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Darktrace vs Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Darktrace
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (10th), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (1st), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (7th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (10th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (9th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (4th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (5th), AI Observability (7th)
Hillstone S-Series Network ...
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
23rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Darktrace is 10.1%, down from 14.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System is 2.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Darktrace10.1%
Hillstone S-Series Network Intrusion Prevention System2.0%
Other87.9%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

Pasan Jayarathna - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Security Engineer at Cyberwell Solution
Monitoring has improved data loss detection and now spots abnormal internal file transfers quickly
In my understanding, the best feature Darktrace offers is the identification of copying files, which acts as a DLP, and it is a main concern for companies because users sometimes copy data outside without knowing, especially those without a technical background. When I mention the DLP-like feature and file copying detection, the alerts have been very timely, as we get an alert within a couple of minutes, which is excellent. Even if some developers are working after hours and copying files, our SOC team detects this, and most of the time they call us so we can identify the users. The alerts are quite accurate and proactive.
reviewer1080873 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Complements any firewall
The core processors are there and it's able to generate reports for that. It also complements any kind of firewall. For example, if an end user is using Palo Alto as a firewall, they'd need another layer of firewall like the S-Series that will protect internal servers. It's something that complements any firewall in the market.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Enterprise Immune System, Cyber Artificial Intelligence Analyst, and Antigena technology are all very useful aspects of the product."
"I find the complete portfolio to be excellent."
"The most valuable feature is that it works autonomously."
"Darktrace is very stable, and I would rate its stability a ten out of ten."
"I particularly like Antigena and the analytics around the real-time monitoring of our network."
"The autonomous response is also highly designed in Darktrace."
"The most valuable feature has been the behavioral analytics that allows us to monitor all the traffic."
"You can have a one-person IT team and with Darktrace, you can get notification of potential threats that are incoming or are already happening on the network."
"Setup is straightforward with the same reliability and scalability as the firewall series."
 

Cons

"It would be helpful if they could recognize incidents and simplify the customer's challenge to identify what is happening."
"The pricing needs improvement."
"I am not so satisfied with the pricing model for Darktrace. The price is a little bit high compared to other solutions."
"In the next version, I'd like to see penetration testing."
"It's sometimes a challenge getting logs from different sources."
"The one downside is the pricing, which is quite high."
"Darktrace should have more automation and integrations with other security monitoring tools."
"There is a high ratio of false positive information."
"Lack of tools to help educate end users"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."
"It is inexpensive considering what it can do and the competition."
"The tool's pricing is costly."
"The price of Darktrace is high and could be reduced. We pay approximately $30,000 to $54,000 annually."
"The pricing is expensive. It costs over $100,000 a year."
"They are too expensive compared with other vendors."
"There is an annual license to use Darktrace."
"The solution is about $6,000 per quarter."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business44
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise29
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing user interface that makes setup easy and seamless. CrowdStrike Falcon offers a cl...
Which is better - SentinelOne or Darktrace?
Which solution is better depends on which is more suitable specifically for your company. Darktrace, for example, is meant for smaller to medium-sized businesses. It is also a good option for organ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Darktrace?
Concerning pricing for the product, I would say it is somewhat expensive.
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Also Known As

No data available
Hillstone S-Series NIPS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Irwin Mitchell, Open Energi, Wellcome Trust, FirstGroup plc, Virgin Trains, Drax, QUI! Group, DNK, CreaCard, Macrosynergy, Sisley, William Hill plc, Toyota Canada, Royal British Legion, Vitol, Allianz, KKR, AIRBUS, dpd, Billabong, Mclaren Group.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Darktrace, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS). Updated: July 2026.
908,877 professionals have used our research since 2012.