Detection as Code

Elastic Security vs Sigma and pySigma

Elastic Security totals 7.60 and Sigma and pySigma totals 5.50 on the 10 point detection-as-code rubric (sources read 2026-11-03 and 2026-11-04). Elastic Security leads by 2.10 points. The pair turns on rule health: Elastic Security documents it in full, and Sigma and pySigma publish nothing on it.

The difference that decides this pair

The largest weighted gap on the rubric is rule health: Elastic Security scores 9.0 against 2.0 for Sigma and pySigma, which is 1.26 of the 10 point total.

On 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, while Sigma and pySigma are a rule format and converter with no runtime, so there is no health signal to document. elastic.co read 2026-11-03 github.com read 2026-11-03

Rubric side by side

Elastic Security totals 7.60 and Sigma and pySigma totals 5.50 out of 10.

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

MarkerCriterionWeightElastic SecuritySigma and pySigma
+Rule languages and conversion paths157.08.5
-Git-native workflow and CI/CD188.06.0
-Testing157.04.0
Coverage analytics125.05.0
-Rule health189.02.0
-Versioning and rollback88.05.0
-Content library size and freshness89.08.0
+Pricing transparency68.09.0
Total1007.605.50

The 33 capabilities as a diff

Read it as a diff from Elastic Security to Sigma and pySigma: 22 of 33 rows differ. A plus marks a row where Sigma and pySigma documents more (8 rows), a minus a row where Elastic Security documents more (14 rows). Rows with no marker match.

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

MarkerCapabilityElastic SecuritySigma and pySigma
Languages
Sigma and pySigma documents moreSigma nativeElastic Security, Sigma native: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, Sigma native: documenteddocumented
Sigma and pySigma documents moreSigma conversionElastic Security, Sigma conversion: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, Sigma conversion: documenteddocumented
Sigma and pySigma documents moreYARA-LElastic Security, YARA-L: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, YARA-L: partialpartial
Sigma and pySigma documents moreSPLElastic Security, SPL: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, SPL: documenteddocumented
Sigma and pySigma documents moreKQLElastic Security, KQL: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, KQL: documenteddocumented
EQL or ES|QLElastic Security, EQL or ES|QL: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, EQL or ES|QL: documenteddocumented
PythonElastic Security, Python: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, Python: not documentednot documented
Visual builderElastic Security, Visual builder: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, Visual builder: not documentednot documented
YARAElastic Security, YARA: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, YARA: not documentednot documented
Lucene or KQL-likeElastic Security, Lucene or KQL-like: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, Lucene or KQL-like: documenteddocumented
Source control and CI
Elastic Security documents moreGit syncElastic Security, Git sync: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, Git sync: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents morePR deployElastic Security, PR deploy: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, PR deploy: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreCLIElastic Security, CLI: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, CLI: partialpartial
Elastic Security documents moreRule APIElastic Security, Rule API: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, Rule API: not documentednot documented
CI examplesElastic Security, CI examples: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, CI examples: partialpartial
Elastic Security documents moreEnv promotionElastic Security, Env promotion: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, Env promotion: not documentednot documented
Testing
Elastic Security documents moreUnit testsElastic Security, Unit tests: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, Unit tests: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreReplayElastic Security, Replay: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, Replay: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreSynthetic eventsElastic Security, Synthetic events: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, Synthetic events: not documentednot documented
Backtest reportsElastic Security, Backtest reports: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, Backtest reports: not documentednot documented
Test coverageElastic Security, Test coverage: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, Test coverage: not documentednot documented
Coverage analytics
ATT&CK mapElastic Security, ATT&CK map: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, ATT&CK map: documenteddocumented
Elastic Security documents moreGap viewElastic Security, Gap view: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, Gap view: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreData sourcesElastic Security, Data sources: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, Data sources: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreLog source healthElastic Security, Log source health: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, Log source health: not documentednot documented
Rule health
Noisy rulesElastic Security, Noisy rules: not documentednot documentedSigma and pySigma, Noisy rules: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreBroken rulesElastic Security, Broken rules: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, Broken rules: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreField driftElastic Security, Field drift: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, Field drift: not documentednot documented
Elastic Security documents moreRule costElastic Security, Rule cost: documenteddocumentedSigma and pySigma, Rule cost: not documentednot documented
Sigma and pySigma documents moreLifecycleElastic Security, Lifecycle: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, Lifecycle: documenteddocumented
Library
Sigma and pySigma documents moreLibrary countElastic Security, Library count: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, Library count: documenteddocumented
Sigma and pySigma documents moreCommunityElastic Security, Community: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, Community: documenteddocumented
CadenceElastic Security, Cadence: partialpartialSigma and pySigma, 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
Microsoft Sentinel estateSigma and pySigma is the better fit: they convert Sigma to KQL through its Kusto backend, listed as Stable; Elastic Security documents no Sentinel path.
Elastic estateElastic Security is the better fit: it runs the estate natively and ships a detection_rules CLI for rules as TOML files; Sigma and pySigma convert Sigma to Lucene, ES|QL and EQL through its Elasticsearch backend.
Splunk estateSigma and pySigma is the better fit: they convert Sigma to SPL through its Splunk backend; Elastic Security documents no Splunk path.
Google SecOps estateSigma and pySigma is the only one of the pair with any stated route: they have a Google SecOps backend that its backend list marks as Development; Elastic Security documents no Google SecOps path.
a team starting from scratch with SigmaSigma and pySigma is the better fit: they are the format itself and converts it to Splunk, Kusto and Elasticsearch targets, with no runtime, tests or health checks; Elastic Security documents no Sigma conversion path on the pages read.

When to pick each

Elastic Security: Pick Elastic Security when testing is the deciding need: it ships Python unit tests for rules in the detection-rules repo and can run a rule manually over a past time range. It also leads on CI and deployment.

Sigma and pySigma: Pick Sigma and pySigma when rule languages matters more to you than testing, where Elastic Security documents more: they convert one rule to Splunk, Kusto and Elasticsearch (Lucene, ES|QL, EQL) backends through installable plugins.

Profiles: Elastic Security, Sigma and pySigma. Alternatives: to Elastic Security, to Sigma and pySigma.