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Check Point IPS vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT 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

Check Point IPS
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
57
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Sourcefire SNORT
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
16th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Check Point IPS is 5.1%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 3.5%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

Ramesh KumarPonram - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers great features like tunneling, hashing, and SSL
The area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required consist of support availability. The tool's complete operating system architecture is being designed in such a way that it looks a little complicated compared to the tool offered by its competitors. The tool's complete operating system architecture needs to be simplified for the users, especially from an administrative and troubleshooting perspective, so that it can be used quickly or with speed whenever there is a crisis. If the aforementioned areas are considered, the product will be much stronger. The tool's support is a major issue because it has not been quick in certain areas compared to the ones offered by Check Point's competitors. The product's scalability has certain shortcomings where improvements are required. The product should be able to handle and compete with competitors and their services as well as updates, which are much faster than Check Point.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Some of the features for views and visualization are already predefined as default files."
"Check Point IPS has positively impacted our organization overall by making audits easier, but it has also reduced the number of risks and attacks to our organization."
"The autonomous threat prevention is very easy to use. The APIs and SmartConsole tool also work well."
"This is a very stable product."
"The Check Point IPS module allows me granularity in creating rules."
"The reports are well written so that you can understand what type of attack has occurred, the originating IP address, and other details."
"What I like best about Check Point IPS is that it can prevent attacks. I also like that it has a log feature."
"I can easily monitor all of our connected devices and I get instant notification of reconnections and new connections, which removes some of the monitoring burden."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT are the dashboard for monitoring events."
"The solution is rather easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the filtering."
"I like most of Cisco's features, like malware detection and URL filtering."
"The URL filtering is very good and you can create a group for customized URLs."
"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."
"The tool's most valuable feature is threat detection, which is important because we have multiple layers not only in Cisco."
 

Cons

"I would like the product to provide us with intelligence to understand what we really have in our environment."
"It requires a lot of people to maintain the solution."
"The solution needs enhanced reporting. The reporting on Cisco Stealthwatch and Darktrace is much bigger. The visibility that they grant for the filtering capabilities over large infrastructures are far superior."
"The pain point that I have with this solution is contacting technical support."
"Enhancements are necessary for the proficiency of notifications in the event of a Social Security incident, whether through email or alternative channels such as SMS."
"The tool's pricing could be better."
"Check Point IPS' main problem is it is mostly software based. The performance is dependent on the CPU power, and the limited number of patterns."
"The price has room for improvement."
"I don't think this solution is a time-based control system, because one cannot filter traffic based on time."
"I want to see a better dashboard for the product. The dashboard can be a bit modified or enhanced."
"I did not experience any pain points that required improvement. Maybe a couple of false-positives, but that's about it."
"The main dashboard of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could improve."
"If the price is brought down then everybody will be happy."
"We are unhappy with technical support for this solution, and it is not as professional as what we typically expect from Cisco."
"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."
"The implementation could be a bit easier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing for this solution is negotiable and I'm happy with our pricing."
"My company pays for the yearly licensing of Check Point IPS. It is a very expensive tool."
"I think that the price of support is around $40,000 USD or $50,000 USD per year."
"You can pay for Check Point IPS yearly, or you can go with a three-year license. There's no extra cost apart from the standard licensing fee."
"There is a license needed to use the Check Point IPS which is not expensive. However, the Check Point IPS device is expensive."
"The module has a considerable cost but you can save by purchasing a package with several modules instead of making a single purchase."
"Enabling IPS does not require any additional license purchase from OEM, as it comes by default with the NGFW bundle."
"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is very cheap and ten means it is very expensive. The product is expensive."
"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."
"We have a three-year license for this solution."
"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."
"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
University
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Check Point IPS?
The most valuable feature of the solution is called tunneling. Tunneling is one of the major security features that hackers cannot penetrate through.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Check Point IPS?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Check Point IPS has been satisfactory.
What needs improvement with Check Point IPS?
An area of improvement for Check Point IPS would be simplified configuration and performance optimization. The initial setup and tuning can be complex, and more guided wizards or templates would he...
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,...
 

Also Known As

Check Point Intrusion Prevention System
Sourcefire SNORT
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Morton Salt, Medical Advocacy and Outreach, BH Telecom, Lightbeam Health Solutions, X by Orange, Cadence, Nihondentsu, Datastream Connexion, Good Sam, Omnyway, FIASA, Pacific Life, Banco del Pacifico, Control Southern, Xero, Centrify
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Check Point IPS vs. Cisco Sourcefire SNORT and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.