Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs WatchGuard Firebox comparison

Cisco and WatchGuard are both solutions in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category. Cisco is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.7, while WatchGuard is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.6. Cisco holds a 2.7% mindshare in ID, compared to WatchGuard’s 8.4% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of WatchGuard users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 5, 2025

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT and WatchGuard Firebox are competing network security solutions. WatchGuard Firebox tends to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and straightforward deployment.

Features: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT provides robust intrusion prevention, including deep packet inspection and open-source flexibility. WatchGuard Firebox offers user-friendly firewall management, advanced threat detection, and seamless integration options.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could enhance its user interface for easier management and improve hardware integration. WatchGuard Firebox might focus on reducing costs and offering more advanced customization features. Both could expand their documentation for better user guidance.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WatchGuard Firebox is known for straightforward deployment and strong customer service support. Cisco Sourcefire SNORT requires technical expertise for setup but provides cost-effective customer service options.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is noted for low initial setup costs and delivers value through open-source capabilities. WatchGuard Firebox requires a higher upfront investment but offers significant ROI via its comprehensive features and ease of use.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. WatchGuard Firebox Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. WatchGuard Firebox

September 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

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 16.6%, down from 19.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 2.7%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WatchGuard Firebox is 8.4%, down from 12.0% 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 (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	16.6%
WatchGuard Firebox	8.4%
Cisco Sourcefire SNORT	2.7%
Other	72.3%

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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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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ScottEastman

Project Consultant at SEVERN HOSPICE LIMITED

Reduces the risks of sending data where it shouldn't be going

We use the solution to ensure that no data breach, such as credit card details and national insurance numbers, leaves the company. However, we have to allow some information to go through because we send a lot of information to the National Healthcare Service If we don't want specific data sent…

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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

"Fortinet FortiGate serves as the first line of defense, it is robust and easy to configure, and I haven't seen any breaches happening when configured properly based on best practices."

"Its usability is good. We can easily navigate the system, and we have a very good user experience."

"FortiGate has led to a reduction in our security budget."

"The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is the IPS or IDS implementation. I appreciate most the agility or the flexibility to create hashes to block incoming threats, and I can integrate with third-party threat intelligence with our FortiGate."

"Stateful packet inspection is valuable. It also does SSL packet inspection. It is able to provide a VPN for remote users with secure connectivity."

"The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is SD-WAN; it ensures continuous connectivity by taking over during link failures, preventing any downtime for the company."

"The solution is very stable."

"It is a scalable solution."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

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

"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."

"The solution is stable."

"The solution is rather easy to use."

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

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

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

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT pros

"The VPN and the filtering features are the most valuable. Its VPN is very strong, and its services are very nice. The main problem in India is the service. There are not enough Check Point and Fortinet Firewall services, but for this product, the service is very good."

"Two of the functionalities we use most are the traffic monitoring and the full panel dashboard. Those are two things that are very useful for us... In addition, it provides us with layered security. It allows us to determine what types of access, to which networks, we want to allow or deny."

"I like intrusion detection the most."

"Regarding the reporting, I was in the Dimension server earlier today. It's very powerful. I like it. And the management features are easy to use. I like the fact that I can open up the System Manager client or I can just do it through the web if I'm making a quick change."

"WatchGuard is very user-friendly. It provides us with all of the security services we need."

"The protection that it provides from ransomware is valuable. The awareness that it has is also valuable. It didn't have a central console earlier, but now it has a central console, which is pretty good."

"What I found most valuable in WatchGuard Firebox is that it's a functional platform that works, and each of its features works well. The solution also has good reporting and dashboard capabilities. I also find the overall performance of WatchGuard Firebox great."

"It is something that we need for compliance, and it has been useful. Their support staff is also amazing."

More WatchGuard Firebox pros

Cons

"The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment."

"They should make the rule sets more understandable for the end user. When you're trying to explain to somebody how a computer network is secured, sometimes it's difficult for an end user or customer to understand. If there was a way to make the terminology more accessible to the end user, the set up could be easier. They should translate the technical jargon to an easily relatable and understandable conversation for the end user, the customer, that would be brilliant. Particularly in an environment where the IT structure is audited regularly, there's always pressure from the auditor to up the standards and up the security and you get your USCERT's that come out and there's a warning about this and the customer will want to lock out so much and when you apply it they run into issue where they can't search the internet or print to their remote office. Of course they can't print to your remote office, they just locked it up. They should make the language more understandable for the customer. If there's a product out there that made the jargon understandable to John Q. Public, I would buy that."

"The performance can be improved."

"Previously it had a hiccup around a bug within the authentication VPN due to the firmware, but after updating, it's easier to control."

"The solution is expensive."

"One issue that I have had is that sometimes I need to monitor the traffic, so I need to filter it according to the user and which user is using it the most. I experience a bottleneck most of the time, particularly at the peak time when the number of contracts and users are at maximum."

"There should be more testing before releasing software since it can be a little buggy sometimes when new features come out after updates."

"FortiGate's reporting features could provide a better picture of what is happening in the box."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"We are unhappy with technical support for this solution, and it is not as professional as what we typically expect from Cisco."

"The customization of the rules can be simplified."

"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."

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

"The cloud can be improved."

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

"With the next release, I would like to see some PBR, so that you can do the configuration with the features."

"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."

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT cons

"I believe there is a need for additional measures to connect mobile devices securely to the Firebox router."

"One other shortcoming is that there is no backup for it. We really haven't figured out how we might solve that problem. We may want to put a duplicate in... With WatchGuard, we just have the one box. If that were to fail, we'd probably be really hurting."

"I would like to see the devices made more flexible by adding modules to increase the ports that we can use."

"There is a problem with the RAM - it's eating up resources. The RAM utilization sometimes reaches up to 80% - 95%, and what we do is just restart the firewall."

"We would like to see granular notification settings and more advanced filtering in traffic monitoring."

"We bought Firebox four or five years ago, and with the first version I had to reboot it every two or three months for no apparent reason. We upgraded last year to the M370 and it's been running, but it is rebooting from time to time. I don't know why."

"The solution is a bit confusing and there are unusual complications with setup."

"The only downside is that it is missing an API, that you can use to easily collect information from it."

More WatchGuard Firebox cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The main reason we chose Fortinet FortiGate was that the price was better than the competition."

"The initial setup is super straight forward and as far as the licensing goes for the small product that we have, the pricing was pretty competitive. It wasn't as simple and as cheap as a SonicWall but for the service we would get it was a good price."

"On a scale of one being cheap and ten being expensive, I rate the tool's price as an eight."

"The price for the device and software is high. However, the solution is of good quality and has a lot of features."

"If you purchase a one-year subscription with the hardware and then you want to renew for the second year, it is very costly."

"Its licenses cost the same for different subscription plans."

"I pay €1,200 per year for the license along with Fortinet's 81E firewall appliance. I would rate this pricing as 3/5 stars, and I believe the price is reasonably similar to its competitors in the market, being somewhere in the middle."

"Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an affordable solution."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"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."

"We have a three-year license for this solution."

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

"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."

"WatchGuard Firebox has good quality, but it is expensive."

"Firebox is priced reasonably."

"It's fair pricing, but it could always be reduced."

"There is a license required to use the solution and we pay annually. The price could be reduced because it is a bit expensive."

"WatchGuard had a very competitive price. It was only 10 to 20 percent more than a single instance device but with that extra cost it provided a second load balancing device... unlike other brands whose method of hardware and software licensing would have doubled our cost."

"As per my knowledge, the product is more affordable than alternatives."

"I would rate the pricing at seven out of ten. As for the licensing costs, we typically have yearly licenses for our clients, but there are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees."

"I usually tell people that it's really affordable as well, particularly compared to Cisco."

More WatchGuard Firebox pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

University

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	350
Midsize Enterprise	130
Large Enterprise	187

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	91
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	15

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

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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 t...

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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,...

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What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We are providing our services to all WatchGuard customers in the region.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We just use it as a secondary WiFi device. We're a small office and we needed to set up a WiFi device for a few of ou...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WatchGuard Firebox?

We're a hospital and we use it for developing our incoming and outgoing policies, and we also use it for VPN.

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 17% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 9% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 19% 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

ExtremeCloud IQ vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 9% of the time

Trend Micro TippingPoint Threat Protection System vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 8% of the time

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT Competitors

OPNsense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 7% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 5% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 5% of the time

Sophos XGS vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs WatchGuard Firebox

Compared 4% of the time

More WatchGuard Firebox Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

September 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

September 2025

Download Cisco Sourcefire SNORT product report

Buyer's Guide

WatchGuard Firebox

September 2025

Download WatchGuard Firebox product report

Also Known As

No data available

Sourcefire SNORT

WatchGuard Threat Detection and Response, WatchGuard Application Control, WatchGuard Data Loss Prevention, WatchGuard Gateway AntiVirus, WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

Fortinet

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

WatchGuard Firebox is a high-performance firewall known for its ease of setup, offering robust security with layered protection and centralized management capabilities.

WatchGuard Firebox stands out for its intuitive management and high throughput, addressing security needs with features like VPN, web filtering, and threat detection. Its centralized control and reporting abilities, along with Active Directory integration, make it popular among varied organizations. Its user-friendly interface and ongoing updates enhance usability and reliability. However, there's a call for better cloud-based administration, scalability, and improved integration with third-party vendors.

What are the key features of WatchGuard Firebox?

Ease of Setup: Quick and straightforward installation process.
GUI: User-friendly graphical interface for simplified navigation.
VPN Features: Secure and efficient virtual private network management.
Web Filtering: Advanced filtering for safer browsing experiences.
Threat Detection: Proactive monitoring and detection of cyber threats.

What benefits or ROI should be evaluated?

Centralized Control: Streamlined management from a single point.
High Throughput: Efficient data handling and processing capacity.
Stable Performance: Consistent and reliable operational functionality.
Active Directory Integration: Seamless connection with user directories.
Customer Service: Strong support service for customer inquiries.

WatchGuard Firebox is implemented across industries to secure internet gateways and protect data in multi-site businesses. Its applications span from Unified Threat Management (UTM) and intrusion prevention to compliance support in business environments requiring secure connectivity through VPNs.

WatchGuard

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

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

Ellips, Diecutstickers.com, Clarke Energy, NCR, Wrest Park, Homeslice Pizza, Fortessa Tableware Solutions, The Phoenix Residence

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. WatchGuard Firebox

September 2025

Free Report: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. WatchGuard Firebox

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