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Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs IBM Security Network IPS 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure Network Analytics
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (33rd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (3rd), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (5th), Cisco Security Portfolio (7th)
IBM Security Network IPS
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (21st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Security Systems solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Secure Network Analytics is designed for Network Monitoring Software and holds a mindshare of 0.9%, down 1.2% compared to last year.
IBM Security Network IPS, on the other hand, focuses on Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS), holds 1.9% mindshare, up 0.4% since last year.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Network Analytics0.9%
Zabbix3.9%
SolarWinds NPM3.6%
Other91.6%
Network Monitoring Software
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Network IPS1.9%
Darktrace10.3%
Fortinet FortiGate9.6%
Other78.2%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

Akash Das Barman - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Trainee at DataSpace Academy
Network analytics has reduced investigation time and provides deeper visibility into lateral movement
Several features often look very promising during evaluation or implementation but end up being used only lightly in day-to-day operations. Advanced reporting and scheduled compliance reports look very attractive for audit and compliance teams at implementation time and can generate structured reports for visibility, risk posture, and traffic summaries. In practice, many teams do not rely on it heavily because SIEM tools or GRC platforms already handle reporting better. Built-in threat intelligence feeds represent another area where expectations do not always match usage. The platform includes threat intelligence-based detection and classifications. Initially, teams expect to depend on this heavily, but later SOC teams often prefer their own threat intelligence feeds or correlate intelligence inside SIEM instead. The built-in feeds are used but not as a primary detection source. Automated incident summaries and guided investigation views are designed to simplify triage by automatically grouping related activity into incidents. However, teams often move away from them due to various factors affecting adoption.
Jacob_Koithra - PeerSpot reviewer
Project & Program manager at Shell Grp
User-friendly and has a good blocking feature but is quite expensive
Defining the new security rules and policies sometimes becomes a challenge. Integration with other platforms becomes a challenge as well. I'd like to see more integration with other tools and technologies. XGS 7100 has an end of support for the 30th of December 2022. Many are losing support. All the products of the XGS, including XGS 3100, 4100, 5100, and 7100, support is ending in December 2022. We need to know what is the plan post that? Do we need to spend money on them? Will that be extended? There has been no communication on the website either. It's an expensive device.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Before deployment, basic network incident scoping takes thirty to ninety minutes, and complex lateral movement cases take two to six hours, and after deployment, basic scoping becomes five to twenty minutes, and complex cases become one to three hours."
"This solution has increased our threat detection rate by forty to sixty percent."
"Cisco Stealthwatch has improved our organization because it has brought visibility that we didn't have previously before implementing it."
"Stealthwatch has greatly improved our network visibility, in terms of bandwidth, malware, and PCI violations."
"The solution has reduced our incident response times by at least 50% and also reduced the amount of time it takes to detect and remediate threats by around 50%."
"It has improved my organization's network visibility from zero because before we had installed this solution, we weren't doing anything to protect us from threats."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is data hoarding because it catches threats on a frequent basis that we had no idea of."
"The most valuable feature is NetFlow. The beginning of any security investigation starts with NetFlow data."
"Signature based analysis and preventing different types of network attacks."
"IPS has helped us in understanding more about the latest threats out there and made us realize that we need to be proactive when it comes to security rather than reactive."
"The initial setup is simple."
"This is definitely a product that I recommend, especially for organizations that want a quick integration of data from the transaction systems, with a very low cost of operations."
"The most valuable feature is its simplicity."
"The blocking feature is great; it acts as an in-line blocker, and any malicious traffic that you see, or anything really, it can block the traffic."
 

Cons

"We determined that Stealthwatch wouldn't provide the machine learning model that we required."
"We've had problems with element licensing costs so scalability is a concern."
"Cisco could improve the administration for the customers."
"Stealthwatch needs improvement when it comes to speed."
"We need to be able to filter out internal IPs as non-threats."
"It's too complicated to install, when starting out."
"One thing I would like to see improved is if it could automatically be tied through ISE, instead of you having to manually get notifications and disable it yourself."
"Stealthwatch is still maturing in AI. It uses artificial intelligence for predictions, but AI still needs to mature. It is in a phase where you get 95% correct detection. As its AI engine learns more, it will become more accurate. This is applicable to all the devices that are using AI because they support both supervised and unsupervised machine learning. The accuracy in the case of supervised machine learning is dependent on the data you feed into the box. The accuracy in the case of unsupervised machine learning is dependent on the algorithm. The algorithm matures depending on retrospective learning, and this is how it is able to detect zero-day attacks."
"The management server can be made more user friendly and also the database configuration could be made simpler."
"The configuration of this product is complex. It could be made more user friendly."
"I'd like to see more integration with other tools and technologies."
"In terms of scalability, I would say that it is a little on the poor side."
"In the future, I would like to see a hybrid option so that we can work both on-premises and in the cloud."
"It's an expensive device."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is much higher compared to other solutions."
"Today, we are part of the big Cisco ELA, and it is a la carte. We can get orders for whatever we want. At the end of the day, we have to pay for it in one big expense, but that is fine. We are okay with that."
"It has a subscription model. There is yearly support, and there is also three-year support. It depends on what the customers want."
"The pricing for this solution is good."
"The licensing costs are outrageous."
"Licensing is on a yearly basis."
"The tool is not cheaply priced."
"We pay for support costs on a yearly basis."
"The cost of operations is very low."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Construction Company
8%
Performing Arts
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Media Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise52
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Stealthwatch?
Regarding cost, for the Bangladesh context, Cisco Secure Network Analytics is a little bit high-priced because we are a developing country, making it tough to manage affordable solutions. However, ...
What needs improvement with Cisco Stealthwatch?
Several features often look very promising during evaluation or implementation but end up being used only lightly in day-to-day operations. Advanced reporting and scheduled compliance reports look ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Stealthwatch?
My main use case for Cisco Secure Network Analytics has been network visibility and anomaly-based threat detection within the enterprise environment. In security operations and VAPT-related activit...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Cisco Stealthwatch, Cisco Stealthwatch Enterprise, Lancope StealthWatch
Security Network Intrusion Prevention System, IBM Security Network Protection, XGS, GX
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Edge Web Hosting, Telenor Norway, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, Webster Financial Corporation, Westinghouse Electric, VMware, TIAA-CREF
Equifax, Christian Hospital Centre
Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, SolarWinds, Auvik and others in Network Monitoring Software. Updated: May 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.