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Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics [EOL] vs Darktrace comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 21, 2025

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 Secure Cloud Analytic...
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Darktrace
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (8th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (2nd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (1st), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (6th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (14th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (10th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (4th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)
 

Featured Reviews

Olivier CHAMBELANT - PeerSpot reviewer
Beneficial cloud deployment
Opening a ticket with support can be difficult but once it is open the support does a good job. They want us to provide a lot of information, such as the order number and when it was bought. It takes a long time, they can improve by having a faster response time.
Malebo Lethoba Group - PeerSpot reviewer
Have found the AI analyst and detection functions highly valuable for network operations while managing complexity in initial setup
The functions I find most valuable in Darktrace are the AI analyst as well as the detection.The autonomous response capabilities of Darktrace are not crucial for me because it doesn't work in a network where there are no core switches. In a modern network, the autonomous response doesn't work, especially when sitting in a shared data center.If I'm running a traditional network where I am not in a shared data center with a layer two dedicated for my resources, then it can work for me. However, if I am in a data center where I don't have layer two, it becomes an issue because the autonomous response is reliant on sending spoofed TCP resets to my core switch to block traffic, which is a major issue.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool's best feature is its ability to monitor network traffic. It will also inform users whether the traffic generated by a network is legitimate. The tool helps to capture and analyze the network traffic."
"The logs in Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud are very good when doing the API integration in the team. It is able to give you important information for the correlations."
"Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud is scalable because it is on the cloud."
"It tells you if there is any communication going to command and control servers, or if there is any traffic that violates your internal policy, or if any data hoarding is happening where data is being dumped from your machine to outside of the environment. It provides all such meaningful reports to help you understand what's happening."
"Monitoring the traffic, making sure you have the visibility."
"When it comes to scalability, there's no size limit. It varies based on licenses and requirements."
"The product helps me to see malware."
"Provides great network protection."
"It has helped the organization to detect any malware affecting the machines...The network monitoring and the email monitoring features are very valuable for us."
"The ability to see what we have not seen before is most valuable. It is very interesting to find out the most vulnerable devices in our network."
"I can rate Darktrace's technical support as one of the best products in the world."
"I particularly like Antigena and the analytics around the real-time monitoring of our network. I also like its reporting because it has got a seven-day reporting period within the system. Every time you run the reports, it gives you the data about the previous seven days. I like that because it is in real-time. I enjoy reading those reports and getting a very clear and decisive idea of what's happening on my network on a real-time basis. I like the actual real-time monitoring of spoofing and things like that. I also like the user monitoring as well as the network logging capabilities."
"One member of staff is enough for deployment and maintenance because Darkforce is AI-driven. It does a lot of things by itself."
"The most beneficial feature in Darktrace is identifying phishing emails with the help of the AI engine and machine learning."
"I find the complete portfolio to be excellent."
 

Cons

"The product needs to improve its user-friendliness. It is very tricky and you need to study it before using the standard functionalities."
"When I used to work on it, I just didn't see anything new happening for about a year and a half. Providing newer data and newer reports constantly would help. There should be more classifications and more interesting data."
"The initial setup of Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud is complex."
"The product's price is high."
"Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud could improve the graphical user interface. It could be a more user-friendly graphical user interface. so that. Not everybody's a cyber security professional, most of the customers that I deal with are not very skilled. The terms that they use in the solution are quite understandable for a normal CIO."
"If we migrate these things to an event or send us an email if there is any critical event, I would like to configure these things on the initial launch. Because if a system is compromised, there will be a lot of data movement from one post to another post to the outside. Then, we should also get an alert on email as well. We have since we have integrated these things. But a direct email for critical alerts should be there. So, I would like to enhance the critical event configuration."
"The initial setup is a bit complex in terms of deployment and configuration"
"In the next version, I'd like to see penetration testing."
"This product needs more in terms of prevention. The detection capabilities work well but once a threat has been detected, Darktrace should work to prevent it from doing anything malicious."
"This is quite an expensive product so the pricing is something that can be improved."
"We'd like threat hunting, and we'd like to see a global solution that can automate vulnerability scans. I know it is something they are working on."
"I would like to see some additional enhancements."
"It could build in integrations for some complementary products, but it has an assistant plugin so this is not really a big deal."
"It takes time to go through the interface and pick up things. If it were a more straightforward interface, then it would free up time."
"I'd love them to see maybe covering the cloud a bit more."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud is an expensive enterprise solution."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"The price of Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud is expensive."
"All of the other modules, such as the licensing modules, are on par. It's one for one."
"It is pretty expensive, but it is worth it. Its licensing is yearly."
"The tool's pricing is costly."
"The price of the solution is not cheap. It is not a one-time purchase, there is a subscription that needs to be paid every one to five years depending on your choice. It is expensive but you can reduce the price by only using the services that you want."
"Darktrace is pricey, but the price is reasonable for what the solution does, and it's comparable to other products."
"Darktrace is expensive. You can pay for the license yearly."
"Darktrace is quite an expensive solution."
"The cost of the solution can be reduced to make it more appealing to customers."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
34%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud?
When it comes to scalability, there's no size limit. It varies based on licenses and requirements.
What needs improvement with Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud?
There are two areas of improvement. Firstly, extend the log retrieval limit to at least three months. For example, there is a limit on the number of log messages that can be received. So, I would l...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud?
We are using Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics, also known as Cisco's WatchCloud, to monitor user activity in the cloud. Specifically, we are looking for users who are uploading or downloading data beyo...
How does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?
Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing user interface that makes setup easy and seamless. CrowdStrike Falcon offers a cl...
Which is better - SentinelOne or Darktrace?
Which solution is better depends on which is more suitable specifically for your company. Darktrace, for example, is meant for smaller to medium-sized businesses. It is also a good option for organ...
What do you like most about Darktrace?
A very useful feature in Darktrace for real-time threat analysis is the packet inspection that analyzes the packet traffic in real time.
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud, Observable Networks
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Options, Schneider Electric, Washington University in St Louis, Gotcha, Kraft Kennedy, PartnerRe, Sumologic, Veterans United, AFGE, Agraform, Artesys, Dynamic Ideas Financials, Department of Agriculture and Commerce
Irwin Mitchell, Open Energi, Wellcome Trust, FirstGroup plc, Virgin Trains, Drax, QUI! Group, DNK, CreaCard, Macrosynergy, Sisley, William Hill plc, Toyota Canada, Royal British Legion, Vitol, Allianz, KKR, AIRBUS, dpd, Billabong, Mclaren Group.
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Darktrace, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS). Updated: October 2025.
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