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Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics 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)
16th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Splunk User Behavior Analytics
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 2.7%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk User Behavior Analytics is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Splunk User Behavior Analytics1.9%
Cisco Sourcefire SNORT2.7%
Other95.4%
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.
Subhayu Chakraborty - PeerSpot reviewer
Automatic reports streamline tasks and offers easy report gathering
The dashboard part could be improved. While using it, I noticed two options: Classic, which is adequate yet only in black and white, and another one that is more advanced or smart, though I forgot the exact term. I encountered several issues while trying to create solutions for this advanced version, which seem unrelated to query or data issues.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"I like most of Cisco's features, like malware detection and URL filtering."
"It simplifies the configuration process by offering pre-defined base configurations, including security and connectivity settings."
"Solid intrusion detection and prevention that scales easily in very large environments."
"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 most valuable feature of this solution is the filtering."
"Features like alerts and auto report generation are valuable."
"The best features in Splunk User Behavior Analytics include anomaly detection, behavioral profiling, and risk scoring and prioritization functionality."
"This intelligent user behavior analytics package is easy to configure and use while remaining feature filled."
"We are really pleased with Splunk and its features. It would be practically impossible to function without it. To provide a general overview of the system, it's important to note that the standard log files are currently around 250 gigabytes per day. It would be impossible to manually walk through these logs by hand, which is why automation is essential."
"Splunk is more user-friendly than some competing solutions we tried."
"Features like alerts and auto report generation are valuable."
"The solution appears to be stable, although we haven't used it heavily."
"Splunk's technical support is amazing."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"We are unhappy with technical support for this solution, and it is not as professional as what we typically expect from Cisco."
"I would like to have analytics included in the suite."
"The implementation could be a bit easier."
"The dashboard part could be improved."
"High data ingestion costs can be an issue, especially for large enterprises, as Splunk charges based on the amount of data processed."
"The dashboard part could be improved. While using it, I noticed two options: Classic, which is adequate yet only in black and white, and another one that is more advanced or smart."
"A disadvantage is that it can lead to cost overrun if not properly factored or governed."
"It could be easier to scale the solution if you are using it on-premise, not in the cloud."
"I'm not aware of any lacking features."
"It would be good if the solution had an analytics tool that allowed us to analyze the data without writing specific queries."
"The ability to do more complicated data investigation would be a welcome addition for pros, though the functionality now gives most people what they need."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."
"I am not aware of the price, but it is expensive."
"Pricing varies based on the packages you choose and the volume of your usage."
"The licensing costs is around 10,000 dollars."
"My biggest complaint is the way they do pricing... You can never know the pricing for next year. Every single time you adjust to something new, the price goes up. It's impossible to truly budget for it. It goes up constantly."
"There are additional costs associated with the integrator."
"I hope we can increase the free license to be more than 5 gig a day. This would help people who want to introduce a POC or a demo license for the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise12
 

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 Splunk User Behavior Analytics?
The solution's most valuable feature is Splunk queries, which allow us to query the logs and analyze the attack vectors.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk User Behavior Analytics?
In terms of setup cost, pricing, and licensing, Splunk User Behavior Analytics is not an inexpensive product. The setup requires numerous components including storage, networking, identity access, ...
What needs improvement with Splunk User Behavior Analytics?
There are improvements that could be made to Splunk User Behavior Analytics as any product will have advantages and disadvantages. Scalability is one consideration. For example, the advantages incl...
 

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT
Caspida, Splunk UBA
 

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
8 Securities, AAA Western, AdvancedMD, Amaya, Cerner Corporation, CJ O Shopping, CloudShare, Crossroads Foundation, 7-Eleven Indonesia
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.