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Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Flowmon 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 Sourcefire SNORT
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (14th)
Flowmon
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Network Detection and Response (NDR) (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Security Systems solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is designed for Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) and holds a mindshare of 3.1%, up 2.2% compared to last year.
Flowmon, on the other hand, focuses on Network Detection and Response (NDR), holds 2.1% mindshare, up 1.8% since last year.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Sourcefire SNORT3.1%
Fortinet FortiGate12.6%
Darktrace11.2%
Other73.1%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
Network Detection and Response (NDR) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Flowmon2.1%
Darktrace16.6%
Vectra AI12.5%
Other68.8%
Network Detection and Response (NDR)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2772102 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Architect at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Logging and customizable rules have helped improve threat monitoring and detection
The logging is mainly what I consider one of the best features with Cisco Sourcefire SNORT. Being able to log and store it in a file allows you to push it to a centralized repository. The logging and reporting help improve incident response. You should always be logging threats, any sort of misconfiguration, and anything that could be an issue. It's important to at least log and monitor it. The basic rules provide a good baseline in assessing Cisco Sourcefire SNORT's ability in providing real-time analytics for threat detection, but as a professional, you should look to constantly modify that baseline. They provide extensive customizability so you can define your own rules. The customizability allows it to be adaptable in protecting against diverse network threats to the constant change.
Pifu Lin - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at DYNASAFE TECHNOLOGIES PTE. LTD.
Quick identification of network issues enhances performance monitoring
We will try to Proof of Concept (POC) to a client in Taiwan. We just use the features for the Network Performance Monitor (NPM) Flowmon is more easy to understand and helps find network issues more quickly. We need this solution to monitor the network performance. We started using it three…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It simplifies the configuration process by offering pre-defined base configurations, including security and connectivity settings."
"If you compare it to other vendors, the technical support from Cisco is excellent."
"The solution can be integrated with some network electors like Cisco Stealthwatch, Cisco ISE, and Active Directory to provide the client with authentication certificates."
"It is quite an intelligent product."
"It has a huge rate of protection, a low level of positives, is easy to deploy and implement, has an incredible price rate compared to similar solutions, and has a good support channel and technical assistance."
"This solution makes life a lot easier as there are fewer man-hours required and we no longer need too many resources to manage it."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT are the dashboard for monitoring events."
"Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is easy to configure and the reporting is great. It's also very user-friendly."
"The solution is both stable and scalable and we are happy with the product."
"The artificial intelligence and automatic detection system in Flowmon Solution are perfect for every type of customer, such as government and commerce."
"If people or users are complaining that the network is slow, Flowmon can easily detect the cause of the network problem."
"The solution is stable."
"Flowmon is more easy to understand and helps find network issues more quickly."
"The artificial intelligence and automatic detection system in Flowmon Solution are perfect for every, type of customer, such as government and commerce."
"It is an open platform, so in terms of integration, we are quite happy. We can integrate it with other SNMP solutions. We can also integrate it with security solutions, such as a SIEM solution."
"Flowmon is more easy to understand and helps find network issues more quickly."
 

Cons

"I did not experience any pain points that required improvement. Maybe a couple of false-positives, but that's about it."
"Integration with other components — even Cisco's own products — can be enhanced to improve administrative experience."
"Performance needs improvement."
"With the next release, I would like to see some PBR, so that you can do the configuration with the features."
"The initial setup is a little difficult compared to other products in the market. It depends on the environment. If we are doing any migration, it might take months in a brown-field environment."
"To be frank, the product is not really stable, although they're working on that."
"If the price is brought down then everybody will be happy."
"This solution needs to be more customizable."
"The licensing price could be better."
"If there was better visualization in Flowmon Solution it would be good."
"The price of the license could be lower."
"It would be helpful to have more details about the monitoring of the infrastructure. It should have support for SNMP. This is something that is currently not there in the product."
"If there was better visualization in Flowmon Solution it would be good."
"It would be helpful to have more details about the monitoring of the infrastructure. It should have support for SNMP."
"I do not know the detailed pricing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing for this solution is paid on a yearly basis."
"We have a three-year license for this solution."
"I don't know the exact amount, but most of the time when I go to a company with a proposition, they will say, "This thing that you are selling is good, but it's expensive. Why don't you propose something like FortiGate, Check Point, or Palo Alto?" Cisco device are expensive compared to other devices."
"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."
"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."
"It works with a permanent license, and then you can pay for the support. For the gold support, you need to pay yearly."
"The licensing fee accrues only once, but that of support is annual."
"The price of the solution could be better."
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Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise7
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Sourcefire SNORT?
The product is inexpensive compared to leading brands such as Palo Alto or Fortinet.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Sourcefire SNORT?
If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five. There are some other tools in the market that are more expensive than Cisco. There are no additional c...
What needs improvement with Cisco Sourcefire SNORT?
I have not had much experience with the community-driven rule set while utilizing Cisco Sourcefire SNORT. I don't have experience with recognizing zero-day vulnerabilities, but based on my knowledg...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Flowmon Anomaly Detection System?
I don't understand the price. I am in deployment, so I do not know the detailed pricing.
What is your primary use case for Flowmon Anomaly Detection System?
We will try to Proof of Concept (POC) to a client in Taiwan. We just use the features for the Network Performance Monitor (NPM).
 

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT
Flowmon Anomaly Detection System
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CareCore, City of Biel, Dimension Data, LightEdge, Lone Star College System, National Rugby League, Port Aventura, Smart City Networks, Telecom Italia, The Department of Education in Western Australia
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