automated rollback
- Attack indicator scoring
- Entra ID and Okta coverage
- Purple Knight
- Forest Druid
Only in Splunk Enterprise Security
- Security monitoring
- Incident review
- Risk-based alerting
- Threat intelligence
- Investigation workbench
- MITRE ATT&CK mapping
- Automated response
- Compliance reporting
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Semperis
- An organisation that cannot answer an auditor or insurer asking how long it would take to rebuild Active Directory after a destructive attacknot Splunk Enterprise Security
- Post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's footholdnot Splunk Enterprise Security
- Continuous detection of privileged group changes and directory-level tampering that domain controller security logs missnot Splunk Enterprise Security
- Hybrid estates where AD, Entra ID and Okta all matter and no single tool currently shows changes across the threenot Splunk Enterprise Security
Splunk Enterprise Security
- Running a security operations centre on Splunk indexed log datanot Semperis
- Correlation searches, risk based alerting and incident investigationnot Semperis
- Compliance reporting from pooled security telemetrynot Semperis
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Semperis
- Scope is limited to Active Directory, Entra ID and Okta, so an organisation whose critical identity lives elsewhere gets little from it, and the recovery value declines in direct proportion to how much has already moved off on-premises AD.
- The licence buys tooling, not a proven runbook: forest recovery is only worth what your last rehearsal demonstrated, and a plan that has never been executed end to end in a lab is an untested assumption regardless of what was purchased.
- It overlaps with backup and directory management products from Quest, Veeam, Commvault and others, so the buyer must argue internally why a dedicated product is needed alongside a backup contract that already claims to protect Active Directory.
- Running Directory Services Protector well requires someone who understands AD internals, replication metadata and Tier 0 attack paths, and without that person the alerts on privileged changes are either ignored or auto-reverted in ways that break legitimate administration.
- Licensing is driven by identity object counts, so directories carrying years of stale user accounts and service principals pay for objects that should have been deleted, and the cleanup project that would reduce the bill is the one nobody has time for.
Splunk Enterprise Security
- Splunk Enterprise Security is licensed separately from the Splunk platform, so a SIEM deployment needs both
- Splunk publishes no rate for Enterprise Security and directs buyers to contact a pricing expert
- UEBA, SOAR and automated threat analysis require the Premier edition rather than Essentials
- The platform underneath can be billed by ingest volume, workload or activity, so the total cost depends on a pricing model chosen at contract time rather than a list price
Pricing, plan by plan
Semperis
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Semperis review.
Splunk Enterprise Security
On request- Workload PricingFree
- Pay per compute
- Flexible scaling
- All features
- Ingest PricingFree
- Pay per GB ingested
- Predictable costs
- All features
- Entity PricingFree
- Pay per monitored entity
- Security focused
- All features
Which should you pick?
Choose Semperis if
- You need active directory forest recovery.
- You also want malware-free restore.
Choose Splunk Enterprise Security if
- You need security monitoring.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want incident review.
Questions people ask
- Is Semperis or Splunk Enterprise Security better?
- Neither clearly leads. Semperis starts at On request and Splunk Enterprise Security at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Semperis or Splunk Enterprise Security?
- Semperis starts at On request and Splunk Enterprise Security at On request.
- Does Semperis or Splunk Enterprise Security run on more platforms?
- Semperis runs on Web. Splunk Enterprise Security runs on Web, Api.
- What is Semperis best used for?
- Semperis is most often used for an organisation that cannot answer an auditor or insurer asking how long it would take to rebuild active directory after a destructive attack, post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's foothold, continuous detection of privileged group changes and directory-level tampering that domain controller security logs miss, hybrid estates where ad, entra id and okta all matter and no single tool currently shows changes across the three. Of those, an organisation that cannot answer an auditor or insurer asking how long it would take to rebuild active directory after a destructive attack and post-incident recovery where domain controllers are compromised and restoring from system-state backup would reintroduce the attacker's foothold are not what Splunk Enterprise Security is typically brought in for.
- What can Semperis do that Splunk Enterprise Security cannot?
- Semperis covers Active Directory Forest Recovery, Malware-free restore, Replication-stream monitoring, Automated rollback. Splunk Enterprise Security covers Security monitoring, Incident review, Risk-based alerting, Threat intelligence.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Semperis: Does this replace my backups?
No. It replaces the Active Directory recovery procedure specifically. You still need backups for everything else, and the point of Semperis is that a generic system-state backup of a domain controller is a poor way to recover a forest because it restores the operating system along with whatever compromised it.
Splunk Enterprise Security: How much does Splunk Enterprise Security cost?
Splunk Enterprise Security pricing is not published. The product is available in Essentials Edition with threat detection, investigation, and response capabilities, and Premier Edition with UEBA, SOAR, and Automated Threat Analysis. Customers must contact Splunk sales for pricing quotes on either edition.
SourceSemperis: Is it useful if we are cloud-only on Entra ID?
Partly. Directory Services Protector covers Entra ID and Okta for change tracking and posture, but the forest recovery product, which is the strongest reason to buy, applies to on-premises Active Directory. A genuinely cloud-only organisation should weigh it against Microsoft's own tooling.
Splunk Enterprise Security: What editions of Splunk Enterprise Security are available?
Splunk Enterprise Security offers Essentials Edition with threat detection, investigation, and response capabilities, and Premier Edition which adds UEBA (User and Entity Behavior Analytics), SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response), and Automated Threat Analysis.
SourceSemperis: Are Purple Knight and Forest Druid really free?
Yes, both are free downloads with no licence requirement, and they are widely used by organisations that are not Semperis customers. They are also, transparently, the top of the sales funnel.
Semperis: How long does forest recovery actually take?
The honest answer is whatever your rehearsal took. The vendor's case is hours instead of days, and automation genuinely removes most manual steps, but the number that matters for your board is the one from a test in your own environment.
Semperis: Does it require agents on domain controllers?
It collects directory changes from the AD replication stream, which is what lets it see changes that bypass the security log. Deployment details vary by product and version, so confirm the exact architecture against your domain controller change-control rules.
Related pages
More on Splunk Enterprise Security
Other head to heads
- Semperis vs Bitdefender Total Security
- Semperis vs 1Password
- Semperis vs Norton 360
- Semperis vs LastPass
- Semperis vs NICE Actimize
- Semperis vs Netwrix
- Semperis vs VMware Carbon Black
- Semperis vs LogRhythm SIEM
- Semperis vs One Identity
- Semperis vs Ping Identity
- Semperis vs Signicat
- Semperis vs CrowdStrike Falcon
- Semperis vs Authy
- Semperis vs Baffle
- Semperis vs Beyond Identity
- Semperis vs BeyondTrust
- Semperis vs Burp Suite
- Semperis vs Bitdefender VPN
- Semperis vs Darktrace
- Semperis vs IBM QRadar
- Semperis vs Trend Micro Vision One
- Semperis vs Cybereason Defense Platform
- Semperis vs Microsoft Sentinel
- Semperis vs Rapid7 InsightVM
- Semperis vs TrustArc
- Semperis vs Varonis Data Security Platform
- Semperis vs Wireshark
- Semperis vs WorkOS
- Semperis vs Zscaler Internet Access
- Semperis vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Bitdefender Total Security
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs 1Password
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Norton 360
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs LastPass
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs NICE Actimize
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Netwrix
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs VMware Carbon Black
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs LogRhythm SIEM
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs One Identity
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Ping Identity
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Signicat
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs CrowdStrike Falcon
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Authy
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Baffle
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Beyond Identity
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs BeyondTrust
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Burp Suite
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Bitdefender VPN
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Darktrace
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs IBM QRadar
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Trend Micro Vision One
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Cybereason Defense Platform
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Microsoft Sentinel
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Rapid7 InsightVM
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs TrustArc
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Varonis Data Security Platform
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Wireshark
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs WorkOS
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Zscaler Internet Access
- Splunk Enterprise Security vs Microsoft Defender for Endpoint