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Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Fortinet FortiGate IPS 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 Sourcefire SNORT
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
14th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiGate IPS
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 3.6%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate IPS is 7.1%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

Jack Poon - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers ease of setup and good documentation
When it comes to the product's deployment phase, we have a lot of vendor support. We have a lot of skills here in Hong Kong. Our company doesn't find any problem deploying Cisco solutions. The solution is deployed on an on-premises version. Speaking about the time required to deploy the solution, I would say that we have quite a lot of previous experience with deploying Cisco products. We have our company's standard design document, which we need to follow. We have a standard testing procedure for all those features. We just take out some appropriate parts and then compile them into one document for an individual project. It is actually quite easy for us to do the documentation, so it just takes one or two hours, and we can do the implementation because all the materials and testing procedures are already in our company standard documents, so it is not that difficult for us.
Taha Turkestani - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced threat prevention with very good support and valuable behavior reports
We use FortiGate as a firewall. We have a FortiGate 201 model It's good that we didn't get hacked or attacked, indicating strong threat prevention. The reporting on employee behavior and the prevention of new viruses are essential features. Additionally, we have found it convenient for…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the ability to automatically learn the traffic in our environment, and change the merit recommendations based on that."
"The URL filtering is very good and you can create a group for customized URLs."
"Solid intrusion detection and prevention that scales easily in very large environments."
"The solution is rather easy to use."
"Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is easy to configure and the reporting is great. It's also very user-friendly."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the filtering."
"The solution is stable."
"It is quite an intelligent product."
"Simple interface and easy to deploy."
"Provides good VPN capabilities."
"This solution works well on a daily basis, detecting various types of malicious traffic."
"I like the solution's stability."
"I love the interface."
"The solution protects the environment from internal and external threats."
"FortiGate protects and secures our clients' networks. The security is solid, and it performs well. I think they use some artificial intelligence, so I think it's excellent equipment."
"It is a good product. It does what we want it to do so. I didn't find many false-positives or things like that. We mainly use the IPS and URL filtering features, and they are pretty good."
 

Cons

"To be frank, the product is not really stable, although they're working on that. Whenever I go to the technical community with an issue, they will usually say that it is not there yet, but the technical team are working on it. The issues are not insolvable. I think they should just keep working on the product to make sure that the product can become very stable. The technical support is great. I appreciate that. We have a lot of communities supporting Firepower now, so you can find help for whatever issue you have."
"I did not experience any pain points that required improvement. Maybe a couple of false-positives, but that's about it."
"The customization of the rules can be simplified."
"There are problems setting up VPNs for some regions."
"We are unhappy with technical support for this solution, and it is not as professional as what we typically expect from Cisco."
"The cloud can be improved."
"If the price is brought down then everybody will be happy."
"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."
"The interface and product support could use improvement."
"We'd like to have multi-factor authentication via fiber."
"The solution could improve the integration."
"To stay ahead of the competition Fortinet FortiGate IPS needs to think about how to adjust pricing."
"Security level could be increased."
"Right now, it's not really scalable, but it's okay for us. However, looking ahead to three years from now, we might have a problem with scalability. We foresee a little risk down the road. The stability is okay for now."
"They can probably improve the reporting feature. Reporting and report alerting are the main key features of this solution. They can always find ways to improve these."
"The web filtering categories could improve in Fortinet FortiGate IPS. There are too many websites under the category of Unknown and the other categories are not featuring all the necessary sites."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Licensing for this solution is paid on a yearly basis."
"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."
"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."
"We are currently evaluating a Palo Alto solution, and the pricing could be a reason for going for Palo Alto."
"The price is okay, so far so good."
"There is only a standard license cost to use the solution."
"There is an annual license to use this solution. The prices have been increasing over the years."
"I give the pricing of the solution a six out of ten."
"The pricing is based on a licensing model for each IPS in your environment."
"They are more expensive than others."
"It cost us around $73,000 for three years."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
12%
University
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
Cisco offers the Cisco DNA Center, which is a source that provides crucial information for us to monitor performance, and see whether there is any trouble. We are using Cisco DNA center, but again,...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate IPS?
The most significant aspect of IPS is self-explanatory as it primarily focuses on intrusion prevention, which is crucial for Fortinet's internal outbreak prevention efforts and ensuring compliance ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate IPS?
I rate the pricing with an eight out of ten. They could always improve the pricing.
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate IPS?
The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate IPS ( /products/fortinet-fortigate-ips-reviews ) could always be improved.
 

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT
FortiGate IPS
 

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
Riverside Healthcare, Salt Lake City, Dell SecureWorks, Credit Bank Zagreb
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Fortinet FortiGate IPS and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,170 professionals have used our research since 2012.