Cisco IOS Security vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security and Cisco Sourcefire SNORT based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Cisco IOS Security vs. Cisco Sourcefire SNORT Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"One of the main features is that the hardware is extremely reliable.""Cisco Technical Assistance Center works on a follow-the-sun concept and gives real 24x7 customer support, which is a great advantage when you have a service contract with them.""We use the product for firewalls.""It covers everything we need it to without looking to secondary solutions.""The product's stability is good.""One of the valuable features of the solution is its flexibility and it performs great.""The Intrusion Firewall is a valuable feature.""The solution effectively integrates with Umbrella."

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"In general, the features are all great. However, if I need to take hardware for ASA, because they need to upgrade to Firepower, we want to create rules. For that, most of the time we go to the command line. Right now Firepower is working really hard on the grid. You can apply all those rules to the grid. Even if you want to monitor the logs, for example, the activity will tell you which particular user has been blocked because of that rule. Firepower's monitoring interface is very good, because you can see each and every piece. ASA also had it, but there you needed to type the command and be under the server to see all that stuff. In Firepower you have the possibility to go directly to the firewall. The way the monitoring is displayed is also very nice. The feature I appreciate most in Firepower is actually the grid. The grid has worked very well.""The whole solution is very good, and stable.""Solid intrusion detection and prevention that scales easily in very large environments.""The most valuable feature is the ability to automatically learn the traffic in our environment, and change the merit recommendations based on that.""The most valuable feature of this solution is the filtering.""The URL filtering is very good and you can create a group for customized URLs.""I like most of Cisco's features, like malware detection and URL filtering.""The most valuable features of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT are the dashboard for monitoring events."

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Cons
"The company needs to make its solution more affordable to make it more accessible to larger markets. Otherwise, it's seen as an enterprise-level solution that small or medium-sized organizations can't afford and therefore they won't even look at it.""The solution is complex and can be more user-friendly.""We cannot directly upgrade the system. The tool's deployment is also very difficult in legacy environments. The tool needs to have bigger ports as well.""If they could increase the performance a little better because the device sometimes gets slow.""There could be a bit more functions on offer that could make it easier to use.""There's a technology called SD-WAN that we would like to see. We are unable to handle multiple connections or to automatically load balance. I would like to have a feature that enables us to automatically prepare for load balancing.""There are the usual bugs that are inherent to some software upgrades. Sometimes this provides some unexpected issues, however, it happens with all brands all the time.""I think they should bring back remote VPN for users."

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"With the next release, I would like to see some PBR, so that you can do the configuration with the features.""I would like to have analytics included in the suite.""I did not experience any pain points that required improvement. Maybe a couple of false-positives, but that's about it.""If the price is brought down then everybody will be happy.""The pricing needs to be improved. We have lots of low-budget clients around us. Budget constraints are always a deterrent in our market.""The customization of the rules can be simplified.""The main dashboard of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could improve.""Performance needs improvement."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The pricing is very expensive. Normally I do a yearly contract; I don't know the exact pricing, but it's around $75,000 USD per year. That's the standard licensing."
  • "The licensing is on a subscription basis, and it is fairly costly. I would prefer a one-time payment."
  • "The licenses for this solution are expensive."
  • "It is an expensive solution."
  • "The pricing is okay. It is competitive. It costs more when you need get more features."
  • "Price is certainly something that the IOS technology has fallen behind the competition on."
  • "It is necessary to pay for a license in order to use the solution. It is on a yearly basis and the price is high."
  • "Palo Alto networks are more expensive than this solution and this is why you will see more products like this one in Mexico."
  • More Cisco IOS Security Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "We have a three-year license for this solution."
  • "Licensing for this solution is paid on a yearly basis."
  • "I don't know the exact amount, but most of the time when I go to a company with a proposition, they will say, "This thing that you are selling is good, but it's expensive. Why don't you propose something like FortiGate, Check Point, or Palo Alto?" Cisco device are expensive compared to other devices."
  • "The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."
  • More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The VPN connection portal scan works flawlessly, which was a big plus for us.
    Top Answer:Cisco comes with a premium reputation, and while it's certainly not the cheapest option. Compared to other products like Huawei, Netgear, or even Fortinet, which are cheaper than Cisco. We pay yearly… more »
    Top Answer:Some GUI modules have extended prices compared to other vendors, which isn't ideal. Cisco is a scalable product, but it is expensive compared to other vendors. Huawei, Netgear, and FortiGate all offer… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable features of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT are the dashboard for monitoring events.
    Top Answer:The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years.
    Top Answer:The main dashboard of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could improve.
    Ranking
    Views
    393
    Comparisons
    313
    Reviews
    17
    Average Words per Review
    350
    Rating
    7.8
    Views
    2,226
    Comparisons
    1,664
    Reviews
    4
    Average Words per Review
    343
    Rating
    8.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    IOS Security
    Sourcefire SNORT
    Learn More
    Overview
    Cisco IOS Software delivers a sophisticated set of security capabilities for a comprehensive, layered security approach throughout your network infrastructure. Cisco IOS security technologies help to defend critical business processes against attack and disruption, protect privacy, and support policy and regulatory compliance controls.

    Snort is an open-source, rule-based, intrusion detection and prevention system. It combines the benefits of signature-, protocol-, and anomaly-based inspection methods to deliver flexible protection from malware attacks. Snort gained notoriety for being able to accurately detect threats at high speeds.

    Sample Customers
    Arup Group, Brunel University London, City of Biel, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, K&L Gates , New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Offshore Northern Seas, Transplace
    CareCore, City of Biel, Dimension Data, LightEdge, Lone Star College System, National Rugby League, Port Aventura, Smart City Networks, Telecom Italia, The Department of Education in Western Australia
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Comms Service Provider17%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company21%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company27%
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Comms Service Provider18%
    Government9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company18%
    Government9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business34%
    Midsize Enterprise28%
    Large Enterprise38%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise58%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise39%
    Large Enterprise39%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business25%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise64%
    Buyer's Guide
    Cisco IOS Security vs. Cisco Sourcefire SNORT
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS Security vs. Cisco Sourcefire SNORT and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Cisco IOS Security is ranked 12th in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) with 46 reviews while Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is ranked 15th in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) with 17 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is rated 7.6. The top reviewer of Cisco IOS Security writes "A mature product with good integration capabilities, however, it needs to be more affordable". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT writes "The solution provides visibility across virtual environments, protects internal networks, and is scalable to meet organizational needs". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Meraki MX, Fortinet FortiGate, Fortinet FortiOS and Netgate pfSense, whereas Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate IPS, Cisco NGIPS, Check Point IPS, Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention and Darktrace. See our Cisco IOS Security vs. Cisco Sourcefire SNORT report.

    See our list of best Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) vendors.

    We monitor all Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.