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Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs ExtremeCloud IQ 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
ExtremeCloud IQ
Ranking in Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS)
17th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (12th), Network Access Control (NAC) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) category, the mindshare of Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is 3.1%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExtremeCloud IQ is 1.2%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Sourcefire SNORT3.1%
ExtremeCloud IQ1.2%
Other95.7%
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.
José Roldan - PeerSpot reviewer
Ingeniero De Preventa at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Has improved network monitoring with AI-driven insights and centralized device management
The best features of ExtremeCloud IQ include the integration of different vendors in one dashboard, the evolution of the manager, and any devices in networking. The impact of ExtremeCloud IQ on my organization is positive as the deployment is for a hybrid solution, using third-party vendors and cloud solutions for Extreme devices, switches, IP, and access points or SD-WAN solution devices. My IT team is occupied with other jobs, and ExtremeCloud IQ helps with monitoring networking at low costs. For networking and access points, it acts as a controller in a cloud environment, eliminating the need for an appliance controller or wireless LAN controller, thus saving on investment and reducing TCO costs.

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 the ability to automatically learn the traffic in our environment, and change the merit recommendations based on that."
"Cisco Sourcefire SNORT is easy to configure and the reporting is great. It's also very user-friendly."
"It simplifies the configuration process by offering pre-defined base configurations, including security and connectivity settings."
"This solution makes life a lot easier as there are fewer man-hours required and we no longer need too many resources to manage it."
"The whole solution is very good, and stable."
"Scalability is something that Cisco has always cared about."
"There are a lot of features that I really appreciate with Firepower, which is why I advise most of my customers to go with Firepower."
"We primarily use this solution as an intrusion prevention system for external firewalls and deploy the solution on-premises."
"Integrated Firewall in every AP (with DPI inspection) is a killer feature and it is included already in the price of licence (with others, this feature is an add-on licence)."
"The cloud management gives us the tools and reports that we need to monitor and troubleshoot the network."
"Installing a campus-wide WLAN has given us more flexibility in meeting and classroom spaces, and it provides a value-added service for guests."
"Customer Service: Our VAR/customer service is very responsive and always goes the extra mile."
"Being a controller-less solution is more cost effective and gives more flexibility."
"When we deployed the new IP that is managed wirelessly in the cloud, it fixed the problems, and now we don't have any more reports and everything works fine."
"HiveManager is extremely easy to use for anyone with little network experience."
"It gives us the ability to make guest connections to our wireless network easier."
 

Cons

"The customization of the rules can be simplified."
"Performance needs improvement."
"To be frank, the product is not really stable, although they're working on that. Whenever I go to the technical community with an issue, they will usually say that it is not there yet, but the technical team are working on it. The issues are not insolvable. I think they should just keep working on the product to make sure that the product can become very stable. The technical support is great. I appreciate that. We have a lot of communities supporting Firepower now, so you can find help for whatever issue you have."
"Integration with other components — even Cisco's own products — can be enhanced to improve administrative experience."
"I did not experience any pain points that required improvement. Maybe a couple of false-positives, but that's about it."
"I want to see a better dashboard for the product. The dashboard can be a bit modified or enhanced."
"A lot of Cisco equipment is very good, but in judging the model of this solution that we have, I feel that it is the worst."
"I would like to have analytics included in the suite."
"The initial setup of ExtremeCloud IQ is medium difficulty. It is easy with knowledge of networking protocols and SNMP solutions with the MIBs. For those without knowledge of these protocols or MIBs, it can be difficult."
"The tool has simplified things, but it also adds a complexity that sometimes stumps some users."
"It needs to have a good Layer 7 and a better user interface."
"Lacks cyber asset tracking."
"Their firewall configuration gets funky and it can be difficult to understand."
"I have never really felt their mounting system for the APs is all that good. The plastic plates are a bit flimsy and not well designed."
"There are some things that need to be fixed. For example, the solution will show us that there are some issues, but when we try to find those issues, we can't see them."
"Aerohive configuration management can be little hard to understand for someone who has never worked with it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"The cost is per port and can be expensive but it does include training and support for three years."
"Extreme is twice as cheap compared to Cisco due to the currency exchange. Normally, I think Cisco would be a little bit more expensive, but there wouldn't be that much of a difference."
"It is costly as compared to Meraki, Aruba, Juniper, and Cisco. Cloud IQ is an enterprise solution, whereas Meraki is specifically a single solution."
"Although the pricing is a bit high, I consider Aerohive to be well worth the money."
"There are probably cheaper solutions but we invest for stability and performance for the longer haul."
"Start small and grow big. You can choose the basic Aerohive Connect free subscription solution and, later, if needed (in terms of functionality) you can upgrade to Aerohive Select."
"ExtremeCloud IQ's pricing is high."
"This solution offers annual licensing that is middle of the range in terms of cost."
"Bring the cost down."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
University
9%
Construction Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

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 Business45
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise24
 

Questions from the Community

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 is your primary use case for Cisco Sourcefire SNORT?
Endpoint protection is the main use case. The main aspect involves specifying different rules, and when network traffic hits these rules, it will try to block the traffic or at least log the traffi...
What are pros and cons of Aruba 515 Series AP vs. Cisco Meraki or Extreme Networks?
Depends. I have personally used both Cisco and Aruba so I am familiar with them. Extreme I am not, so unless they have some feature that I need or want, I wouldn't consider them. Do you have expe...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExtremeCloud IQ?
The licensing was a challenge due to budget constraints, and I used ExtremeCloud IQ without a license for a period. The documentation and training courses were also costly, impacting how easily I c...
What advice do you have for others considering ExtremeCloud IQ?
I use ExtremeCloud IQ's real-time analytics. In the cloud solution, I get reports, and it works together with machine learning and artificial intelligence for those reports. This tool permits the c...
 

Also Known As

Sourcefire SNORT
Aerohive Networks, Aerohive HiveManager, HiveManager, ExtremeCloud , ExtremeSecurity
 

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
Henry Ford Health System, Baltimore Ravens, Brandili, Federal University of Alagoas, CEDAE, Caxias do Sul, UNISC Concurrency, CenturyLink Field, Louisiana College, Cricket Tasmania Stadium, Moscow Internet Exchange
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Sourcefire SNORT vs. ExtremeCloud IQ and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.