Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] comparison

Cisco and F5 are both solutions in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category. Additionally, 95% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of F5 users who would recommend it.

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Read 19 Cisco Sourcefire SNORT reviews

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950 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Threat Stack Cloud Security...

Read 8 Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] reviews

88% willing to recommend

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Threat Stack Cloud Security...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 10, 2025

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT and Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] compete in the security sector. Cisco Sourcefire SNORT has the upper hand due to its robust pricing and support, although Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] is preferred for cloud-native features.

Features: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT offers reliable intrusion detection and prevention, advanced malware protection, and high availability in a single solution. Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] excels in cloud security monitoring, compliance features, and automatic learning of traffic patterns.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could enhance ease of deployment, simplify the integration process, and improve user-friendliness. Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] can benefit from expanding container support, strengthening endpoint security, and fine-tuning alert customization capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT requires skilled IT support for complex network integration, with effective customer service backing. Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] provides an easier cloud-based deployment process, adapting to dynamic environments with responsive customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is competitively priced with lower setup costs and delivers ROI through efficient intrusion detection. Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] requires a higher upfront investment but offers superior ROI via advanced cloud security and compliance benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Report (Updated: August 2025).

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Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

August 2025

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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

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (16th)

Threat Stack Cloud Security...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

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.

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Skyler Cain

Software Development Manager at Rent Dynamics

SecOps program for us, as a smaller company, is amazing; they know what to look for

They could give a few more insights into security groups and recommendations on how to be more effective. That's getting more into the AWS environment, specifically. I'm not sure if that's Threat Stack's plan or not, but I would like them to help us be efficient about how we're setting up security groups. They could recommend separation of VPCs and the like - really dig into our architecture. I haven't seen a whole lot of that and I think that's something that, right off the bat, could have made us smarter. Even as part of the SecOps Program, that could be helpful; a quick analysis. They're analyzing our whole infrastructure and saying, "You have one VPC and that doesn't make a lot of sense, that should be multiple VPCs and here's why." The architecture of the servers in whatever cloud-hosting provider you're on could be helpful. Other than that, they should continue to expand on their notifications and on what's a vulnerability. They do a great job of that and we want them to continue to do that. It would be cool, since the agent is already deployed and they know about the server, they know the IP address, and they know what vulnerability is there, for them to test the vulnerability and see if they can actually exploit it. Or, once we patch it, they could double-check that it can't be. I don't know how hard that would be to build. Thinking on it off the top off my head, it could be a little challenging but it could also be highly interesting. It would also be great if we could test a couple of other features like hammering a server with 100 login attempts and see what happens. Real test scenarios could be really helpful. That is probably more something close to what they do with the SOC 2 audit or the report. But more visualization of that, being able to test things out on our infrastructure to make sure we can or can't hit this box could be interesting.

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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

"The whole solution is very good, and stable."

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

"The most valuable feature is the visibility that we have across the virtual environment."

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

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

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

"It is quite an intelligent product."

"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 rules are really great. They give us more visibility and control over what's being triggered. There's a large set of rules that come out-of-the-box. We can customize them and we can create our own rules based on the traffic patterns that we see."

"The number-one feature is the monitoring of interactive sessions on our Linux machines. We run an immutable environment, so that nothing is allowed to be changed in production... We're constantly monitoring to make sure that no one is violating that. Threat Stack is what allows us to do that."

"We're using it on container to see when activity involving executables happens, and that's great."

"Technical support is very helpful."

"We like the ability of the host security module to monitor the processes running on our servers to help us monitor activity."

"Every other security tool we've looked is good at containers, or at Kubernetes, is good at AWS, or at instance monitoring. But nobody is good at tying all of those things together, and that's really where Threat Stack shines."

"The most valuable feature is the SecOps because they have our back and they help us with the reports... It's like having an extension of your team. And then, it grows with you."

"An important feature of this solution is monitoring. Specifically, container monitoring."

More Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] pros

Cons

"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."

"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."

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

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

"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."

"The main dashboard of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could improve."

"I don't think this solution is a time-based control system, because one cannot filter traffic based on time."

"I did not experience any pain points that required improvement. Maybe a couple of false-positives, but that's about it."

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT cons

"The one thing that we know they're working on, but we don't have through the tool, is the application layer. As we move to a serverless environment, with AWS Fargate or direct Lambda, that's where Threat Stack does not have the capacity to provide feed. Those are areas that it's blind to now..."

"The API - which has grown quite a bit, so we're still learning it and I can't say whether it still needs improvement - was an area that had been needing it."

"They could give a few more insights into security groups and recommendations on how to be more effective. That's getting more into the AWS environment, specifically. I'm not sure if that's Threat Stack's plan or not, but I would like them to help us be efficient about how we're setting up security groups. They could recommend separation of VPCs and the like - really dig into our architecture. I haven't seen a whole lot of that and I think that's something that, right off the bat, could have made us smarter."

"The compliance and governance need improvement."

"The solution’s ability to consume alerts and data in third-party tools (via APIs and export into S3 buckets) is moderate. They have some work to do in that area... The API does not mimic the features of the UI as far as reporting and pulling data out go. There's a big discrepancy there."

"It shoots back a lot of alerts."

"Some features do not work as expected."

"The reports aren't very good. We've automated the report generation via the API and replaced almost all the reports that they generate for us using API calls instead."

More Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] 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."

"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."

"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."

"It came in cheaper than Trend Micro when we purchased it a few years ago."

"We find the licensing and pricing very easy to understand and a good value for the services provided."

"I'm happy with the amount that we spend for the product that we get and the overall service that we get. It's not cheap, but I'm still happy with the spend."

"It is very expensive compared to some other products. The pricing is definitely high."

"It is a cost-effective choice versus other solutions on the market."

"What we're paying now is somewhere around $15 to $20 per agent per month, if I recall correctly. The other cost we have is SecOps."

"Pricing seems to be in line with the market structure. It's fine."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

University

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

14%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Non Profit

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

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,...

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Comparisons

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 20% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 18% of the time

Zscaler Cloud IPS vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 9% of the time

Trend Micro TippingPoint Threat Protection System vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 9% of the time

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT Competitors

BMC Helix Cloud Security vs Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL]

Compared 32% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps vs Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL]

Compared 28% of the time

Netskope vs Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL]

Compared 22% of the time

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP vs Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL]

Compared 18% of the time

More Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

September 2025

Download Cisco Sourcefire SNORT product report

Buyer's Guide

Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL]

August 2025

Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] report

Download Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] product report

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT

Threat Stack, CSP,

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

Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] offers robust security features including endpoint monitoring, rule customization, and integration capabilities, with easy connectivity to cloud services like Docker and AWS.

Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] provides tools for enhancing security visibility across cloud infrastructure. It supports AWS and Docker integration, facilitating efficient threat detection and management. Users appreciate its capability to configure customizable alerts and monitor endpoints, sessions, API interactions, and cloud services. However, there are areas needing improvement, such as better serverless environment support and reduced alert frequency. The platform services smaller organizations by compensating for limited security resources with its comprehensive monitoring and auditing tools.

What are the key features?

Easy Cloud Service Integration: Streamlined connectivity with Docker and AWS for efficient monitoring.
Customizable Rule Sets: Tailor security rules to meet specific organizational needs.
Email Alerts: Receive timely notifications about security events and threats.
Interactive Session Monitoring: Track live sessions for suspicious activities.
API Integration: Connect effortlessly with third-party tools for an enhanced security posture.
SecOps Support: Assistance for organizations lacking dedicated security teams.

What are the benefits and ROI features?

Streamlined Threat Detection: Effective process monitoring to identify potential threats.
Cost Efficiency: Serves companies with limited resources by providing essential security functions.
Comprehensive Audits: Helps in regular examinations of cloud infrastructure, enhancing compliance.
Visibility into Cloud Operations: Offers a detailed dashboard for threat visibility and monthly vulnerability assessments.

In specific industries, Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] is utilized for its strength in monitoring cloud infrastructure and preventing unauthorized access. Organizations in fields where cloud operations are critical use it for regular audits and monitoring. Its capabilities in threat management are leveraged to maintain secure operations and compliance, especially where there is no dedicated security team.

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

StatusPage.io, Walkbase, Spanning, DNAnexus, Jobcase, Nextcapital, Smartling, Veracode, 6sense

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