Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics comparison

Cisco and Splunk are both solutions in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category. Cisco is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.7, while Splunk is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.6. Cisco holds a 3.5% mindshare in ID, compared to Splunk’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Read 19 Cisco Sourcefire SNORT reviews

1,102 Views
676 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Read 23 Splunk User Behavior Analytics reviews

916 Views
276 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT and Splunk User Behavior Analytics compete in the cybersecurity domain. Splunk holds the upper hand due to its advanced analytics capabilities offering superior insights.

Features: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT provides real-time network traffic monitoring, a comprehensive intrusion detection system, and an adaptable open-source rule-based alert system. Splunk User Behavior Analytics offers advanced threat detection, comprehensive log analysis, and detailed insights into user actions. It is desirable for situations requiring extended feature sets and sophisticated analytics.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could improve in areas such as providing more intuitive reporting tools, enhancing user-interface design, and integrating more automated threat intelligence updates. Splunk User Behavior Analytics might focus on reducing deployment complexity, offering more out-of-the-box integrations, and optimizing cost-effectiveness for small to medium-sized enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is known for its easy deployment model and strong community support, allowing quick implementation. Splunk User Behavior Analytics, while requiring more detailed setup due to its complexity, benefits from thorough documentation and professional support, appealing to organizations seeking extensive guidance.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT has a low initial setup cost, offering ROI through proactive threat mitigation. Splunk User Behavior Analytics requires a higher initial investment but justifies this with significant ROI via enhanced security insights and improved operational efficiency, attracting businesses prioritizing long-term returns and deep analytics.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 856,873 peers since 2012

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 3.5%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk User Behavior Analytics is 2.2%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

Featured Reviews

Jack Poon

Treasury Specialist at Dah Sing Bank

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.

Read full review

Subhayu Chakraborty

System Engineer at Infosys

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is inexpensive compared to leading brands such as Palo Alto or Fortinet."

"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."

"I like most of Cisco's features, like malware detection and URL filtering."

"It is quite an intelligent product."

"Solid intrusion detection and prevention that scales easily in very large environments."

"It simplifies the configuration process by offering pre-defined base configurations, including security and connectivity settings."

"The solution can be integrated with some network electors like Cisco Stealthwatch, Cisco ISE, and Active Directory to provide the client with authentication certificates."

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT pros

"The product is at the forefront of auto-remediation networking. It's great."

"The most valuable features are its data aggregation and the ability to automatically identify a number of threats, then suggest recommended actions upon them."

"Splunk's technical support is amazing."

"The most effective one is the integration with other vendors."

"Features like alerts and auto report generation are valuable."

"Because of some of the visualizations that we utilize, we are able to understand strange, unusual traffic on our networks."

"The solution is definitely scalable."

"It's straightforward in terms of configuration and troubleshooting and log management and monitoring as well. These are the edge points in addition to it being a modular solution where you can capitalize on your current licenses with extra licensing models, which can match the customer's business requirement and it can help the customer to design or to actually plan for their own roadmap."

More Splunk User Behavior Analytics pros

Cons

"The pricing needs to be improved. We have lots of low-budget clients around us. Budget constraints are always a deterrent in our market."

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

"The customization of the rules can be simplified."

"Integration with other components — even Cisco's own products — can be enhanced to improve administrative experience."

"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."

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

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

"Performance needs improvement."

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT cons

"Enhancing the storage model that they are using is necessary."

"We'd like the ability to do custom searches."

"We want to have an automated system for bot hunting that enables us to detect anomalies predictively based on historical data. It would be helpful if Splunk included process mining as an alternative option. We have a threat workflow, but it would be useful if we could supplement that with some process mining capabilities over time."

"I would like to see an enhancement in the automation of creating the rules."

"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."

"The solution is much more expensive than relative competitors like ArcSight or LogRhythm. It makes it hard to sell to customers sometimes."

"In terms of improvements, advanced reporting could see enhancements as there are some issues with latency. Additionally, there are challenges with configuration findings during lexical analysis."

"If the price was lowered and the setup process was less complex, I would consider rating it higher."

More Splunk User Behavior Analytics cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing for this solution is paid on a yearly basis."

"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."

"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."

"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."

"There are additional costs associated with the integrator."

"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."

"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."

"The licensing costs is around 10,000 dollars."

"Pricing varies based on the packages you choose and the volume of your usage."

"I am not aware of the price, but it is expensive."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

University

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

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.

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?

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,...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk User Behavior Analytics?

The pricing is based on the amount of data processed, and it is considered a high-level investment for enterprises. Costs can be cut through efficient use and implementation.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Splunk User Behavior Analytics?

High data ingestion costs can be an issue, especially for large enterprises, as Splunk charges based on the amount of data processed. Complex dashboards may require additional scripting. Some integ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 21% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate IPS vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 15% of the time

Vectra AI vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 10% of the time

ExtremeCloud IQ vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 8% of the time

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT Competitors

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 48% of the time

Darktrace vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 7% of the time

Exabeam vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 7% of the time

Gurucul UEBA vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 5% of the time

Varonis Platform vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 4% of the time

More Splunk User Behavior Analytics Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

June 2025

Download Cisco Sourcefire SNORT product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk User Behavior Analytics

May 2025

Download Splunk User Behavior Analytics product report

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT

Caspida, Splunk UBA

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

Splunk User Behavior Analytics is a behavior-based threat detection is based on machine learning methodologies that require no signatures or human analysis, enabling multi-entity behavior profiling and peer group analytics for users, devices, service accounts and applications. It detects insider threats and external attacks using out-of-the-box purpose-built that helps organizations find known, unknown and hidden threats, but extensible unsupervised machine learning (ML) algorithms, provides context around the threat via ML driven anomaly correlation and visual mapping of stitched anomalies over various phases of the attack lifecycle (Kill-Chain View). It uses a data science driven approach that produces actionable results with risk ratings and supporting evidence that increases SOC efficiency and supports bi-directional integration with Splunk Enterprise for data ingestion and correlation and with Splunk Enterprise Security for incident scoping, workflow management and automated response. The result is automated, accurate threat and anomaly detection.

Splunk

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

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics

June 2025

Free Report: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics report.

See our list of best Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) vendors.

We monitor all Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.