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Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB 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
Palo Alto Networks URL Filt...
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
13
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 Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB is 2.4%, down from 4.0% 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.
Abdul  Basit - PeerSpot reviewer
Advanced features and robust support elevate overall network management experience
I think URL filtering could be better to some extent. Improvements could be made in Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB compared to Sophos. The URL filtering option in Palo Alto gives a very clear vision of the network and the applications using URL filtering. If you assign a user in a group not to access certain URLs, that user should only be allowed to access LinkedIn without running videos. However, deep URL filtering in Palo Alto is not configurable. One user can have access to LinkedIn with video running, while another cannot. They should improve this deep analysis of URL filtering options.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The whole solution is very good, and stable."
"The product is inexpensive compared to leading brands such as Palo Alto or Fortinet."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to automatically learn the traffic in our environment, and change the merit recommendations based on that."
"In general, the features are all great. However, if I need to take hardware for ASA, because they need to upgrade to Firepower, we want to create rules. For that, most of the time we go to the command line. Right now Firepower is working really hard on the grid. You can apply all those rules to the grid. Even if you want to monitor the logs, for example, the activity will tell you which particular user has been blocked because of that rule. Firepower's monitoring interface is very good, because you can see each and every piece. ASA also had it, but there you needed to type the command and be under the server to see all that stuff. In Firepower you have the possibility to go directly to the firewall. The way the monitoring is displayed is also very nice. The feature I appreciate most in Firepower is actually the grid. The grid has worked very well."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the filtering."
"Solid intrusion detection and prevention that scales easily in very large environments."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT are the dashboard for monitoring events."
"It is quite an intelligent product."
"It provides visibility and control over where people are web browsing and protects them from going to malicious sites."
"Being able to manage blacklists and whitelists easily is very useful, especially for internal access and limiting outbound access."
"It's allowed us to have better visibility and protection from threats."
"Real-time analysis is excellent, and the integration of the solution with our infrastructure is straightforward and less challenging."
"The most valuable feature is that the product can do everything in a single device, including the firewall, rules, and the PBL. It also has good routing and switching."
"The URL categories are updated by Palo Alto Networks itself."
"The stability of the solution is perfect and totally useful."
"I would rate Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB a perfect 10 out of 10."
 

Cons

"The cloud can be improved."
"While the alerts they offer are good, it could improve it in the sense that they should be more detailed to make the alerts more useful to us in general. Sometimes the solution will offer up false positives. Due to the fact that the alerts aren't detailed, we have to go dig around to see why is it being blocked. The solution would be infinitely better if there was just a bit more detail in the alert information and logging we receive."
"Integration with other components — even Cisco's own products — can be enhanced to improve administrative experience."
"I don't think this solution is a time-based control system, because one cannot filter traffic based on time."
"I want to see a better dashboard for the product. The dashboard can be a bit modified or enhanced."
"The customization of the rules can be simplified."
"The pricing needs to be improved. We have lots of low-budget clients around us. Budget constraints are always a deterrent in our market."
"The main dashboard of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could improve."
"The licensing costs and setup costs are very expensive for us. The price is significantly higher compared to other competitive products."
"For hosting sites like Blogspot, they host sites that should be in different categories, but get lumped together in general. There needs to be more granularity or multiple categorizations."
"Customer service is sometimes inconsistent. Some engineers are very knowledgeable, while others cannot answer questions and delay solutions."
"We have had some challenges with making Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB work with ELK stack."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"The main limitation is that it needs a live Internet connection for ongoing updates."
"I think Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB is too costly compared to others."
"Support needs to be enhanced."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing for this solution is paid on a yearly basis."
"We have a three-year license for this solution."
"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."
"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 more expensive than ASA but is far cheaper than Checkpoint. So, pricing wise, it is right in the middle."
"Expensive, but that's because it provides everything."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
13%
University
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB?
The licensing costs and setup costs are very expensive for us. The price is significantly higher compared to other competitive products.
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB?
I think URL filtering could be better to some extent. Improvements could be made in Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB compared to Sophos. The URL filtering option in Palo Alto gives a ve...
What is your primary use case for Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB?
We previously discussed Palo Alto Networks WildFire, and we are currently using it for our firewalls with the WildFire subscription included. We have micro-segmentation using the VMware environment...
 

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT
Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering PAN-DB
 

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
TRI-AD, Telkom Indonesia
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.