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Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service 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 Secure IPS (NGIPS)
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WatchGuard Intrusion Preven...
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
26th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) is 4.4%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service is 0.4%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

Yosevan Sinaga Sinaga - PeerSpot reviewer
Effectively identifies malicious behavior while future automation and AI advancements hold potential
Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) ( /products/cisco-secure-ips-ngips-reviews ) is quite powerful for threat detection and includes botnet detection. It effectively blocks unwanted software, hashes, and suspicious behaviors. The tool is easy to integrate with other IT security solutions due to similar protocols. The system offers effective threat detection features, although automation capabilities are not yet fully utilized.
Gianluca Vinci - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps us protect published resources with a valuable alarm system
Our primary use case for the solution is to protect published resources The alarm system is valuable because it alerts us if an external intruder tries to attack published resources. The user interface can be improved because it is sometimes difficult to manage functionality. For example, the…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution very effectively provides malware protection and signature-based anomaly detection."
"Its ease of use and its ability to block and allow ports in and out of our organization are the most valuable features. It works very well. It gives us all the information that we need."
"We like the Cisco product, the concept, and the tech intelligence."
"We are satisfied with the technical support."
"This is a stable solution."
"The most valuable feature would be the IPS is very important in Cisco Firepower because I can configure deep configuration in IPS and tuning."
"Cisco is number one in the technical support. It's good technical support and this is actually a problem when we do the recruitment for some other products. Other products you are on hold forever and the support might be not the best compared to Cisco."
"I configured the system myself and the process was okay."
"The initial setup was straightforward and, because we only need intrusion detection and prevention, we needed only about four hours to deploy it."
"It works right out of the box. You just have to enable it and you can start working."
"The VPN and the filtering features are the most valuable. Its VPN is very strong, and its services are very nice. The main problem in India is the service. There are not enough Check Point and Fortinet Firewall services, but for this product, the service is very good."
"The most important feature of this solution is the SLAs."
"The alarm system is valuable."
 

Cons

"It is no longer scalable because it has gone end of life."
"The GUI could be improved. The pain point is really only focused toward the security engineer who configures it and the operation engineer who manages it."
"The solution requires better management. When it comes to central management capabilities, improvements can be made."
"The inclusion of bandwidth management features would improve this product."
"The feedback from some of our customers is that they weren't interested in Cisco because it was too complicated to deploy, especially in cloud-related areas."
"Better integration with other products, such as a SIEM tool, would provide better peer visibility about your security posture."
"NGIPS' GUI interface could be improved and made more user-friendly."
"More flexibility with the dashboards is needed because some of them are not fully developed."
"Multi properties could be added to the solution in the future to make it better."
"Its graphical user interface could be improved because not everybody is technical. There is a lack of knowledge, and they can give some training for this solution."
"Regarding technical support, they could use more engineers."
"I would like to see faster automatation."
"The user interface and configuration can be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive. It has separate licensing for all the features, and every feature set seems to require another license. Licensing is on a yearly basis. There are no additional costs besides the standard licensing fee."
"They are very expensive in some places and not reasonable at times for many customers. I have had customers choose another solution because of the high price."
"The price of Cisco NGIPS could be reduced. It is more expensive than other solutions."
"We buy the licensing on a yearly basis, when we renew our contract. It is around $14,000."
"The licensing can be billed annually or in multi-year contracts such as three, four, or five years."
"We pay for the IPS license to use this solution."
"We get cut in price since we use other Cisco products. We have the whole bundle of Cisco solutions."
"When it comes to pricing you pay for a permanent licensing structure. One, three, and five-year options. There are no extra costs."
"The price of the solution is not expensive, it is less than FortiGate."
"It is not expensive. Other products like Fortinet and Check Point are of the same price."
"The price of WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service is pretty reasonable compared to similar solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
University
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco NGIPS?
The product's initial setup phase was easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco NGIPS?
Cisco is one of the top brands known for cost-effectiveness, making it worth the money. It's cheaper to integrate with existing IT security solutions compared to other expensive brands with subscri...
What needs improvement with Cisco NGIPS?
In the future, I hope to see automation features like automatic blocking and rule creation. Additionally, incorporating AI capabilities would enhance its functionality.
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Also Known As

Sourcefire NGIPS, Firepower NGIPS
WatchGuard IPS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

American Electric Power, Huntington Bank, Keycorp, Nationwide, Transunion, Marriott, Inova Health, Ford, Thomson Reuters, Dow Chemical, Equifax, Chevron, Walmart, Coca Cola
Chester School District
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs. WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.