Palo Alto Networks sells far more than firewalls these days. Its Cortex range now sits at the heart of many security operations centres, so when renewal time comes around, a lot of teams want to know what else is out there.
A quick look at Cortex XSIAM
Cortex XSIAM pulls SIEM, extended detection and response, SOAR-style automation and machine learning analytics into one platform. It launched in 2022, sits alongside Cortex XDR and Cortex XSOAR, and the company says it passed 1,000 customers during its 2026 financial year.
Why some teams shop around
XSIAM shines brightest when the firewalls, endpoints and cloud security already carry the Palo Alto badge, because that data plugs in most cleanly. If your stack is a mix of vendors, adopting it can mean a big migration and a long relationship with a single supplier.
Other teams simply want an AI layer that finishes investigations for them, without leaning so heavily on detection engineering and playbook building.
Alternatives side by side
For a wider view of the market, see our guide to AI SOC vendors.
| Option | How it works | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Exaforce | Agentic SOC platform with an MDR option | Teams automating triage and investigation across cloud and SaaS |
| CrowdStrike Falcon | Endpoint-led platform with Next-Gen SIEM and Charlotte AI | Organisations already running Falcon |
| Microsoft Sentinel | Cloud SIEM inside the Defender portal | Microsoft-first environments |
| Torq | Hyperautomation platform rebuilt around AI agents | Teams moving off an older SOAR |
| ReliaQuest GreyMatter | Agentic platform with managed service options | Enterprises wanting software and service together |
Exaforce as a lighter route than a full platform swap
Exaforce plugs into the tools you already own. At ingest it builds a model of identities, resources and normal behaviour, and its Exabot agents use that model to detect, triage, investigate and respond. Because the AI is reasoning over a mapped environment instead of raw log lines, its verdicts are easier to trust. You can run it yourself or have Exaforce MDR run it for you.
Picking a direction
Heavy Palo Alto users will get genuine integration benefits from staying put. Mixed estates should weigh migration effort and data costs just as carefully as the feature list.
Put your shortlist in front of live alerts for a few weeks and the one that actually lightens the load will stand out.
