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Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.4
Cisco Secure IPS delivers effective threat detection and aligns with security needs, but setup costs concern some users' ROI evaluations.
Sentiment score
5.7
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention offers financial benefits and high user satisfaction despite its cost, boosting revenues, especially in Italy.
It offers insights into security threats, despite the inability to quantify its impact in numbers.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Cisco Secure IPS support is generally well-regarded for responsiveness and skill, despite some regional inconsistencies and initial contact issues.
Sentiment score
5.9
Palo Alto Networks' support is praised for expertise but faces inconsistent response times and communication challenges with third-party facilitation.
Fortinet, on the other hand, offers quicker response times and same-day RMAs, which gives them an edge in customer service.
Head Of Technical Operations at ITE
Compared to SonicWall security services, Cisco's technical support has no competition.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The response was fast, and they provided experts to solve our issues quickly.
IT Infrastructure Manager at TMLI
Overall, I find the technical support from Palo Alto Networks quite good, although getting a hold of the TAC can be challenging and sometimes requires long phone calls.
Global Network Tech Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I have proof of this rating - when I escalate a case, I receive a reply from TAC support after two days.
Presales Engineer at SAUDI PARAMOUNT COMPUTER SYSTEMS
I rate technical support from Palo Alto as eight out of ten.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Cisco Secure IPS is praised for scalability and centralized management but criticized for hardware limitations and high scaling costs.
Sentiment score
7.7
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is scalable, adaptable, and efficient, though cost may constrain its broad deployment.
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is scalable and works well wherever enforcement points exist.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco Secure IPS is mostly stable but experiences software glitches, upgrade issues, and faces preferences for alternative solutions.
Sentiment score
7.7
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is praised for its superior stability and performance, though requires careful version selection.
The software situation with Cisco is problematic.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I recommend it to other users, but I am concerned about stability, as the stability is not adequate.
Senior Network Security Expert & Instructor at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Proper sizing of the firewall models ensures that the system does not experience crippling performance issues.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Secure IPS requires better SIEM integration, enhanced user-friendliness, centralized management, intuitive UI, and improved support and documentation.
Palo Alto Networks needs improvements in email filtering, setup ease, user experience, support services, and enhanced security features.
CLI is very important in professional working, and it was an unwise decision by Cisco to remove it.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Incorporating AI capabilities would enhance its functionality.
IT Infrastructure Manager at TMLI
I am aware that we are not measuring some metrics or tracking access through Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS).
Senior Network Security Expert & Instructor at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Palo Alto needs to focus on how to bring that technology to end users and how easy it is to use, especially in a hybrid environment where users work from various locations.
Global Network Tech Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The behavioral detection capabilities could be expanded to address all threats at the perimeter, reducing the reliance on endpoint detection and response systems.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Secure IPS is seen as expensive, justified by robust features, but less cost-effective for smaller businesses.
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is costly but valued for strong threat detection, with pricing challenging for smaller businesses.
It's cheaper to integrate with existing IT security solutions compared to other expensive brands with subscription costs.
IT Infrastructure Manager at TMLI
I would rate the price for Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) as high.
Senior Network Security Expert & Instructor at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention requires an add-on license and is considered expensive compared to competitors like Cisco AMP and FortiGate firewalls.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Secure IPS provides advanced threat detection, scalability, integration capabilities, and centralized management, enhanced by Talos and Cisco Firepower.
Palo Alto Networks excels in threat prevention with features like sandboxing, machine learning, and user-friendly design, enhancing efficiency.
Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) helps me with the visibility component, providing visibility across more than 3,000 applications using Firepower IPS.
Senior Network Security Expert & Instructor at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
They can discover new versions of malware, which is very beneficial.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) is quite powerful for threat detection and includes botnet detection.
IT Infrastructure Manager at TMLI
As traditional signature-based mechanisms become less effective due to the evolving nature of attacks, this solution's focus on behavioral analysis is crucial.
Sr. Cloud Security Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
We are satisfied with the analytic capabilities of Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention, especially the reporting features available in the Palo Alto portal in terms of their application visibility interface, which is very good for us to get visibility on all critical applications and the associated users, as well as the risks associated with every category of traffic.
Global Network Tech Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS)
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
70
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks Advanced...
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) is 3.4%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is 5.4%, up from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention5.4%
Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS)3.4%
Other91.2%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer373227 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Marketing strengths shine but regaining user trust needs significant effort
There are numerous things that could be improved about Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) to get it back on track. Sollution for small branches: when we have to connect a lot very small branches (or sometimes only an ATM) we need something small, with LTE and with reasonable price. Cisco response is SDWAN but it is not always the case. Recently Cisco released some small firewalls but I have not tried them yet. Central management with FMC is a very good idea, but sometimes local management or monitoring is helpfull. With Cisco You have to decide: central or local. You cannot have both. Regarding usability, when you commit configuration on Cisco, it sometimes takes very long. Commits also take some time for the competition, but Cisco is definitely lagging behind the rest in this respect. Last but not least, for me as a professional is lack of CLI. With CLI, I can configure every firewall on the market except Cisco. CLI is very important in professional working, and IMHO it was an unwise decision by Cisco to remove it. Graphical interfaces are very nice, but when you've got thousands of objects in a big installation and have to configure many things, CLI is a much faster way to do it.
Partha Dash - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Network Tech Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Advanced protection enables us to confidently secure against evolving threats
Palo Alto Networks can improve Advanced Threat Prevention by catering to the growing adoption of AI and agentic tooling. The Threat Protection modules should have the necessary intelligence to protect against those types of threats, as AI will be there to do a human job; this is an evolving area. From an Advanced Threat Protection perspective, the technology associated with Palo Alto Networks, such as their sandboxing environment, is quite good. However, Palo Alto needs to focus on how to bring that technology to end users and how easy it is to use, especially in a hybrid environment where users work from various locations. While Palo Alto excels in certain setups, they need to improve the user experience in distributed working conditions.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Performing Arts
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise27
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco NGIPS?
The product's initial setup phase was easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco NGIPS?
Cisco is one of the top brands known for cost-effectiveness, making it worth the money. It's cheaper to integrate with existing IT security solutions compared to other expensive brands with subscri...
What needs improvement with Cisco NGIPS?
There are numerous things that could be improved about Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) to get it back on track. Sollution for small branches: when we have to connect a lot very small branches (or sometime...
Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?
Arbor would be the best bid, apart from Arbor, Palo Alto and Fortinet have good solutions. As this is an ISP, I would prefer Arbor.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention?
Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention requires an add-on license and is considered expensive compared to competitors like Cisco AMP and FortiGate ( /products/fortinet-fortigate-reviews ) fi...
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention?
Palo Alto Networks can improve Advanced Threat Prevention by catering to the growing adoption of AI and agentic tooling. The Threat Protection modules should have the necessary intelligence to prot...
 

Also Known As

Sourcefire NGIPS, Firepower NGIPS
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

American Electric Power, Huntington Bank, Keycorp, Nationwide, Transunion, Marriott, Inova Health, Ford, Thomson Reuters, Dow Chemical, Equifax, Chevron, Walmart, Coca Cola
University of Arkansas, JBG SMITH, SkiStar AB, TRI-AD, Temple University, Telkom Indonesia
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs. Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,821 professionals have used our research since 2012.