Is QRadar still relevant in 2026? Real user feedback from a 5-person team

Hi everyone. I'm relatively new to SIEM tools and have been tasked with evaluating options for our small team. We're a 5-person dev/ops group, and we need basic security monitoring, compliance logging, and alerting.

I see a lot about modern cloud-native platforms, but our company has some existing ties to IBM. I'm trying to cut through the marketing. For a team of our size in 2026, is starting with QRadar a realistic move? I'm especially interested in real experiences with its learning curve, daily management overhead, and cost for a small scale. Any feedback on making it work (or reasons to avoid it) would be so helpful. Thanks in advance for your insights! 🙏