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Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service 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
WatchGuard Intrusion Preven...
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
25th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service is 0.4%, down from 0.5% 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.
Gianluca Vinci - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps us protect published resources with a valuable alarm system
Our primary use case for the solution is to protect published resources The alarm system is valuable because it alerts us if an external intruder tries to attack published resources. The user interface can be improved because it is sometimes difficult to manage functionality. For example, the…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco technical support is unbeatable. It offers a premium service every time."
"I like most of Cisco's features, like malware detection and URL filtering."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT are the dashboard for monitoring events."
"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 URL filtering is very good and you can create a group for customized URLs."
"It is quite an intelligent product."
"The whole solution is very good, and stable."
"It simplifies the configuration process by offering pre-defined base configurations, including security and connectivity settings."
"The alarm system is valuable."
"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."
"The most important feature of this solution is the SLAs."
"The initial setup was straightforward and, because we only need intrusion detection and prevention, we needed only about four hours to deploy it."
"It works right out of the box. You just have to enable it and you can start working."
 

Cons

"The solution's approach to managing traffic blocking is confusing and impractical."
"I would like to have analytics included in the suite."
"The customization of the rules can be simplified."
"The main dashboard of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could improve."
"If the price is brought down then everybody will be happy."
"There are problems setting up VPNs for some regions."
"The pricing needs to be improved. We have lots of low-budget clients around us. Budget constraints are always a deterrent in our market."
"With the next release, I would like to see some PBR, so that you can do the configuration with the features."
"Its graphical user interface could be improved because not everybody is technical. There is a lack of knowledge, and they can give some training for this solution."
"The user interface and configuration can be improved."
"I would like to see faster automatation."
"Regarding technical support, they could use more engineers."
"Multi properties could be added to the solution in the future to make it better."
 

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."
"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."
"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."
"It is not expensive. Other products like Fortinet and Check Point are of the same price."
"The price of WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service is pretty reasonable compared to similar solutions."
"The price of the solution is not expensive, it is less than FortiGate."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
7%
University
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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,...
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Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT
WatchGuard IPS
 

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
Chester School District
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. WatchGuard Intrusion Prevention Service and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.