Comparison

Caver vs Microsoft Sentinel

Caver compared to Microsoft Sentinel. Azure-bound SaaS SIEM with KQL as its native language vs Caver, which speaks KQL natively but doesn't lock you to Azure.

Microsoft Sentinel is the SIEM most cloud-native shops compare Caver against if they’re already running on Azure. The honest answer: if you’re all-in on Azure and the Microsoft ecosystem, Sentinel is hard to beat. If you’re not, or if Azure lock-in is a problem you want to avoid, Caver is the structural answer.

Worth noting up front: Caver speaks KQL natively. The Sentinel-migration story is real, not aspirational.

At a glance

	Microsoft Sentinel	Caver
Deployment model	Azure-only SaaS. Multi-tenant managed by Microsoft.	Self-hosted in your cloud, on-prem, or air-gapped. BYO Azure / AWS / GCP / on-prem.
License model	Azure ingest + retention pricing. Variable by Log Analytics workspace and commit tier.	Per-deployment commercial license-key. Flat. No per-GB meter.
Cost predictability	Variable. Ingest spikes cost real money.	Predictable. Flat per deployment.
Cold-tier search	Archived logs require restore to interactive tier. Slow and expensive.	First-class search over object storage. No rehydration.
Storage	Microsoft-managed Log Analytics + Azure storage. Opaque to you.	Native Parquet on object storage. Your bucket, your keys, open format.
Query languages	KQL only.	KQL natively (same operator surface: where, extend, summarize, join inner/leftouter/anti, let, parse, mv-expand, bin, case/iff, union). Plus SPL and SQL. Plus AI agents over MCP, Grafana, DuckDB, Trino, Athena.
Azure ecosystem integration	Deep. Defender for Cloud, Defender for Endpoint, Purview, Entra ID, Sentinel Notebooks.	Standalone. Integrates via APIs and standard log sources, but isn’t a Microsoft-blessed component.
SOAR	Logic Apps. Mature but Azure-bound.	SLAM. Built into Caver. Configuration-as-code playbooks, version-controlled, no separate Logic Apps subscription.
Content packs	Sentinel content hub (community + Microsoft + partner). Variable depth, Azure-flavored.	35+ vendor packs with bundled dashboards + data inputs + OCSF field mappings. Daily updates.
Threat intelligence	Microsoft Threat Intelligence + Sentinel TI connectors.	Curated industrial threat intel for caver-industrial; AI threat feeds (NIST AI 100-2, OWASP) for caver-aisec; built-in TI integration for the core.
OT / ICS coverage	Defender for IoT (separate product, separate license).	caver-industrial: passive decoders for BACnet/IP, S7Comm, IEC 60870-5-104, DNP3, Modbus TCP, EtherNet/IP, OPC-UA. NIST 800-82 + IEC 62443. Air-gap-friendly.
AI security visibility	Limited.	caver-aisec: prompt-injection detection, AI Observatory for LLM spend, NIST AI 100-2 + OWASP feeds.
Data residency	Azure regions only.	Your chosen environment, your storage account.
Air-gap deployment	Not supported.	Supported, including caver-industrial.
Migration tooling	Migration paths from Splunk, ArcSight, QRadar via Microsoft-published guides (manual).	caver-migrate ports dashboards, saved searches, ES correlation, ITSI, UBA, SOAR/Demisto playbooks. 9-of-9 migrator coverage tested end-to-end. KQL-native landing for Sentinel queries.

Where Sentinel wins

Deep Azure integration. If your stack is Defender + Purview + Entra ID + Logic Apps + Sentinel, the integration story is unbeatable. Microsoft does this category as well as anyone.
Microsoft enterprise sales motion. Procurement, EA renegotiation, Microsoft credit consumption: all paths your finance team already understands.
KQL is its native language. Operators who came up on Sentinel won’t switch query languages.
Mature SOAR via Logic Apps. If you’re already a Logic Apps shop, the SOAR story is already familiar.
Sentinel Notebooks for hunt-style investigations in Jupyter.

Where Caver wins

Not locked to Azure. Multi-cloud, on-prem, hybrid, air-gapped, edge. Sentinel can’t follow.
Transparent licensing. Per-deployment flat. No ingest meter, no commit-tier negotiation, no quarterly Azure-bill surprise.
Query flexibility. KQL natively (so Sentinel queries land directly), plus SPL and SQL. Sentinel gives you KQL only.
Cost predictability at scale. Azure ingest pricing punishes growth. Per-deployment pricing doesn’t.
OT / ICS coverage. caver-industrial is first-class. Defender for IoT is a separate product with separate licensing and limited integration.
AI security visibility. caver-aisec is first-class. Sentinel doesn’t have a comparable AI-runtime product.
Data residency. Your storage account, your keys, open format. Sentinel’s storage is opaque.
Air-gap and on-prem. Sentinel can’t run in either; Caver can.
Open storage. Same OCSF Parquet data is queryable by Grafana, DuckDB, Trino, Athena, AI agents, your data engineering team for non-SIEM purposes. Sentinel’s storage is locked behind KQL only.
Migration tooling. caver-migrate ports a Sentinel deployment in one command, including the KQL queries that land directly on Caver’s native KQL engine.

How to decide

Stay on Sentinel if: - You’re all-in on Azure and the Microsoft ecosystem. - Your security team’s depth is in KQL and the Defender stack. - Variable ingest pricing is something your finance team is OK negotiating quarterly. - You don’t need OT/ICS, AI security, multi-cloud, or air-gap deployment.

Move to Caver if: - You want to leave Azure-only or you’ve already left. - Your ingest is growing fast enough that the Azure bill has become an existential conversation. - You need OT/ICS, AI security, multi-cloud, or air-gapped deployment. - You want your data in open formats your data engineering team can also use. - Your operators speak SPL or want to add SQL alongside KQL.

Run both during a migration window if: - You have an existing Sentinel investment you can’t justify ripping out immediately. - Stand Caver up alongside, point new data sources at it, gradually move the KQL queries (they land natively). Decommission the Sentinel workspace when the bill is gone.

Talk to us about scoping — or read about caver-migrate for the Sentinel migration path.

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