Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs OP5 Monitor comparison

Cisco and ITRS are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Cisco is ranked #36 with an average rating of 8.0, while ITRS is ranked #39 with an average rating of 9.0. Cisco holds a 0.9% mindshare in NMS, compared to ITRS’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of ITRS users who would recommend it.

Cisco Secure Network Analytics

Read 61 Cisco Secure Network Analytics reviews

8,028 Views
3,131 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

OP5 Monitor

Read 7 OP5 Monitor reviews

2,454 Views
1,865 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Secure Network Analytics

OP5 Monitor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Cisco Secure Network Analytics and OP5 Monitor compete in the network monitoring and security category. Cisco Secure Network Analytics holds an edge with robust security features and intelligent network insights, while OP5 Monitor stands out for intuitive monitoring and seamless integration.

Features: Cisco Secure Network Analytics offers advanced threat detection, real-time monitoring, and network behavior analysis. OP5 Monitor provides a comprehensive monitoring suite, covers multiple devices and platforms, and ensures deep insights and flexibility.

Room for Improvement: Cisco could enhance user interface simplicity, reduce deployment complexity, and improve customer service responsiveness. OP5 Monitor can expand its security features, enhance scalability for larger networks, and improve in-depth analytical capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: OP5 Monitor is noted for straightforward deployment and strong customer service, appealing to businesses seeking rapid implementation and responsive support. Cisco Secure Network Analytics requires a more complex deployment needing comprehensive technical support, posing a challenge for organizations without dedicated IT resources.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Secure Network Analytics has a higher initial cost, offering a substantial ROI through in-depth security analytics and prevention capabilities. OP5 Monitor, with more competitive pricing, delivers value through efficient monitoring and enhanced operational visibility.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs. OP5 Monitor Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs. OP5 Monitor

April 2026

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Helped 893,164 peers since 2012

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

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

36th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (5th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (8th), Cisco Security Portfolio (9th)

OP5 Monitor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

39th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

4.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (42nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Network Analytics is 0.9%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OP5 Monitor is 0.6%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Secure Network Analytics	0.9%
OP5 Monitor	0.6%
Other	98.5%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Muhammad Harun-Owr-Roshid

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.

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Sumanth Arshanapally

Senior Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Monitoring ease and cost-saving benefits enhance operational efficiency

The monitoring in OP5 Monitor is very easy because we can directly use custom plugins. We can write custom scripts and use those scripts directly. It's very low cost, open, and the dashboards are easy to see. We can extract the reports easily, and this is very easy to compare. Real-time monitoring in OP5 Monitor provides data every one minute or every five minutes, enabling us to get live data from the last one minute or last five minutes. OP5 Monitor gave us proper server availability, so we can always check whether a server goes down or the server CPU and memory decreases. Before reaching a particular bottleneck situation, we identified and fixed the issue, which helped us from a cost-saving business perspective. It helped us avoid application downtime.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cisco Stealthwatch has improved our organization's analytics and threat protection capabilities by catching threats early on and it saved us a net fortune when we caught an employee constantly pulling three or four GBs of data from an FTP server."

"Great network monitoring, looking at anomaly detection and evaluation."

"Being able to look at the Layer 7 application and get information about intrusion attempts is the most valuable feature for us."

"The most valuable features of this solution are its reporting and mitigation capabilities."

"We use it to monitor for any anomaly behavior and analyze results."

"I value the feature which enables me to detect devices talking to suspect IPs."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is data hoarding because it catches threats on a frequent basis that we had no idea of."

"The analytics and threat detection capabilities of Cisco Stealthwatch are pretty good, it gives us good visibility of the information, and it is easy to use and to the point."

More Cisco Secure Network Analytics pros

"It monitors and continuously tests everything that is of importance to you and your users. It could be everything from monitoring disk space to CPU usage to memory. It could include determining if the response time in your e-commerce platform is quick enough, or whether you have too many bounces from some of the pages on your website. You want to monitor anything that could cost you money or time or resources. You can do that with this system. It's very flexible."

"Instead of checking the logs each Monday, or checking that applications are running, and checking your ticketing system for angry users, you put this system in place and it monitors and continuously tests everything that is of importance to you and your users."

"We can also observe whatever we want, and there are no limitations."

"The API makes it pretty easy to integrate with any system."

"OP5 Monitor is a great choice due to its being built on an open-source monitoring tool and provides ample opportunity for customization based on specific support requirements. It is also user-friendly and easy to manage with a wide range of plugins available for use. In comparison to other enterprise tools, such as Micro Focus, OP5 Monitor stands out for its features and cost-effectiveness, making it the best tool in the market. Customization is one of the key strengths of the tool and provides a lot of capabilities. Additionally, it is easy to find support and plugins for the tool through online resources."

"Its open-source environment is accessible to everyone."

"The best feature is that it is very relatable, stable, and scalable."

"With limited hardware or a virtual machine, you can address a huge network, hundreds of thousands of elements that need to be monitored. Other commercial software is not on that level."

More OP5 Monitor pros

Cons

"One update that I would like to see is an agent-based client."

"The initial setup is complex, as there is a lot to configure."

"We've had problems with element licensing costs so scalability is a concern."

"The reporting of day-to-day metrics still has room for improvement."

"The overall visibility into the actual device itself would be helpful. I don't just want support-specific data, but also to be able to see information such as CPU and other internal components or usage of the devices."

"Its granularity for RBAC roles-based access control needs improvement."

"We need to be able to filter out internal IPs as non-threats."

"The visualization could be improved, the GUI is not the best."

More Cisco Secure Network Analytics cons

"The solution is useful for tweaking. However, there have been some negative experiences, such as limited report capabilities. The only report available is in PDF format, making it difficult for teams managing multiple servers to extract data in Excel format. The speaker recommends that the team improve the report capabilities to better serve users."

"We do not get performance reports properly, which needs improvement."

"The user interface is not what we are used to these days, and should be improved."

"They need to improve the dashboard interface."

"OP5 Monitor could include application monitoring in addition to infrastructure monitoring. If application business transactions were monitored, it would be helpful."

"The user interface is not what we are used to these days, and should be improved."

"IT environments today are in constant flux. This is driven by the newer cloud technologies such as Kubernetes and Docker, etc. The whole Nagios-based monitoring system that OP5 is created on top of, is based on a host-service model. There is a need for a strategy on what to do with more dynamic environments. There is some cool stuff going on in that direction."

More OP5 Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is much higher compared to other solutions."

"It is worth the cost."

"It has a subscription model. There is yearly support, and there is also three-year support. It depends on what the customers want."

"On a yearly basis, licensing is somewhere around $30,000."

"Licensing is on a yearly basis."

"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."

"Licensing is done by flows per second, not including outside>in traffic."

More Cisco Secure Network Analytics pricing and cost advice

"OP5 has a very low price as a solution, compared to many other solutions out there."

"It was not expensive. And because it's less demanding in terms of hardware, you don't have to pay for another SQL or other database license, and you can have a huge installation on one machine..."

"The cost of the license and support are separate. If you want platinum call support, it will cost more than a regular call. I did not opt for it, as it is an additional cost."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

11%

Healthcare Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	52

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Large Enterprise	5

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, ...

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What needs improvement with Cisco Stealthwatch?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cisco Stealthwatch?

Our customers mainly use Cisco Secure Network Analytics to get whole network visibility and easy troubleshooting to find actual problems and also to mitigate loopholes or findings immediately to pr...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OP5 Monitor?

The price for OP5 Monitor is fine, but we don't know the exact price because it was managed by us; the customer themselves bought it and gave it to us to monitor.

See all answers

What needs improvement with OP5 Monitor?

OP5 Monitor could include application monitoring in addition to infrastructure monitoring. If application business transactions were monitored, it would be helpful. For application-related issues, ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for OP5 Monitor?

Our previous use case for OP5 Monitor was server monitoring.

See all answers

Comparisons

Darktrace vs Cisco Secure Network Analytics

Compared 8% of the time

Vectra AI vs Cisco Secure Network Analytics

Compared 4% of the time

ThousandEyes vs Cisco Secure Network Analytics

Compared 4% of the time

Nmap vs Cisco Secure Network Analytics

Compared 3% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Cisco Secure Network Analytics

Compared 3% of the time

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Nagios Core vs OP5 Monitor

Compared 10% of the time

Zabbix vs OP5 Monitor

Compared 10% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs OP5 Monitor

Compared 7% of the time

Opsview vs OP5 Monitor

Compared 6% of the time

Splunk Observability Cloud vs OP5 Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

More OP5 Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Network Analytics

May 2026

Download Cisco Secure Network Analytics product report

Buyer's Guide

OP5 Monitor

April 2026

Download OP5 Monitor product report

Also Known As

Cisco Stealthwatch, Cisco Stealthwatch Enterprise, Lancope StealthWatch

No data available

Overview

Cisco Secure Network Analytics enhances network security through integrated threat detection and detailed traffic visibility, optimizing performance with AI analytics and strong platform integrations.

Cisco Secure Network Analytics offers deep visibility into network traffic, with tools like network maps and server response times. Its AI-driven analytics help detect threats, focusing on east-west traffic. Integration with platforms such as pxGrid and ISE complements its capabilities. Reporting and telemetry help in identifying bandwidth issues, yet improvements are desired in AI for better data organization. Installation complexity and false positives present challenges, and managing network loads effectively is a recognized need.

What are the key features of Cisco Secure Network Analytics?

Deep Visibility: Provides comprehensive insights into network traffic and server behavior.
Network Maps: Enhances understanding of traffic flow and infrastructure layout.
AI Analytics: Uses AI for superior threat detection and anomaly recognition.
Integration: Compatible with platforms like pxGrid and ISE for enhanced security management.
Telemetry: Delivers detailed bandwidth usage and traffic analysis reports.

How does Cisco Secure Network Analytics provide value?

Enhanced Security: Elevates threat detection and response capabilities.
Traffic Insights: Identifies encrypted and anomalous network behaviors.
Compliance Support: Assists in meeting industry standards for data protection.
Endpoint Protection: Guards network endpoints against potential threats.

Industries such as banking, defense, and police rely on Cisco Secure Network Analytics for securing networks against threats. Its capability to provide insights into encrypted traffic and facilitate device auditing makes it a sought-after choice for those requiring extensive network visibility. Users appreciate its application for threat prevention and response in demanding sectors.

Cisco

OP5 Monitor delivers real-time IT infrastructure monitoring with extensive customization options through open-source plugins. Its intuitive interface and cost-effectiveness make it a preferred choice for efficient performance monitoring and task automation.

OP5 Monitor integrates seamlessly with systems, offering customizable dashboards and efficient performance tracking for networks, servers, applications, databases, and cloud environments. It supports LDAP and local user accounts, providing timely insights to prevent downtime. The documentation enhances integration ease, though its user interface could benefit from updates. Improved APIs, better report capabilities, and enhanced platform integration are needed. Effective in healthcare, maritime, and diverse sectors, it provides global deployments with tailored monitoring solutions.

What are the key features of OP5 Monitor?

Real-Time Monitoring: Tracks performance and alerts users immediately on anomalies.
Seamless Integration: Works effectively with existing systems and infrastructure.
Extensive Customization: Offers open-source plugins for personalized configurations.

What benefits or ROI should users consider in reviews for OP5 Monitor?

Cost-Effectiveness: Provides robust features at a competitive price.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies monitoring processes for administrators.
Efficiency in Performance Monitoring: Automates tasks and optimizes resource use.

In industries like healthcare, maritime, and others, OP5 Monitor automates tracking and alerts, easing manual checks to enhance quality. Its global deployments provide tailored monitoring for CPU, memory, and disk space, efficiently managing both on-premise and cloud environments for large-scale operations.

ITRS

Sample Customers

Edge Web Hosting, Telenor Norway, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, Webster Financial Corporation, Westinghouse Electric, VMware, TIAA-CREF

Svenska Spel, Carus, VGL, Tele2, Viking Line, Clas Ohlson, Vanderlande, Försäkringskassan

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs. OP5 Monitor

April 2026

Free Report: Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs. OP5 Monitor

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs. OP5 Monitor and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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