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Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.1
Cato SASE Cloud Platform reduces costs and enhances efficiency with improved reliability, optimized traffic, and decreased maintenance expenses.
Sentiment score
6.4
Cisco Secure IPS delivers effective threat detection and aligns with security needs, but setup costs concern some users' ROI evaluations.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.5
Cato SASE Cloud's customer support is responsive, efficient, 24/7, with high user satisfaction and occasional concerns about sales communication.
Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco Secure IPS support is generally well-regarded for responsiveness and skill, despite some regional inconsistencies and initial contact issues.
Their knowledge portal and Cato Academy portal are excellent resources.
Product Lifecycle manager at Air Spring
Our customer service experience is excellent
Vice President at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I think the technical support by Cato SASE Cloud Platform is quite good.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Fortinet, on the other hand, offers quicker response times and same-day RMAs, which gives them an edge in customer service.
Head Of Technical Operations at ITE
Compared to SonicWall security services, Cisco's technical support has no competition.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The response was fast, and they provided experts to solve our issues quickly.
IT Infrastructure Manager at TMLI
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Cato SASE Cloud Platform excels in scalability, supporting enterprises globally with efficient management and eliminating frequent hardware upgrades.
Sentiment score
7.0
Cisco Secure IPS is praised for scalability and centralized management but criticized for hardware limitations and high scaling costs.
As an MSSP, we find it scalable for end users across EPP platforms, network, and cloud sides.
Product Lifecycle manager at Air Spring
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Users praise Cato SASE Cloud Platform for its stable, reliable performance, high availability, and smooth operation across global deployments.
Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Secure IPS is mostly stable but experiences software glitches, upgrade issues, and faces preferences for alternative solutions.
I would rate the stability of the solution as ten on a scale of one to ten.
Vice President at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I find Cato SASE Cloud Platform overall stable.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
The software situation with Cisco is problematic.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I recommend it to other users, but I am concerned about stability, as the stability is not adequate.
Senior Network Security Expert & Instructor at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Enhancing identity integration, security features, interface, third-party compatibility, and sector-specific tools would boost Cato SASE Cloud's appeal.
Cisco Secure IPS requires better SIEM integration, enhanced user-friendliness, centralized management, intuitive UI, and improved support and documentation.
The platform lacks strong security features on the edge.
Product Lifecycle manager at Air Spring
To improve Cato SASE Cloud Platform, I think they sometimes need more built-in features for security in larger networks when doing local authentication.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
CLI is very important in professional working, and it was an unwise decision by Cisco to remove it.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Incorporating AI capabilities would enhance its functionality.
IT Infrastructure Manager at TMLI
I am aware that we are not measuring some metrics or tracking access through Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS).
Senior Network Security Expert & Instructor at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cato SASE Cloud offers competitive, flexible bandwidth-based pricing, with user-rated cost-effectiveness and discounts through partnerships for yearly licensing.
Cisco Secure IPS is seen as expensive, justified by robust features, but less cost-effective for smaller businesses.
I do not find it particularly expensive, but for some companies, they may not have the budget to be at that level of security for their networks.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
The pricing is flexible due to our special partnership with Cato Networks.
Vice President at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's cheaper to integrate with existing IT security solutions compared to other expensive brands with subscription costs.
IT Infrastructure Manager at TMLI
I would rate the price for Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) as high.
Senior Network Security Expert & Instructor at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cato SASE Cloud Platform enhances network performance with advanced security, traffic optimization, centralized management, and cost-effective global SD-WAN capabilities.
Cisco Secure IPS provides advanced threat detection, scalability, integration capabilities, and centralized management, enhanced by Talos and Cisco Firepower.
The single-pass architecture has improved user experience with Cato SASE Cloud Platform as it provides security teams in companies a platform where they can easily obtain information if there are breaches or security issues.
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
It is scalable for end users across network and cloud sides and saves operational costs.
Product Lifecycle manager at Air Spring
Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) helps me with the visibility component, providing visibility across more than 3,000 applications using Firepower IPS.
Senior Network Security Expert & Instructor at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
They can discover new versions of malware, which is very beneficial.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) is quite powerful for threat detection and includes botnet detection.
IT Infrastructure Manager at TMLI
 

Categories and Ranking

Cato SASE Cloud Platform
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
11th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
WAN Optimization (2nd), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (6th), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (4th), WAN Edge (6th), ZTNA as a Service (7th), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (3rd), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (2nd)
Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS)
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is 3.3%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) is 3.3%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS)3.3%
Cato SASE Cloud Platform3.3%
Other93.4%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2697738 - PeerSpot reviewer
Product & Services Integrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Cloud security has unified global network design and has simplified threat visibility
I think all of the functionalities, such as the secure web gateway feature, are quite good. I also believe Cato SASE Cloud Platform is one of the only solutions that has not only a software firewall solution but also a physical software solution where you can change the company's firewalls and put in sockets from Cato SASE Cloud Platform, which I see as an advantage for them. The single-pass architecture has improved user experience with Cato SASE Cloud Platform as it provides security teams in companies a platform where they can easily obtain information if there are breaches or security issues. I assess the benefit of integrating WAN optimization as good. There is ease in making rules between WAN optimization, especially when it comes to global connections because of all their points of presence that are spread over the world. I think the real-time threat protection of Cato SASE Cloud Platform is also good. Their points of presence are quite efficient, and I do not see any delays in that area.
reviewer373227 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Marketing strengths shine but regaining user trust needs significant effort
There are numerous things that could be improved about Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) to get it back on track. Sollution for small branches: when we have to connect a lot very small branches (or sometimes only an ATM) we need something small, with LTE and with reasonable price. Cisco response is SDWAN but it is not always the case. Recently Cisco released some small firewalls but I have not tried them yet. Central management with FMC is a very good idea, but sometimes local management or monitoring is helpfull. With Cisco You have to decide: central or local. You cannot have both. Regarding usability, when you commit configuration on Cisco, it sometimes takes very long. Commits also take some time for the competition, but Cisco is definitely lagging behind the rest in this respect. Last but not least, for me as a professional is lack of CLI. With CLI, I can configure every firewall on the market except Cisco. CLI is very important in professional working, and IMHO it was an unwise decision by Cisco to remove it. Graphical interfaces are very nice, but when you've got thousands of objects in a big installation and have to configure many things, CLI is a much faster way to do it.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Cato Networks?
I can see that I am a consultant at a reseller and I am the architect of Cato SASE Cloud Platform designs. In the baseline, I usually recommend Cato SASE Cloud Platform for international companies ...
What advice do you have for others considering Cato Networks?
It is difficult to find types of companies I would not recommend Cato SASE Cloud Platform to, and I believe you can use Cato SASE Cloud Platform in most environments, although there could be some c...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cato Networks?
I do not find it particularly expensive, but for some companies, they may not have the budget to be at that level of security for their networks.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco NGIPS?
I would rate the price for Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) as high.
What needs improvement with Cisco NGIPS?
I am aware that we are not measuring some metrics or tracking access through Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS). In my opinion, Cisco could improve the Web GUI for Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS).
What is your primary use case for Cisco NGIPS?
Our main use case for Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) is in-line traffic control, and we are using IPS in an in-line mode.
 

Also Known As

Cato Networks
Sourcefire NGIPS, Firepower NGIPS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Paysafe, AdRoll, Pet Lovers Centre, Arlington Orthopedics, Humphreys & Partners Architects
American Electric Power, Huntington Bank, Keycorp, Nationwide, Transunion, Marriott, Inova Health, Ford, Thomson Reuters, Dow Chemical, Equifax, Chevron, Walmart, Coca Cola
Find out what your peers are saying about Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs. Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.