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Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs Trend Micro Deep Discovery 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)
14th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Trend Micro Deep Discovery
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (17th), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 3.1%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trend Micro Deep Discovery is 3.5%, down from 4.7% 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 (%)
Trend Micro Deep Discovery3.5%
Cisco Sourcefire SNORT3.1%
Other93.4%
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2772102 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
reviewer2266119 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Has improved email security through advanced filtration and timely threat detection
I work with Trend Micro Apex One. I have used the Deep Discovery's Sandbox analysis feature, and we utilize another appliance known as Deep Discovery Analyzer, abbreviated as DDA. This tool makes analysis for URLs and attachments contained in inbound emails, so whenever we receive an email with a URL or attachment, it will be analyzed by Trend Micro Deep Discovery Analyzer. In evaluating Deep Discovery's real-time visibility on network traffic, it is important to note that we applied our Deep Discovery Analyzer for Trend Micro to conduct sandboxing specifically for email channels only, and we do not utilize it for network channels. For network channel sandboxing, we use a solution called FortiAnalyzer, which belongs to another team called network security. I assess Deep Discovery's effectiveness in identifying sophisticated attack patterns by looking at how it handles high traffic loads, and how effectively it can use its instances and images to analyze numerous URLs and attachments simultaneously. Additionally, I evaluate its ability to maintain round-robin or load balancing across different analyses without leaving samples queued for analysis. The performance is critical when the product updates for signatures are up-to-date, as this aids in the detection and classification of URLs and attachments without delay in the analysis process. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Trend Micro Deep Discovery a nine.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is stable."
"The solution is rather easy to use."
"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 product is inexpensive compared to leading brands such as Palo Alto or Fortinet."
"The whole solution is very good, and stable."
"It is quite an intelligent product."
"Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is easy to configure and the reporting is great. It's also very user-friendly."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to automatically learn the traffic in our environment, and change the merit recommendations based on that."
"The reporting is very good, providing detailed analysis in a short amount of time."
"This solution allows us to see anomalies, network traffic in our network, and zero-day threats."
"Sandboxing gives us a chance to identify malicious behavior, especially for unknown vulnerabilities, although it's rarely needed as a last resort after all other security measures have failed."
"The performance and stability are great."
"Trend Micro Deep Discovery Email Inspector includes its ability to perform mail detection and mail filtration against various email attacks such as phishing and spam, serving as an email gateway for both inbound and outbound traffic."
"As a security product, managing threats is crucial for my clients."
"It is a very good solution. It is very light, and it is quite quick to figure out the problem in your network."
"Deep Discovery is scalable and compatible with other products. It's crucial to have that compatibility because it's an integral part of our security solution. It integrates smoothly. The interface is user-friendly, so administration is simple."
 

Cons

"Integration with other components — even Cisco's own products — can be enhanced to improve administrative experience."
"Cisco Sourcefire SNORT can scale, but if you have too much, you could fill up your log files, which I consider when discussing scalability."
"We are unhappy with technical support for this solution, and it is not as professional as what we typically expect from Cisco."
"I don't think this solution is a time-based control system, because one cannot filter traffic based on time."
"If the price is brought down then everybody will be happy."
"I would like to have analytics included in the suite."
"The customization of the rules can be simplified."
"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."
"There are certain aspects of flexibility in the policies that should be added to Deep Discovery."
"The stability of the solution could be improved. It should be 100% stable, but it's not there right now."
"The main issue is its high cost."
"I would like the ability to analyze all files in our internal network, at the same time on different operating systems. Not just three of them, but as many as possible."
"The solution could be more secure."
"The solution is not scalable as it is an agent product rather than a product designed for scalability."
"The product's scalability feature needs to be improved, as it is an area in the product with certain shortcomings."
"Deep Discovery is easy to manage, but there is still room for improvement on the administration and operations side. Competing products have a cleaner interface that makes it easier to manage their products. Trend Micro offers a lot of features in one product suite, but it can be unwieldy for the customer to manage all that with a single interface."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing for this solution is paid on a yearly basis."
"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."
"We have a three-year license for this solution."
"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."
"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."
"Overall, Trend Micro Deep Discovery has proven to be a reliable solution that enhances our security posture while minimizing operational disruptions."
"Trend Micro Deep Discovery is quite expensive compared to other endpoint security products."
"The tool’s licensing costs depend on the customers."
"Its price is fine, but Trend Micro can improve the pricing in general. It is a hardware solution. It is based on the number of nodes, and according to the number of nodes, clients decide which box they should acquire. They have to renew their license every year. It is subscription-based."
"The price of the solution is lower compared to the competition."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly. There are no additional costs associated with the product."
"The pricing is okay for some, and sometimes, some people find it expensive."
"The licensing cost is a bit pricey. We pay a yearly subscription."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise9
 

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?
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...
What do you like most about Trend Micro Deep Discovery?
The tool's most valuable feature is its collaboration with other products. Integrating with other security products was simple and easy.
What needs improvement with Trend Micro Deep Discovery?
Server Protect is not commonly used. When considering the Sandbox feature, it only inspects small files, and not all types of files are supported. The solution is very expensive. The solution is no...
 

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT
Trend Micro Deep Discovery Inspector, Trend Micro Deep Discovery Analyzer
 

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
Allied Telesis, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Babou, Blekinge County Council, Delacour, Hiroshima Prefectural Government, Live Nation Entertainment Inc., Mazda Motor Logistics Europe, McGill University Health Centre, Mikuni Corporation, OKWAVE, Sinar Mas Land, SWICA, UTOC Corporation
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. Trend Micro Deep Discovery and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.