CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Corelight vs SolarWinds

Corelight sells the Open NDR Platform, which transforms network data into evidence. SolarWinds sells monitoring, observability and service management capabilities on a platform offered in self-hosted and SaaS deployment models. CISO Tribune files both under Network visibility and traffic brokering. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Corelight
  • SolarWinds
Corelight vs SolarWinds: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CorelightCorelight sells the Open NDR Platform, which transforms network data into evidence.corelight.comSolarWindsSolarWinds sells monitoring, observability and service management capabilities on a platform offered in self-hosted and SaaS deployment models.solarwinds.com
What it sells
  • Investigator[1][4][9][10][12][13][15][18]A SaaS-based NDR platform for investigations. It uses Agentic Triage playbooks to triage alerts.
  • Corelight Sensors[8][12][13]Sensors that capture a copy of traffic out-of-band and turn it into network evidence with Zeek.
  • Smart PCAP[1][4][12]Links Zeek logs, detections and extracted files to only the packets needed for investigations.
  • AI/ML detections[8]A subscription-based module of AI/ML detections that can be purchased with Corelight Sensors.
  • Threat Intelligence[4][8][13]A licensed feature for Corelight Sensors and Investigator.
  • Cloud Sensors[14]Corelight sensors for cloud networks, available for AWS, GCP and Azure.
  • Security Event Manager[1]An on-premise SIEM tool built with threat feeds designed to automatically detect and respond to user, application and network threats.
  • SolarWinds Observability SaaS[6]Observability delivered as SaaS, built to connect data from web applications, their services, and cloud and hybrid infrastructures.
  • SolarWinds Observability Self-HostedSelf-hosted observability that can be deployed behind a firewall or self-hosted in AWS, Microsoft Azure or GCP.
Categories
Headquarters
San Francisco, United States[3]Not stated on its pages
Founded
2016Not stated on its pages
Ownership and funding
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Named customers
Not stated on its pagesNot stated on its pages
Recent news
  • October 6, 2026Corelight announced the establishment of Corelight Canada, a standalone entity intended to work more closely with customers, partners and public sector organizations in Canada.[17]
  • July 27, 2026Corelight announced the appointment of Amanda Berger as its Chief Customer Officer.[5]
  • June 9, 2026Corelight announced that its Open NDR Platform, including Investigator and Hosted Fleet Manager, was listed on the FedRAMP Marketplace as FedRAMP In Process at the Class C (Moderate) level.[18]
  • June 9, 2026Corelight announced it has reached FedRAMP In Process status.[6]
Not stated on its pages
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 5, 2026[7]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: listed, seen November 10, 2026[4]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
Who it fits
From its own pages, Corelight sells mainly to SOC teams that want network evidence for detection, investigation and threat hunting. Corelight describes customers extending visibility across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Customer examples on its pages include a global beauty retailer protecting point-of-sale terminals and a major U.S mortgage lender with data centers and multi-cloud workloads in AWS and Azure.SolarWinds offers a choice of self-hosted, SaaS or hybrid deployment. SolarWinds offers small business IT solutions and IT education solutions for students, staff and faculty. The federal government is a customer of SolarWinds. SolarWinds Service Desk can be used across the entire organization as an enterprise service management solution.
Last verified
September 27, 2026October 14, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Corelight and SolarWinds are both filed under Network visibility and traffic brokering.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Corelight's primary category is Network detection and response; SolarWinds's is Network visibility and traffic brokering.
  • SolarWinds is also filed under SIEM.
  • Corelight lists Investigator, Corelight Sensors, Smart PCAP, AI/ML detections, Threat Intelligence and 1 more. SolarWinds lists Security Event Manager, SolarWinds Observability SaaS and SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted.
  • Corelight is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.
  • Corelight was founded in 2016.

What it sells: Corelight

What Investigator does[1][4][9][10][12][13][15][18]
Investigator is Corelight's SaaS-based NDR platform that streamlines complex investigations. Agentic Triage uses transparent, expert-written playbooks. SIEM Verdict Export sends triage verdicts, reasoning chains and evidence links into a SIEM.
What Corelight Sensors does[8][12][13]
The sensor captures a copy of all traffic out-of-band, then deduplicates and cleans the data. Powered by Zeek, it performs deep protocol parsing across 70+ data types. The evidence is routed to Investigator, a SIEM or a data lake.
What Smart PCAP does[1][4][12]
Corelight Smart PCAP links Zeek logs, detections and extracted files to only the packets needed for investigations. Corelight says it lets teams store packets longer and find them faster.
What AI/ML detections does[8]
AI/ML detection is a subscription-based module that can be purchased with Corelight Sensors. It can be deployed across air-gapped, hybrid, cloud or multicloud environments. Models are enabled, managed and tuned through Fleet Manager. Many detections run directly on-sensor with no cloud dependency.
What Threat Intelligence does[4][8][13]
Threat Intelligence is a licensed feature for Corelight Sensors and Investigator. It is supported on all sensor options. It is managed through Fleet Manager or the sensor's Threat Intelligence framework.
What Cloud Sensors does[14]
Corelight Cloud Sensors are available for AWS, GCP and Azure. Corelight supports AWS, Azure and GCP native packet mirroring, and third-party packet brokers.

What it sells: SolarWinds

What Security Event Manager does[1]
Security Event Manager comes with hundreds of pre-built connectors that gather logs from various sources, parse their data and put it into a common readable format. Security Event Manager has built-in File Integrity Monitoring capabilities to monitor and alert on suspicious or potentially malicious activity in sensitive files. Active Response provides preconfigured, customizable actions for incident response based on which trigger conditions are satisfied. SEM provides hundreds of out-of-the-box reports for HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOX, ISO, DISA STIGs, FISMA, FERPA, NERC CIP, GLBA, GPG13 and more.
What SolarWinds Observability SaaS does[6]
The application performance monitoring solution collects metrics, logs, traces and user experience data. It is extensible with an open-source framework, a public API and out-of-the-box third-party integrations. Through Platform Connect, SolarWinds Observability, the SaaS-delivered observability solution, can consume data from self-hosted Hybrid Cloud Observability.
What SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted does
AIOps capabilities are part of SolarWinds Service Desk, SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted and SaaS. Customers running self-hosted Orion modules on version 2022.2 or later are using the SolarWinds Platform. Self-hosted Hybrid Cloud Observability data can be consumed by SolarWinds Observability through Platform Connect.

Questions about Corelight and SolarWinds

What do Corelight and SolarWinds sell?
Corelight sells Investigator, Corelight Sensors, Smart PCAP, AI/ML detections, Threat Intelligence and 1 more. SolarWinds sells Security Event Manager, SolarWinds Observability SaaS and SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted.
Are Corelight and SolarWinds in the same category?
They share Network visibility and traffic brokering. Corelight's primary category is Network detection and response and SolarWinds's is Network visibility and traffic brokering.
Where are Corelight and SolarWinds headquartered?
Corelight is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.
When were Corelight and SolarWinds founded?
Corelight was founded in 2016.
Who are Corelight and SolarWinds sold to?
From its own pages, Corelight sells mainly to SOC teams that want network evidence for detection, investigation and threat hunting. SolarWinds offers a choice of self-hosted, SaaS or hybrid deployment.
What have Corelight and SolarWinds announced recently?
October 6, 2026: Corelight announced the establishment of Corelight Canada, a standalone entity intended to work more closely with customers, partners and public sector organizations in Canada.

About Corelight

Corelight sells the Open NDR Platform, which transforms network data into evidence. Corelight says that evidence powers AI-driven detection and expert-authored workflows.

Corelight sensors capture a copy of all traffic out-of-band. The sensor then deduplicates and cleans the data, discarding redundant multicast traffic. Powered by Zeek, the sensor performs deep protocol parsing across 70+ data types. The resulting evidence is routed to Corelight Investigator, a SIEM, or a data lake for long-term forensics.[9]

Investigator is Corelight's SaaS-based NDR platform. Corelight says it streamlines complex investigations by eliminating repetitive review steps and enables up to 10x faster triage. Agentic Triage uses transparent, expert-written playbooks to follow consistent triage logic for every investigation. SIEM Verdict Export sends every triage verdict, including the reasoning chain, evidence links and recommended next steps, directly into the customer's SIEM. Investigator also offers host isolation, IP blocking and identity actions through integrated EDR, firewall and identity provider workflows.[1][10]

Corelight fuses machine learning, behavioral analytics and curated signatures in its threat detection. AI/ML detection is a subscription-based module that can be purchased with Corelight Sensors, and AI/ML models are enabled, managed and tuned through Fleet Manager. Many of these detections run directly on-sensor, with no cloud dependency. Threat Intelligence is a licensed feature for Corelight Sensors and Investigator, and it is supported on all sensor options. Corelight Smart PCAP links Zeek logs, detections and extracted files to only the packets needed for investigations.[8][11][12][13]

For cloud environments, Corelight Cloud Sensors are available for AWS, GCP and Azure. Corelight supports AWS, Azure and GCP native packet mirroring, and third-party packet brokers. Performance and Asset Visibility is a Corelight Open NDR module that passively extracts asset classification and network performance telemetry from traffic the sensors are already collecting.[14][15]

Corelight also sells services. Corelight says it can provide a resident engineer to work alongside a customer's team, and services can be purchased standalone or bundled with the platform. Corelight describes integrations with Splunk Enterprise Security and Splunk SOAR, and with Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Entra ID.[1][2][10][12][14][16]

Corelight on the record

Sources

Corelight full record

  1. [1]All productsCorelight · corelight.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]About corelightCorelight · corelight.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]H i g growth partners invests in corelights 75m series d financingH.I.G. Capital · hig.com · published September 3, 2021 · Tier C
  4. [4]Corelight | Evidence-Based NDR & Threat Hunting PlatformCorelight · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]Corelight Welcomes Veteran Customer Advocate Amanda Berger as Chief Customer OfficerCorelight · published July 27, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Corelight Achieves FedRAMP In Process Certification, Advancing Network Detection and Response for Federal Government AgenciesCorelight · published June 9, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Corelight Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features - G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 24, 2026 · Tier C
  8. [8]AI/ML Detections: Transparent, Evidence-Based NDR | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Network Visibility: Complete Visibility for Security Operations | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Investigator: Agentic AI Triage for NDR | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]AI-Powered Threat Detection Platform | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Intrusion Detection System (IDS) Powered by Suricata | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Cyber Threat Intelligence for Open NDR | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  14. [14]Cloud Solutions | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Performance and Asset Visibility | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Professional & Consulting Services | CorelightCorelight · undated page, accessed November 5, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Corelight establishes Corelight CanadaCorelight · published October 6, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Corelight Achieves FedRAMP In Process Certification, Advancing Network Detection and Response for Federal Government AgenciesPR Newswire · published June 9, 2026 · Tier A

SolarWinds full record

  1. [1]Security Event Manager - View Event Logs Remotely | SolarWindsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed October 14, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]SolarWinds productsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 2, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Observability, Database, and IT Service Management | SolarWindsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 2, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]SolarWinds Observability Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2G2 · undated page, accessed November 2, 2026 · Tier C
  5. [5]Orion Platform now self-hosted on the SolarWinds Platform | SolarWindsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Application Performance Monitoring | SolarWindsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]AIOps Solutions & AI-Powered IT Operations | SolarWindsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Security Resources | SolarWindsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Deployment Services | Customer SuccessSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]IT Service Management Software Solutions | SolarWindsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]IT Asset Management Solutions | SolarWindsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]SolarWinds SolutionsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]IT Service Desk Software | SolarWindsSolarWinds · undated page, accessed November 10, 2026 · Tier A

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