Detection as Code

Elastic Security vs Panther

Elastic Security totals 7.60 and Panther totals 6.31 on the 10 point detection-as-code rubric (sources read 2026-11-03 and 2026-11-04). Elastic Security leads by 1.29 points. The pair turns on rule health: Elastic Security documents it in full, and Panther documents it only in part, or as a vendor claim.

The difference that decides this pair

The largest weighted gap on the rubric is rule health: Elastic Security scores 9.0 against 3.5 for Panther, which is 0.99 of the 10 point total.

For rule health, Elastic Security shows rule execution status, gap duration and execution time on a Rule Monitoring tab, with no noisy-rule flag for custom rules, whereas Panther raises a rule error when detection code fails or a scheduled rule runs past 15 seconds, but documents no noisy-rule flag. elastic.co read 2026-11-03 docs.panther.com read 2026-11-03

Rubric side by side

Elastic Security totals 7.60 and Panther totals 6.31 out of 10.

Rubric criteria for Elastic Security and Panther, scores out of 10. A plus marks a criterion where Panther scores higher, a minus where Elastic Security does.

MarkerCriterionWeightElastic SecurityPanther
+Rule languages and conversion paths157.08.0
+Git-native workflow and CI/CD188.09.0
+Testing157.08.0
Coverage analytics125.05.0
-Rule health189.03.5
-Versioning and rollback88.06.0
-Content library size and freshness89.05.0
-Pricing transparency68.03.0
Total1007.606.31

The 33 capabilities as a diff

Read it as a diff from Elastic Security to Panther: 13 of 33 rows differ. A plus marks a row where Panther documents more (7 rows), a minus a row where Elastic Security documents more (6 rows). Rows with no marker match.

Capability rows for Elastic Security and Panther, grouped. Changed rows are shaded and carry a marker.

MarkerCapabilityElastic SecurityPanther
Languages
Sigma nativeElastic Security, Sigma native: not documentednot documentedPanther, Sigma native: not documentednot documented
Panther documents moreSigma conversionElastic Security, Sigma conversion: not documentednot documentedPanther, Sigma conversion: documenteddocumented
YARA-LElastic Security, YARA-L: not documentednot documentedPanther, YARA-L: not documentednot documented
SPLElastic Security, SPL: not documentednot documentedPanther, SPL: not documentednot documented
KQLElastic Security, KQL: not documentednot documentedPanther, KQL: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreEQL or ES|QLElastic Security, EQL or ES|QL: documenteddocumentedPanther, EQL or ES|QL: not documentednot documented
Panther documents morePythonElastic Security, Python: not documentednot documentedPanther, Python: documenteddocumented
Panther documents moreVisual builderElastic Security, Visual builder: not documentednot documentedPanther, Visual builder: documenteddocumented
YARAElastic Security, YARA: not documentednot documentedPanther, YARA: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreLucene or KQL-likeElastic Security, Lucene or KQL-like: documenteddocumentedPanther, Lucene or KQL-like: partialpartial
Source control and CI
Git syncElastic Security, Git sync: documenteddocumentedPanther, Git sync: documenteddocumented
Panther documents morePR deployElastic Security, PR deploy: partialpartialPanther, PR deploy: documenteddocumented
CLIElastic Security, CLI: documenteddocumentedPanther, CLI: documenteddocumented
Rule APIElastic Security, Rule API: documenteddocumentedPanther, Rule API: documenteddocumented
Panther documents moreCI examplesElastic Security, CI examples: partialpartialPanther, CI examples: documenteddocumented
Elastic Security documents moreEnv promotionElastic Security, Env promotion: partialpartialPanther, Env promotion: not documentednot documented
Testing
Unit testsElastic Security, Unit tests: documenteddocumentedPanther, Unit tests: documenteddocumented
ReplayElastic Security, Replay: documenteddocumentedPanther, Replay: documenteddocumented
Elastic Security documents moreSynthetic eventsElastic Security, Synthetic events: partialpartialPanther, Synthetic events: not documentednot documented
Panther documents moreBacktest reportsElastic Security, Backtest reports: not documentednot documentedPanther, Backtest reports: partialpartial
Test coverageElastic Security, Test coverage: not documentednot documentedPanther, Test coverage: not documentednot documented
Coverage analytics
ATT&CK mapElastic Security, ATT&CK map: documenteddocumentedPanther, ATT&CK map: documenteddocumented
Gap viewElastic Security, Gap view: documenteddocumentedPanther, Gap view: documenteddocumented
Data sourcesElastic Security, Data sources: partialpartialPanther, Data sources: partialpartial
Log source healthElastic Security, Log source health: partialpartialPanther, Log source health: partialpartial
Rule health
Noisy rulesElastic Security, Noisy rules: not documentednot documentedPanther, Noisy rules: not documentednot documented
Broken rulesElastic Security, Broken rules: documenteddocumentedPanther, Broken rules: documenteddocumented
Field driftElastic Security, Field drift: partialpartialPanther, Field drift: partialpartial
Elastic Security documents moreRule costElastic Security, Rule cost: documenteddocumentedPanther, Rule cost: partialpartial
Elastic Security documents moreLifecycleElastic Security, Lifecycle: partialpartialPanther, Lifecycle: not documentednot documented
Library
Library countElastic Security, Library count: partialpartialPanther, Library count: partialpartial
Panther documents moreCommunityElastic Security, Community: partialpartialPanther, Community: documenteddocumented
CadenceElastic Security, Cadence: partialpartialPanther, Cadence: partialpartial

documenteddocumentedpartialpartialnot documentednot documented

Sources for the rows that differ

Verdict by buyer type

Which of the two fits each kind of team.

BuyerVerdict
Elastic estateElastic Security is the better fit: it runs the estate natively and ships a detection_rules CLI for rules as TOML files; Panther documents no Elastic path.
a team starting from scratch with SigmaPanther is the better fit: it converts Sigma with sigma-cli into Python or Simple detections and tests them in CI; Elastic Security documents no Sigma conversion path on the pages read.
Microsoft Sentinel estateNeither Elastic Security nor Panther documents a path for this buyer, so it does not separate them.

When to pick each

Elastic Security: Pick Elastic Security when rule health is the deciding need: it shows rule execution status, gap duration and execution time on a Rule Monitoring tab, with no noisy-rule flag for custom rules. It also leads on versioning and lifecycle.

Panther: Pick Panther when testing matters more to you than rule health, where Elastic Security documents more: it runs per-detection unit tests with panther_analysis_tool test and previews a rule on stored logs with Data Replay (Beta).

Profiles: Elastic Security, Panther. Alternatives: to Elastic Security, to Panther.