Splunk SOAR runs the playbooks your team builds.
Simbian doesn't need them.
Splunk SOAR automates response with playbooks, and Splunk's newer AI SOC Analyst can work findings no playbook covers, inside Splunk Cloud and up to about 200 a day. Simbian's AI SOC Agent reasons through each alert with no playbook to build, on any SIEM, on-prem or in the cloud, and runs an AI Pentest Agent on the same memory.
Talk to an AI SecOps ExpertIn production across 300+ enterprise environments
What does Splunk SOAR do with an alert no playbook covers?
If a playbook matches, Splunk SOAR runs it. If none does, Splunk's AI SOC Analyst can investigate on ES Premier in Splunk Cloud and act within the actions you allow. Simbian works either alert with no playbook. Toggle between them below.
Playbook exists
User-reported phishing: credential harvesting
Source: Email security · An automation rule runs the phishing playbook your team maintains in Splunk SOAR
SimbianAutonomous
IngestAlert picked up from email security
·ReasonWorks the alert directly, forming a hypothesis from the evidence, not a matched pattern
·Apply contextPulls what it already knows about this user, asset, and prior cases from the Context Lake™
·EnrichDetonates the URL, checks sender history, pulls who else received it
·Evaluate severityWeighs blast radius and business context, then reaches a verdict: malicious, active credential theft
·ContainPurges org-wide, resets exposed identities, closes the case under the active mode
Splunk SOARPlaybooks + ES agents
Build the playbookFirst, the playbook is built in the visual editor. The Automation Builder agent can suggest one from a description, which your team reviews, accepts, and maintains
·IngestThe detection produces a finding in Enterprise Security
·Match + runAn automation rule tied to that detection runs the SOAR playbook
·EnrichPlaybook actions call apps across 300+ third-party tools
·Contain + approveA prompt block asks the right team to approve the sensitive action
How does Simbian compare with Splunk SOAR?
Splunk SOAR gets full marks for a fixed procedure on a known alert, and neither product connects to every tool out of the box. Simbian leads on alerts no playbook covers and on offense and defense sharing one memory, and its AI also runs on-prem and on other vendors' SIEMs.
R1
Coverage
Splunk SOARSimbian
Resolves a known, matched alert on its own
Works an alert no playbook covers, through to a closed case
R2
Reasoning and the automation artifact
Splunk SOARSimbian
Hand-authored, fixed procedure for a known alert type
No playbooks to write, version, or maintain
R3
Platform breadth and self-improvement
Splunk SOARSimbian
AI penetration testing in the same product as the SOC
One shared memory that investigations and pentest findings both feed (Context Lake™)
Self-improving: learns from each case and from attacks it simulates
A pentest finding raises the severity of a related alert
R4
Deployment and control
Splunk SOARSimbian
AI investigation works on any SIEM's alerts, not only one vendor's
AI agents run on-prem, not only in the vendor's cloud
Bring your own LLM
Out-of-the-box integration with every tool in your stack
Takes high-impact containment out of the customer's control
Full Limited None
Frequently Asked Questions
Splunk SOAR is Splunk's security orchestration, automation, and response product, and Splunk now describes it as a native capability within Splunk Enterprise Security. It automates response with playbooks built in a visual editor and run by automation rules tied to specific detections, with apps for 300+ third-party tools. You can deploy it in the cloud, on-premises, or hybrid.
Both. Splunk Enterprise Security is Splunk's SIEM, and Splunk SOAR handles orchestration and automated response. Splunk bundles the two in ES Premier, along with UEBA and the Splunk AI Assistant. Simbian's AI SOC Agent takes over the work SOAR playbooks do, reading from and acting on Splunk Enterprise Security, so Splunk stays your SIEM.
It's the agentic workflow in Splunk Enterprise Security 8.7, released in September 2026, and it builds on the Triage agent introduced in 8.6. It investigates findings as they reach the queue, guided by response plans your team writes, and it can close findings it judges benign and run the response actions you allow. Splunk lists it for ES Premier in Splunk Cloud, on frontier models, at about 200 findings per tenant a day.
Yes. Splunk SOAR automates response with playbooks run by automation rules, and each detection can feed only one rule. Splunk's Automation Builder agent can now suggest a playbook from a plain-language description, which your team reviews, accepts, and then maintains. Simbian's AI SOC Agent reasons through each alert with no playbook to write, version, or maintain.
Not that we could find. Splunk's Exposure Analytics adds asset coverage, change history, and risk context, but it doesn't run attacks, and we found no Splunk or Cisco penetration testing product tied to Splunk SOAR or Enterprise Security. Simbian runs an AI Pentest Agent alongside its AI SOC Agent, so a proven exploit path raises the severity of the alert that touches it.
Yes, for alert handling. Simbian's AI SOC Agent investigates and responds to alerts without playbooks, so SOAR playbooks are no longer required. It reads from and acts on Splunk Enterprise Security, which stays your SIEM, and it works across other SIEMs, EDRs, and 100+ security tools, on-prem or in the cloud.
See how Simbian stacks up
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