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Cisco Sourcefire SNORT 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

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
Palo Alto Networks Advanced...
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
28
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 Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 3.5%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention is 7.4%, down from 7.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Nasir Akbar - PeerSpot reviewer
Numerous support challenges arise but unique security features impress
In this scenario with Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention, I did not get any opportunity to work on it. The only thing I did was forward the logs to the SIEM solution.For government entities, they are not allowing configuration changes. For non-government users, there is a support portal to get the configuration file and upload it to the portal. We can identify misconfigurations and where the loop is very big, so we can get the report and establish it. In Saudi Arabia specifically, the support service needs improvement. When customers have incidents with Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention and want to open a case with the Palo Alto team, the available number in Saudi Arabia leads to a long procedure. They're not able to answer within one or two hours. This needs to be implemented. They may need to open offices in Dubai or other places for Arabic-speaking people to access TAC support.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like most of Cisco's features, like malware detection and URL filtering."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT are the dashboard for monitoring events."
"The solution is rather easy to use."
"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 solution is stable."
"It simplifies the configuration process by offering pre-defined base configurations, including security and connectivity settings."
"Solid intrusion detection and prevention that scales easily in very large environments."
"The most valuable feature is the visibility that we have across the virtual environment."
"We are currently using the URL filtering feature, which is the most popular."
"I like the solution's interface."
"The stability of Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention is good."
"The user interface is a bit more professional than some free products."
"The most valuable feature is its use of machine learning to detect potentially unknown threats."
"One of the most valuable features is the anti-malware protection."
"The most valuable features are that it's user-friendly, has interesting features, URL filtering, and threat prevention."
"The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Threat Prevention for our company is the next generation firewall."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"Performance needs improvement."
"There are problems setting up VPNs for some regions."
"While the alerts they offer are good, it could improve it in the sense that they should be more detailed to make the alerts more useful to us in general. Sometimes the solution will offer up false positives. Due to the fact that the alerts aren't detailed, we have to go dig around to see why is it being blocked. The solution would be infinitely better if there was just a bit more detail in the alert information and logging we receive."
"Integration with other components — even Cisco's own products — can be enhanced to improve administrative experience."
"The installation was complicated."
"In terms of what needs improvement, the only thing I don't like is the support."
"The solution could benefit from improved AI analytics to predict potential attacks before they occur, similar to NDR systems."
"The behavioral detection capabilities could be expanded to address all threats at the perimeter, reducing the reliance on endpoint detection and response systems."
"The pricing has improved with the newer generation of their Firewalls, but the price could always be lower. In comparison with other solutions, I believe they're quite competitive."
"The price of licenses should be lowered to make it less costly to scale our solution."
"The application’s pricing and dashboard need improvement. It could be user-friendly."
"The documentation needs to be improved. I need better information about how to configure it and what the best practices are."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."
"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."
"We have a three-year license for this solution."
"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."
"The cost involves the price of the hardware, which is expensive. However, most of the Palo Alto solutions are expensive."
"The price of the solution is higher than others on the market. A price reduction would be beneficial if it does not impact their database quality."
"There is an initial, expensive investment but the return is good."
"The pricing and the licensing are pretty competitive at this stage. As a reseller, I would like to see the price come down a little bit so I can compete better against other firewalls because we do that all the time."
"The pricing has improved with the newer generation of their Firewalls, but the price could always be lower."
"Palo Alto Networks Threat Prevention could improve by having consistent pricing at system levels."
"The pricing could be lower."
"The product’s pricing is expensive for small companies."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
University
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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,...
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...
 

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
University of Arkansas, JBG SMITH, SkiStar AB, TRI-AD, Temple University, Telkom Indonesia
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.