Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics comparison

Cisco and Splunk are both solutions in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category. Cisco is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0, while Splunk is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.8. Cisco holds a 3.1% mindshare in ID, compared to Splunk’s 2.8% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Read 20 Cisco Sourcefire SNORT reviews

1,386 Views
1,192 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Read 25 Splunk User Behavior Analytics reviews

3,658 Views
988 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT and Splunk User Behavior Analytics compete in the cybersecurity domain. Splunk holds the upper hand due to its advanced analytics capabilities offering superior insights.

Features: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT provides real-time network traffic monitoring, a comprehensive intrusion detection system, and an adaptable open-source rule-based alert system. Splunk User Behavior Analytics offers advanced threat detection, comprehensive log analysis, and detailed insights into user actions. It is desirable for situations requiring extended feature sets and sophisticated analytics.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT could improve in areas such as providing more intuitive reporting tools, enhancing user-interface design, and integrating more automated threat intelligence updates. Splunk User Behavior Analytics might focus on reducing deployment complexity, offering more out-of-the-box integrations, and optimizing cost-effectiveness for small to medium-sized enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is known for its easy deployment model and strong community support, allowing quick implementation. Splunk User Behavior Analytics, while requiring more detailed setup due to its complexity, benefits from thorough documentation and professional support, appealing to organizations seeking extensive guidance.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT has a low initial setup cost, offering ROI through proactive threat mitigation. Splunk User Behavior Analytics requires a higher initial investment but justifies this with significant ROI via enhanced security insights and improved operational efficiency, attracting businesses prioritizing long-term returns and deep analytics.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics

March 2026

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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)

14th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (4th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 3.1%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk User Behavior Analytics is 2.8%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Splunk User Behavior Analytics	2.8%
Cisco Sourcefire SNORT	3.1%
Other	94.1%

Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2772102

Cloud Architect at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

Logging and customizable rules have helped improve threat monitoring and detection

The logging is mainly what I consider one of the best features with Cisco Sourcefire SNORT. Being able to log and store it in a file allows you to push it to a centralized repository. The logging and reporting help improve incident response. You should always be logging threats, any sort of misconfiguration, and anything that could be an issue. It's important to at least log and monitor it. The basic rules provide a good baseline in assessing Cisco Sourcefire SNORT's ability in providing real-time analytics for threat detection, but as a professional, you should look to constantly modify that baseline. They provide extensive customizability so you can define your own rules. The customizability allows it to be adaptable in protecting against diverse network threats to the constant change.

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Siva Kuppala

Enterprise Architect at Wipro Limited

Offers intuitive deployment with strong customer support and advanced analytics features

There are improvements that could be made to Splunk User Behavior Analytics as any product will have advantages and disadvantages. Scalability is one consideration. For example, the advantages include rapid auto scaling to meet demand. A disadvantage is that it can lead to cost overrun if not properly factored or governed. The speed of deployment offers faster provisioning as an advantage, but it can require substantial automation skills and infrastructure as code expertise, which can be challenging. Cloud provides major operational benefits such as agility, automation, resilience, and global access when setting up on Cloud. However, it introduces challenges such as cost control, complexity, and vendor dependency. For example, global reach allows deployment of apps and services closer to users worldwide, but data sovereignty concerns exist and region selection must align with compliance requirements.

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

"It simplifies the configuration process by offering pre-defined base configurations, including security and connectivity settings."

"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 product is inexpensive compared to leading brands such as Palo Alto or Fortinet."

"Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is easy to configure and the reporting is great. It's also very user-friendly."

"In general, the features are all great. However, if I need to take hardware for ASA, because they need to upgrade to Firepower, we want to create rules. For that, most of the time we go to the command line. Right now Firepower is working really hard on the grid. You can apply all those rules to the grid. Even if you want to monitor the logs, for example, the activity will tell you which particular user has been blocked because of that rule. Firepower's monitoring interface is very good, because you can see each and every piece. ASA also had it, but there you needed to type the command and be under the server to see all that stuff. In Firepower you have the possibility to go directly to the firewall. The way the monitoring is displayed is also very nice. The feature I appreciate most in Firepower is actually the grid. The grid has worked very well."

"It has a huge rate of protection. It's has a low level of positives and a huge rate of threat protection. It's easy to deploy and easy to implement. It has an incredible price rate compared to similar solutions."

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT pros

"The solution is definitely scalable."

"Features like alerts and auto report generation are valuable."

"It is a solution that helps test and measure customer satisfaction."

"The solution is extremely scalable. Our customers are regularly scaling up after installing Splunk."

"Splunk's technical support is amazing."

"Features like alerts and auto report generation are valuable."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to search through a large amount of data."

"The most valuable features are the indexing and powerful search features."

More Splunk User Behavior Analytics pros

Cons

"The customization of the rules can be simplified."

"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 pricing needs to be improved. We have lots of low-budget clients around us. Budget constraints are always a deterrent in our market."

"I don't think this solution is a time-based control system, because one cannot filter traffic based on time."

"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."

"There are problems setting up VPNs for some regions."

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT cons

"The dashboard part could be improved."

"The price of Splunk UBA is too high."

"High data ingestion costs can be an issue, especially for large enterprises, as Splunk charges based on the amount of data processed."

"Currently, a lot of network operations need improvement. We still need people to handle incidents. Our vision is to leverage status and convert it directly from the network devices. It would be ideal if we could take action using APIs and API code and remove manual processes."

"I would like improved downward integration with other tools such as McAfee and other GCP solutions."

"The machine learning algorithm in Splunk User Behavior Analytics is actually the core thing that needs to be updated because this feeds all the other functions inside it."

"If the price was lowered and the setup process was less complex, I would consider rating it higher."

"The initial setup was complex because some of the configurations that we required needed customization."

More Splunk User Behavior Analytics cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."

"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."

"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."

"Licensing for this solution is paid on a yearly basis."

"The licensing costs is around 10,000 dollars."

"Pricing varies based on the packages you choose and the volume of your usage."

"I hope we can increase the free license to be more than 5 gig a day. This would help people who want to introduce a POC or a demo license for the solution."

"There are additional costs associated with the integrator."

"My biggest complaint is the way they do pricing... You can never know the pricing for next year. Every single time you adjust to something new, the price goes up. It's impossible to truly budget for it. It goes up constantly."

"I am not aware of the price, but it is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

University

11%

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	12

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Sourcefire SNORT?

I have not had much experience with the community-driven rule set while utilizing Cisco Sourcefire SNORT. I don't have experience with recognizing zero-day vulnerabilities, but based on my knowledg...

See all answers

What do you like most about Splunk User Behavior Analytics?

The solution's most valuable feature is Splunk queries, which allow us to query the logs and analyze the attack vectors.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk User Behavior Analytics?

Splunk User Behavior Analytics is a premium product. Compared to all other products in the market, it is the most expensive one in all aspects including professional service and licenses, even the ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Splunk User Behavior Analytics?

Splunk User Behavior Analytics is still an immature product, so it still needs some R&D to be able to be mature in the market. The prediction, algorithms, and ML codes behind Splunk User Behavi...

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Secure IPS (NGIPS) vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 13% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 10% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 10% of the time

ExtremeCloud IQ vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 8% of the time

Check Point IPS vs Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

Compared 5% of the time

More Cisco Sourcefire SNORT Competitors

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 17% of the time

Exabeam vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 7% of the time

Dtex Systems vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 7% of the time

Coralogix vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 6% of the time

Gurucul UEBA vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics

Compared 5% of the time

More Splunk User Behavior Analytics Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT

March 2026

Download Cisco Sourcefire SNORT product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk User Behavior Analytics

February 2026

Download Splunk User Behavior Analytics product report

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT

Caspida, Splunk UBA

Overview

Snort is an open-source, rule-based, intrusion detection and prevention system. It combines the benefits of signature-, protocol-, and anomaly-based inspection methods to deliver flexible protection from malware attacks. Snort gained notoriety for being able to accurately detect threats at high speeds.

Cisco

Splunk User Behavior Analytics is a behavior-based threat detection is based on machine learning methodologies that require no signatures or human analysis, enabling multi-entity behavior profiling and peer group analytics for users, devices, service accounts and applications. It detects insider threats and external attacks using out-of-the-box purpose-built that helps organizations find known, unknown and hidden threats, but extensible unsupervised machine learning (ML) algorithms, provides context around the threat via ML driven anomaly correlation and visual mapping of stitched anomalies over various phases of the attack lifecycle (Kill-Chain View). It uses a data science driven approach that produces actionable results with risk ratings and supporting evidence that increases SOC efficiency and supports bi-directional integration with Splunk Enterprise for data ingestion and correlation and with Splunk Enterprise Security for incident scoping, workflow management and automated response. The result is automated, accurate threat and anomaly detection.

Splunk

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

8 Securities, AAA Western, AdvancedMD, Amaya, Cerner Corporation, CJ O Shopping, CloudShare, Crossroads Foundation, 7-Eleven Indonesia

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics

March 2026

Free Report: Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics

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