Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention comparison

Cisco and Palo Alto Networks are both solutions in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category. Cisco is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.0, while Palo Alto Networks is ranked #8 with an average rating of 6.3. Cisco holds a 3.1% mindshare in ID, compared to Palo Alto Networks’s 5.4% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Palo Alto Networks users who would recommend it.

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Read 20 Cisco Sourcefire SNORT reviews

1,284 Views
1,104 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Palo Alto Networks Advanced...

Read 29 Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention reviews

3,098 Views
2,447 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Palo Alto Networks Advanced...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT and Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention are competing in the cybersecurity space. Palo Alto Networks has an advantage due to its comprehensive threat prevention capabilities.

Features: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT stands out with customizable rules, deep packet inspection, and open-source flexibility. Palo Alto Networks offers integrated threat prevention, combining firewall, antivirus, and threat intelligence, with automated response and real-time updates.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could benefit from easing its learning curve and enhancing customer support sophistication. Palo Alto Networks might improve by reducing its high initial costs and increasing user accessibility to advanced features without technical expertise.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT offers flexibility but requires a skilled team for deployment and management, with reliable but basic customer service. Palo Alto Networks provides a more streamlined deployment experience with comprehensive support, ideal for less experienced teams.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is cost-effective with lower setup costs, appealing for budget constraints while offering satisfactory ROI through flexible implementation. Palo Alto Networks, with higher upfront costs, can achieve greater long-term ROI by effectively reducing incident response costs and operational disruptions.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

February 2026

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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)

15th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Palo Alto Networks Advanced...

Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

8th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 3.1%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is 5.4%, up from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention	5.4%
Cisco Sourcefire SNORT	3.1%
Other	91.5%

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2772102

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.

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Partha Dash

Global Network Tech Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Advanced protection enables us to confidently secure against evolving threats

Palo Alto Networks can improve Advanced Threat Prevention by catering to the growing adoption of AI and agentic tooling. The Threat Protection modules should have the necessary intelligence to protect against those types of threats, as AI will be there to do a human job; this is an evolving area. From an Advanced Threat Protection perspective, the technology associated with Palo Alto Networks, such as their sandboxing environment, is quite good. However, Palo Alto needs to focus on how to bring that technology to end users and how easy it is to use, especially in a hybrid environment where users work from various locations. While Palo Alto excels in certain setups, they need to improve the user experience in distributed working conditions.

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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."

"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."

"Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is easy to configure and the reporting is great. It's also very user-friendly."

"The most valuable features of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT are the dashboard for monitoring events."

"It is quite an intelligent product."

"The URL filtering is very good and you can create a group for customized URLs."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to automatically learn the traffic in our environment, and change the merit recommendations based on that."

"The tool's most valuable feature is threat detection, which is important because we have multiple layers not only in Cisco."

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT pros

"The sandboxing tools offer great prevention for cloud feeds."

"One of the most valuable features is the anti-malware protection."

"The user interface is a bit more professional than some free products."

"The initial setup was straightforward. It's quite easy. Deployment took one to two weeks."

"Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention is the market leader as far as security gateways and endpoint protection. Additionally, the threat database that is used is one of the best."

"A strong point of Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is their product called GlobalProtect VPN, where if you enable this service, there is no other firewall available for this security profile because when you go outside of the computer network, you must connect to the Palo Alto VPN before accessing the internet, which means there will be complete security visibility."

"The most valuable features are that it's user-friendly, has interesting features, URL filtering, and threat prevention."

"Everything has been okay with the solution. We are using all of the features."

More Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention pros

Cons

"I want to see a better dashboard for the product. The dashboard can be a bit modified or enhanced."

"The solution's approach to managing traffic blocking is confusing and impractical."

"If the price is brought down then everybody will be happy."

"The implementation could be a bit easier."

"There are problems setting up VPNs for some regions."

"Performance needs improvement."

"I would like to have analytics included in the suite."

"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."

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT cons

"It's not so easy to set up a test environment, because it's not so easy to get the test license. The vendor only gives you 90 days for a test license; it's a tough license to get."

"The initial setup is complex."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the only thing I don't like is the support."

"In Africa, the technical support is probably not as good as in Europe and the USA because it's a specific premium support, partner-enabled premium support and all of that. But it's really good, I don't really have any complaints, it's fairly good. I'll give them 80%."

"While Palo Alto excels in certain setups, they need to improve the user experience in distributed working conditions."

"Mission learning techniques should continue to expand and detect unknown threats on the fly."

"The technology firewall anomaly network could stand improvement."

"We are attempting to improve the use of URL filtering beyond threat protection."

More Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"It is an expensive solution and I would like to see a drop in price."

"Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is quite competitive, offering extensive threat detection and prevention capabilities, though it is priced higher than some alternatives."

"The product’s pricing is expensive for small companies."

"Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention could improve by having consistent pricing at system levels."

"If you want to have all of the good features then you have to pay extra for licensing."

"The pricing could be lower."

"The cost involves the price of the hardware, which is expensive. However, most of the Palo Alto solutions are expensive."

"There is an initial, expensive investment but the return is good."

More Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

University

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

Arbor would be the best bid, apart from Arbor, Palo Alto and Fortinet have good solutions. As this is an ISP, I would prefer Arbor.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention?

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention requires an add-on license and is considered expensive compared to competitors like Cisco AMP and FortiGate ( /products/fortinet-fortigate-reviews ) fi...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention?

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 15% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 11% of the time

ExtremeCloud IQ vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 9% of the time

Darktrace vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 7% of the time

Zscaler Cloud IPS vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 7% of the time

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT Competitors

Darktrace vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 10% of the time

Forcepoint Next Generation Firewall vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 8% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 8% of the time

Vectra AI vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 7% of the time

Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

Compared 6% of the time

More Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

January 2026

Download Cisco Sourcefire SNORT product report

Buyer's Guide

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

January 2026

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention report

Download Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention product report

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT

No data available

Overview

Snort is an open-source, rule-based, intrusion detection and prevention system. It combines the benefits of signature-, protocol-, and anomaly-based inspection methods to deliver flexible protection from malware attacks. Snort gained notoriety for being able to accurately detect threats at high speeds.

Cisco

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is a cloud-based security service that combines cutting-edge technologies, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and expert human monitoring, to effectively thwart advanced threats like malware, zero-day attacks, and command-and-control threats. It offers inline protection, scrutinizing all network traffic irrespective of port, protocol, or encryption. An integral component of Palo Alto Networks' security platform, it enjoys widespread adoption across diverse organizations. With its robust security capabilities, it's an ideal choice for entities of all sizes, particularly those in high-risk sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government agencies, seeking to safeguard their networks from a broad spectrum of advanced threats.

Palo Alto Networks

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

University of Arkansas, JBG SMITH, SkiStar AB, TRI-AD, Temple University, Telkom Indonesia

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

February 2026

Free Report: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

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