No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco IOS Security vs ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cisco IOS Security
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (41st)
ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (34th), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (10th), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (29th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS Security is 2.4%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 is 2.2%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco IOS Security2.4%
ExtraHop Reveal(x) 3602.2%
Other95.4%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

Danijel Cerovecki - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Cyber Defense Department and Network Technologies Department at Verso Altima
Have faced challenges in keeping licensing clear and consistent while ensuring reliable network protection
We are a Gold Partner with Cisco. Our customers come from various industries, including service providers, and we target service providers and enterprise customers.We do not extensively use Zone-Based Firewalls in Cisco IOS Security, instead typically deploying standalone firewalls such as Cisco FTDs or Cisco ASA devices. For threat analytics and vulnerability scanning, we utilize third-party vendors with dedicated devices and software. We use products such as Tenable from Nessus for this type of analysis. We have implemented Secure Access Control Server in Cisco IOS Security, which combines multiple security mechanisms including AAA, 802.1X for network access control with Cisco ICE, TrustSec for identity-based segmentation, and Cisco DNA Center. Cisco IOS Security's VPN support is comprehensive and increasingly important in daily communication, from basic site-to-site tunnels to remote access VPNs and SD-WAN secure VPNs. Protecting and encrypting communication is essential in modern networks. The challenges with Cisco IOS Security are more operational than product-related. There is an understaffing issue, making automation and orchestration capabilities particularly valuable. For the products themselves, we only encounter routine operational matters such as addressing new vulnerabilities and patching. For those considering Cisco IOS Security, it is important to understand that Cisco offers a complete ecosystem. When embracing the Cisco ecosystem fully, customers receive excellent products and comprehensive solutions. On a scale of 1-10, I rate Cisco IOS Security a 9.
reviewer2857197 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead IT Service Analyst at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Cloud-native threat detection has improved incident investigations and now reduces breach risk
We have covered most of the features over the past three years and look forward to discovering more as we work closely with the ExtraHop technical team, who are open to sharing what they have developed. Pricing is on the higher side, typically based on load, volume of traffic, and deployment scale. The advanced detection capabilities provide significant value in reducing investigation time, making the licensing and pricing acceptable for larger organizations. ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 has undeniably improved our security posture, reduced manual investigation efforts, and facilitated fast threat detection mechanisms, which all help prevent costly potential breaches in enterprise environments. ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360's SaaS environment is well-suited for cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments, effectively addressing real-life scenarios involving east-west and north-south traffic. The platform is recommended for large organizations in need of comprehensive detection capabilities. I would rate this product overall as an 8 out of 10.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product's stability is good."
"This solution, called Network Access Controller, handles authentication, authorization, and accounting for devices accessing the network."
"The software offers plenty of security solutions that can work in the most sophisticated enterprise but also works well for small/mid-range enterprises."
"The VPN connection portal scan works flawlessly, which was a big plus for us."
"One of the main features is that the hardware is extremely reliable."
"The technical support has been impressive."
"I'm able to transfer data over internet network security. With the GRE I'm able to transfer data within one bunch to another bunch in a public way, like the internet. The communication is encrypted and is private. It gives me added privacy."
"I recommend Cisco IOS Security for other organizations."
"Their technical support is more effective and of better quality than other competitors."
"ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 has positively impacted my organization by helping us detect abnormal activity on our network that we could not detect through our SIEM or XDR platform."
"It stands out for its intuitive and efficient user interface, robust detection capabilities with minimal false positives, and the ability to handle encrypted traffic, making it a valuable asset for network security and management."
"It is scalable."
"ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 has undeniably improved our security posture, reduced manual investigation efforts, and facilitated fast threat detection mechanisms, which all help prevent costly potential breaches in enterprise environments."
"It is very easy to collect and handle data in ExtraHop Reveal(X) Cloud. Integration with Big Data is also easy. Many of our customers integrate it with Big Data platforms like Splunk or Elastic. It is also easy to handle and easy to understand."
 

Cons

"The graphical user interface or the GUI could be better. Beginners can use some devices with the GUI, but some security devices are configured using CLI. It would also be better if it had its own Intrusion Protection Service and Intrusion Detection Service on the server."
"With respect to user-friendliness, it is a command-line interface and those with such experience will get along just fine, whereas others may struggle."
"Pricing can be reduced. I rate the current price for the product a four out of ten."
"We have a very bad experience on the support. They take too much time requesting logs, and they are not coming directly online to resolve the issues."
"IOS security related IPS facility is not as strong as Cisco ASA and the signature file of IPS does not update automatically like Cisco ASA."
"I would love it if it has a link-by-link feature, integration with Unified Threat Management (UTM), and load balancers. They haven't got any link-by-link feature right now, which can be a very attractive option. This link-by-link feature can also be made available for Cisco's UTM firewalls. The link-by-link feature is available in some of the other firewalls. Currently, integration with UTM is missing. Cisco IOS Security also doesn't have the load balancers and a few things that need to be done to get a good UTM firewall. Normally, other firewalls have UTM. As a next-generation firewall, it's good, but as a UTM, it has to do some work."
"With Cisco IOS, especially the routers, don't have like long-term tendency features, or high availability features available for the IOS. Also, it could use a better user interface."
"It would be ideal if the solution had more capacity."
"I would like to see ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 improved by integrating XDR features with NDR."
"There needs to be more support."
"They can include integration with SAP. Currently, no vendor provides network performance monitoring in the SAP market. It is a very big market. We have around 400 customers for SAP in Korea. In the USA, there are more than 10,000 customers."
"Their professional service can be improved."
"One challenge with ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 is its pricing, which tends to be comparatively high in the marketplace."
"A drawback includes bucket storage limitations for payload data, necessitating timely extraction for thorough investigations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for Cisco IOS Security is reasonable compared to other Cisco products."
"The cost of the license, to the best of my knowledge, is approximately two thousand dollars."
"Price is certainly something that the IOS technology has fallen behind the competition on."
"We can purchase its licenses as per specific business requirements."
"Palo Alto networks are more expensive than this solution and this is why you will see more products like this one in Mexico."
"The pricing is okay. It is competitive. It costs more when you need get more features."
"Cisco IOS Security price could be reduced, it is more expensive than many of the other solutions, such as Sophos and Fortinet FortiGate."
"I rate Cisco IOS Security's pricing a ten out of ten."
"When compared to other solutions, it aligns with the market average, indicating a competitive pricing level."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) solutions are best for your needs.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
19%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise18
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco IOS Security?
The cost of Cisco IOS Security for customers is on the higher end of pricing compared to the competition, depending on the targeted customers.This can be a major issue as enterprise customers are o...
What needs improvement with Cisco IOS Security?
Regarding improvements in Cisco IOS Security, what consistently confuses me is the inability of Cisco to maintain a clear licensing policy.This is an issue that I have observed for years now. Cisco...
What is your primary use case for Cisco IOS Security?
The main use cases for Cisco IOS Security include elementary device hardening, access control, control-plane policing, AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting), network security, Layer 2...
What needs improvement with ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360?
One challenge with ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 is its pricing, which tends to be comparatively high in the marketplace. Initial setup requires significant effort to get the platform tuned up to speed, w...
What advice do you have for others considering ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360?
We have covered most of the features over the past three years and look forward to discovering more as we work closely with the ExtraHop technical team, who are open to sharing what they have devel...
What is your primary use case for ExtraHop Reveal(X) Cloud?
I use ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 as our cloud-native NDR platform, with primary use cases including monitoring real-time network traffic across the north-south environment. While we do not currently fo...
 

Also Known As

IOS Security
ExtraHop Reveal(X) Cloud, Reveal(X) Cloud
 

Overview

 

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
Wizards of the Coast
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS Security vs. ExtraHop Reveal(x) 360 and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.