No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs NetWitness Platform comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Secure Network Analytics
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (31st), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (5th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (6th), Cisco Security Portfolio (9th)
NetWitness Platform
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Log Management (36th), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (34th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Secure Network Analytics and NetWitness Platform aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Secure Network Analytics is designed for Network Monitoring Software and holds a mindshare of 0.9%, down 1.2% compared to last year.
NetWitness Platform, on the other hand, focuses on Log Management, holds 1.1% mindshare, up 0.4% since last year.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Network Analytics0.9%
Zabbix3.6%
SolarWinds NPM3.6%
Other91.9%
Network Monitoring Software
Log Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NetWitness Platform1.1%
Splunk Enterprise Security6.8%
IBM Security QRadar4.5%
Other87.6%
Log Management
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad Harun-Owr-Roshid - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at BRIGHT-i SYSTEMS LIMITED
Have streamlined network visibility and troubleshooting while seeing benefits from AI integration
In terms of improvements for Cisco Secure Network Analytics, from the implementation point of view, now that AI is in use, some other features need to be upgraded considering AI solutions. Proper management of the database is also important; it should be centralized for easier data collection from a single database. When precise manual analysis is needed, it's sometimes difficult, so having a centralized database will allow network admins to find actual scenarios more effectively, especially since some information may not be visible on the GUI. Cisco should upgrade their hardware part to run the database, because sometimes it cannot handle the load while all features are running in the network. The database management should indeed be centralized because while AI runs behind the systems, central management is essential. For example, in a network with 100 Cisco switches, a few routers, firewalls, and access points, all data generated should be preserved in a central database. This approach simplifies management and analysis for troubleshooting, as GUI interfaces may not always provide visible information. Centralizing the database will allow for better understanding of which information is preserved for each specific device.
reviewer2256927 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Information Security, Cyber Defense and IT Risk Management at HCT. at a transportation company with 201-500 employees
A solid SIEM solution that should improve technical support and online resources to be easier to use
A big problem with the product is that we don't have much professional experience in Israel installing, implementing, and integrating this product. There is not enough of a knowledge base. There is no support for this product in this country, so problems have to be resolved through global technical teams. We like to work locally because of the language, and when the product is only supported outside the country, it's a little difficult to implement and use this product. Moreover, AI is something that must be added immediately. Artificial intelligence is a part of the competitors' products, and it's not been implemented for us.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is integration."
"The most valuable part is that Stealthwatch is part of a portfolio of security devices from Cisco. Cisco literally can touch every single end point, every single ingress and egress point in the network. Nobody else has that."
"Being able to identify specific date closed across the network is invaluable."
"The artifacts available in the tool provide better information for analyzing network traffic. It enables a holistic view of network traffic and general packet analysis. It's easy to identify anomalies without the use of signatures. The way in which we implemented Stealthwatch Cloud has enabled my team to analyze traffic behind proxies."
"It has definitely helped us improve our mean time to resolution on network issues."
"AI provides suggested common lines and protection features that help safeguard networks from various threats or unwanted situations."
"Using the Cognitive Analytics feature, we have complete visibility that we didn’t have before."
"The fact that it can identify down to an IP address of a system that is causing problems, or potentially causing problems, is very valuable."
"Possibility to investigate incidents based on logs and raw packets, such as extracting files sent over the network"
"What we are mainly using are the RSA concentrator, RSA Decoder, Archiver, Broker, and Log Decoder."
"I can have enterprise security, email security, next generation firewall security log, HIDS and NIDS logs, etc. all on the same dashboard. It makes it easy to pinpoint or correlate our server to this. I can find out if there is lateral movement. This is the biggest advantage of this solution."
"Performance and reporting are very good."
"Their customer service is excellent, one of the best."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to write rules and triggers for network communication and then being able to investigate based on that, where you can see the payload and deconstruct the packets."
"The detection of ransomware in the internal network has benefited my organization."
"The solution is really scalable for the high-end power, enterprise customer."
 

Cons

"One thing I would like to see improved is if it could automatically be tied through ISE, instead of you having to manually get notifications and disable it yourself."
"The interface is sluggish and not updated."
"One area that could be improved in SNA is the integration with Cisco ISE for user and session details, which currently requires additional setup."
"The usability of this solution needs to be improved."
"Stealthwatch needs improvement when it comes to speed."
"Cisco should upgrade their hardware part to run the database, because sometimes it cannot handle the load while all features are running in the network."
"Reliance on Java. Get away from that."
"Better integration between Cisco Secure Network Analytics and Cisco Secure Workload would be beneficial."
"I believe that integrating the solution with other products such as Oracle would be beneficial."
"The initial setup is very complex and should be simplified."
"RSA NetWitness Logs and Packets can improve the threat level aspect, it is lacking compared to other solutions."
"It should have a monitoring feature. It would help us analyze the current state of attacks faster from a single platform."
"The multi-tenant capabilities are lagging compared to IBM QRadar."
"Security needs improvement. We would still like to know how the traffic is entering the organization."
"An area for improvement would be better automation and more inbuilt use cases."
"It is not so easy to customize this product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive. It costs several hundred thousand dollars per year (depending on how many flows you are collecting)."
"The licensing costs are outrageous."
"We pay for support costs on a yearly basis."
"NetFlow is very expensive."
"It has a subscription model. There is yearly support, and there is also three-year support. It depends on what the customers want."
"One of the things which bugs me about Lancope is the licensing. We understand how licensing works. Our problem is when we bought and purchased most of these Lancope devices, we did so with our sister company. Somewhere within the purchase and distribution, licensing got mixed up. That is all on Cisco, and it is their responsibility. They allotted some of our sister company's equipment to us, and some of our equipment to them. To date, they have never been able to fix it."
"Our fees are approximately $3,000 USD."
"Licensing is done by flows per second, not including outside>in traffic."
"It is cheap."
"Our license is for one year."
"It provides tools to assist in selecting the appropriate license and usage scenarios."
"Many clients are not able to purchase the packet capability because there is a huge amount of data, and the cost depends on the number of EPS (Events per second), as well as the number of gigabytes of data per day."
"There is a licensing fee and the customer can choose whether he wishes this to be subscription-based or perpetual."
"The new pricing and licensing mechanisms are fair. I would advise always to get the full solution (i.e., not only Logs)."
"In comparison to other SIEM solutions such as Splunk, NetWitness is less costly."
"It’s cheaper to run virtual machines in a VMware environment."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

VS
Manager, Enterprise Risk Consulting at a tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 26, 2015
HP ArcSight vs. IBM QRadar vs. ​McAfee Nitro vs. Splunk vs. RSA Security vs. LogRhythm
We at Infosecnirvana.com have done several posts on SIEM. After the Dummies Guide on SIEM, we are following it up with a SIEM Product Comparison – 101 deck. So, here it is for your viewing pleasure. Let me know what you think by posting your comments below. The key products compared here are…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise52
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Stealthwatch?
Regarding cost, for the Bangladesh context, Cisco Secure Network Analytics is a little bit high-priced because we are a developing country, making it tough to manage affordable solutions. However, ...
What needs improvement with Cisco Stealthwatch?
Several features often look very promising during evaluation or implementation but end up being used only lightly in day-to-day operations. Advanced reporting and scheduled compliance reports look ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Stealthwatch?
My main use case for Cisco Secure Network Analytics has been network visibility and anomaly-based threat detection within the enterprise environment. In security operations and VAPT-related activit...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetWitness Platform?
The pricing is comparable to others, and I consider the cost to be intermediate. Specific cost details are unknown to me.
What needs improvement with NetWitness Platform?
There is currently no need for improvement in the SIEM ( /categories/security-information-and-event-management-siem ), though there could be potential enhancements by integrating with AI.
What is your primary use case for NetWitness Platform?
I use NetWitness Platform ( /products/netwitness-platform-reviews ) in the financial industry as a good product with excellent capabilities and integration with various devices.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Stealthwatch, Cisco Stealthwatch Enterprise, Lancope StealthWatch
RSA Security Analytics
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Edge Web Hosting, Telenor Norway, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, Webster Financial Corporation, Westinghouse Electric, VMware, TIAA-CREF
Los Angeles World Airports, Reply
Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, SolarWinds, Datadog and others in Network Monitoring Software. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.