Sigma Query vs sysmon-config: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Sigma Query is a free security information and event management tool. sysmon-config is a free security information and event management tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best security information and event management fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, integrations, company size fit, here is our conclusion:
Startups and mid-market SOCs building detection programs from scratch should use Sigma Query to avoid reinventing rules; 3,000+ community-maintained detections mapped to 385+ MITRE ATT&CK techniques means you start with mature baselines instead of blank templates. The free model and cloud deployment eliminate procurement friction, and multi-platform coverage across Windows, Linux, cloud providers, and network appliances lets you apply the same rule set across your entire stack without rewriting. Skip this if your team lacks SIEM experience or needs rules packaged inside a commercial product with vendor support; Sigma Query requires you to understand your detection logic well enough to integrate and tune community rules yourself.
Windows security teams building detection labs or tuning Sysmon deployments will find sysmon-config invaluable; it's a free template that eliminates months of trial-and-error learning what to monitor and why. The 5,430 GitHub stars reflect actual use in production SOCs, and the inline explanations mean junior analysts can understand the rationale behind each rule instead of blindly copying configs. Skip this if your team uses agentless EDR or cloud-native detection; sysmon-config assumes you're managing Windows endpoint telemetry directly and have the infrastructure to parse and act on high-volume event streams.
