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Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs Darktrace comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 24, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure Network Analytics
Ranking in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)
3rd
Ranking in Network Detection and Response (NDR)
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (24th), Cisco Security Portfolio (3rd)
Darktrace
Ranking in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)
1st
Ranking in Network Detection and Response (NDR)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (12th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (4th), AI-Powered Chatbots (3rd), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (16th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (12th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (3rd), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Network Analytics is 19.6%, down from 21.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Darktrace is 32.8%, up from 32.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)
 

Q&A Highlights

CW
Feb 11, 2020
 

Featured Reviews

Rainier S. - PeerSpot reviewer
You are able to drill down into a center's utilization, then create reports based on it
In the last year or two, we have been working with our Cisco NAS engineers to improve our security posturing. It is more our being proactive rather than reactive. While Stealthwatch and Lancope have this ability to look inside and give you visibility (a great feature), follow-up is the rule. We would like filters that you can put into place to tap onto certain types of behaviors, alerts out, and/or hopefully a block. This is sort of what we are looking for. I might be speaking too early, because we are not down this path yet. We know the feature set is there, we just do not know yet how to achieve it. That is proactive rather than more reactive. For Lancope Stealthwatch, we would like to see it more on the ASA Firewall platform. While this might already be available, this is more a failing of Cisco to inform us if it is there. For example: * Are we on the right or wrong version of the code? * What does the code look like? * Are we are really looking at firewalls? Or is it more about the foundation and route switches that we are seeing? It is about visibility.
Luis KiambatA - PeerSpot reviewer
Great autonomous support, offers an easy setup, and has responsive support
The autonomous response is great. It blocks basically everything that is outside the normal, and what's happening 24/7. When we don't have anybody looking, it's great. The visibility that it gives you into any incident is great. You can see everything. I would say these two are the biggest aspects we really appreciate. It is easy to set everything up. The solution is stable. Users can scale the product. Technical support is helpful and responsive.

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."
"Stability is the most valuable feature we have seen in this solution."
"The feature most valuable for us is to gain visibility of what is actually floating through, so we can stop it based on whether it's good or bad traffic."
"StealthWatch lets me see the ports running in and out and the country. It has excellent reporting, telemetry, and artificial intelligence features. With the telemetry, I can set thresholds to detect sudden changes and the alarms go through the PLC parts. I can see all the ports running on that trunk."
"Cisco Stealthwatch has predefined alerts for different types of security issues that might happen in the network. Whether it's PCs or servers that are used for botnets or Bitcoin mining we receive the alerts automatically. This functionality is what we receive from the solution out of the box."
"It has improved our internal knowledge of what's going on with the network, and that's helpful."
"The most valuable feature is having visibility into the data segments throughout our network."
"From what I understand, you can encrypt and unencrypt traffic moving in transit. This is one of the features that we liked about it."
"The most valuable feature is that it gives us visibility of rogue traffic that is on the network."
"I find the complete portfolio to be excellent."
"The Dynamic Threat Dashboard is very nice, as it lists all of your threats and rates them, and then you can choose whether to investigate further."
"We are able to detect a lot of things, actually, and see what is happening in our network."
"The most valuable features of Darktrace are its full capabilities. You have visibility of everything."
"It is very stable and easy to use."
"The models, triggers, and alerts are customizable."
"Provides great network protection."
 

Cons

"It's too complicated to install, when starting out."
"The expensive nature of the tool is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The visualization could be improved, the GUI is not the best."
"Its granularity for RBAC roles-based access control needs improvement."
"Cisco could improve the administration for the customers."
"At my company, we might not be using it enough with other applications that we have that can integrate with it."
"Initially, I felt Cisco Secure Network Analytics lacked integration with Splunk."
"We've run into some issues with the configuration."
"Darktrace could improve its features, such as monitoring and detecting ransomware."
"It takes time to go through the interface and pick up things. If it were a more straightforward interface, then it would free up time."
"The solution would benefit from automation. Currently, you have to know what you are searching for."
"I would like to see a feature where the tool ingests information from an anti-malware product that is present at the endpoint."
"Darktrace does not have any capabilities to configure."
"The price point for the product was too high for what our possible use case could be."
"This is quite an expensive product so the pricing is something that can be improved."
"The Darktrace Mobile app needs improvement as it's currently limited in functionality, and the learning AI takes a while to adapt to new devices, flagging new users as threats for up to a month before recognizing them as regular network users."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is worth the cost."
"The tool is not cheaply priced."
"Licensing is done by flows per second, not including outside>in traffic."
"We pay for support costs on a yearly basis."
"The licensing costs are outrageous."
"Today, we are part of the big Cisco ELA, and it is a la carte. We can get orders for whatever we want. At the end of the day, we have to pay for it in one big expense, but that is fine. We are okay with that."
"On a yearly basis, licensing is somewhere around $30,000."
"There are additional licenses needed for the number of so-called network flows. It's hard to plan the number of flows you need in the network, this is a problem. The price of the Cisco Stealthwatch is relatively inexpensive"
"It is a very expensive product."
"There is an annual license to use Darktrace."
"Darktrace is expensive. You can pay for the license yearly."
"It's an expensive solution."
"It is expensive. I don't have the price for other competitors."
"It is inexpensive considering what it can do and the competition."
"Prior to negotiating, Darktrace offered their appliance and service for $80,000 per year."
"In the ballpark, we're talking about $30K, $50K, and up. It can even be as much as $50K or $100K."
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Answers from the Community

CW
Feb 11, 2020
Feb 11, 2020
I that feel there are two old problems still there in the market: 1-Vendors don't talk to each other. 2-Whoever is focusing on endpoint is missing the network and human side and the opposite is also true. I love, for example, what Darktrace is doing in the network side and the playback option to know what happened in my network during a long holiday, for example, things will never be caught by...
2 out of 9 answers
reviewer973458 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 26, 2019
Raffael Marty, Vice President, Forcepoint Research and Intelligence, said: "There is no artificial intelligence in the field of information security, and it is unlikely to be developed in 2019." Most of unsupervised machine learning-based network anomaly detection solution does not provide why the anomaly has been aroused and whether the anomaly is malicious or not. Most of such solution's pricing model is based on number of endpoints but I prefer to have flat fee subscription-based.
IT
Aug 26, 2019
I that feel there are two old problems still there in the market: 1-Vendors don't talk to each other. 2-Whoever is focusing on endpoint is missing the network and human side and the opposite is also true. I love, for example, what Darktrace is doing in the network side and the playback option to know what happened in my network during a long holiday, for example, things will never be caught by a second-generation AV but I need to have a solid 2nd gen. AV besides the total high cost of Darktrace which by the way is worth it for IT pros but not for business owners. We need to have something like virus total but for risks and threats beyond viruses where all vendors work on this and all endpoint customers with different vendors connect to it to be secured.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
30%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Stealthwatch?
The most valuable feature of Cisco Secure Network Analytics is the Threat Intelligence integration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Stealthwatch?
The tool is not cheaply priced. In cybersecurity, you want an extra layer of security in your organization. Some sectors want NDR solutions, so you cannot deploy such tools everywhere, as they are ...
What needs improvement with Cisco Stealthwatch?
The expensive nature of the tool is an area of concern where improvements are required.
How does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?
Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing user interface that makes setup easy and seamless. CrowdStrike Falcon offers a cl...
Which is better - SentinelOne or Darktrace?
Which solution is better depends on which is more suitable specifically for your company. Darktrace, for example, is meant for smaller to medium-sized businesses. It is also a good option for organ...
What do you like most about Darktrace?
A very useful feature in Darktrace for real-time threat analysis is the packet inspection that analyzes the packet traffic in real time.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Stealthwatch, Cisco Stealthwatch Enterprise, Lancope StealthWatch
No data available
 

Learn More

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Edge Web Hosting, Telenor Norway, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, Webster Financial Corporation, Westinghouse Electric, VMware, TIAA-CREF
Irwin Mitchell, Open Energi, Wellcome Trust, FirstGroup plc, Virgin Trains, Drax, QUI! Group, DNK, CreaCard, Macrosynergy, Sisley, William Hill plc, Toyota Canada, Royal British Legion, Vitol, Allianz, KKR, AIRBUS, dpd, Billabong, Mclaren Group.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs. Darktrace and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.