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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

"It is quite an intelligent product."
"I like most of Cisco's features, like malware detection and URL filtering."
"The whole solution is very good, and stable."
"Cisco technical support is unbeatable. It offers a premium service every time."
"We primarily use this solution as an intrusion prevention system for external firewalls and deploy the solution on-premises."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to automatically learn the traffic in our environment, and change the merit recommendations based on that."
"If you compare it to other vendors, the technical support from Cisco is excellent."
"The tool's most valuable feature is threat detection, which is important because we have multiple layers not only in Cisco."
"ExtremeCloud offers features that not a lot of other vendors do like their data storage and the ability to swap licenses."
"The technical support for this solution is good."
"The main reason why a lot of customers choose this solution is because of how scalable it is."
"It gives us the ability to make guest connections to our wireless network easier."
"Our transaction polling is now way more secure."
"The deployment made my life very easy."
"With minimal knowledge and experience, I was able to deploy a robust wireless solution that just works."
"Whenever I have a concern, question, or just need a refresher the helpful staff at AeroHive is there to help me. By far, the ]best relationship I have ever had with a vendor."
 

Cons

"Cisco Sourcefire SNORT can scale, but if you have too much, you could fill up your log files, which I consider when discussing scalability."
"With the next release, I would like to see some PBR, so that you can do the configuration with the features."
"I want to see a better dashboard for the product. The dashboard can be a bit modified or enhanced."
"I don't think this solution is a time-based control system, because one cannot filter traffic based on time."
"There are some bugs in this solution and troubleshooting them is complicated."
"Integration with other components — even Cisco's own products — can be enhanced to improve administrative experience."
"The cloud can be improved."
"To be frank, the product is not really stable, although they're working on that."
"Pricing is a bit expensive."
"Price is a little high."
"ExtremeCloud should invest in an SD-WAN solution or integration with SD-WAN."
"I know a school district, a big school district of mine, ripped out Extreme due to inefficiencies. It was the guest network that can be a struggle. They tried to differentiate between their primary network, and then offer a secondary."
"I have had some stability issues with the older AP110/AP120 models taking newer v6 code."
"When we installed the latest firmware versions on these APs, sometimes we encountered major or minor bugs that would force us to roll back until an appropriate patch was released."
"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."
"An area for improvement in ExtremeCloud IQ is its technical support. Support could be better, especially when you need help concerning ExtremeCloud IQ and WinG."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing for this solution is paid on a yearly basis."
"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."
"If one is an extremely expensive product, and ten is cheap, I rate the tool's price as a five."
"ExtremeCloud IQ's pricing is high."
"This solution offers annual licensing that is middle of the range in terms of cost."
"There are probably cheaper solutions but we invest for stability and performance for the longer haul."
"ExtremeCloud IQ's pricing is medium, but its support contract costs more."
"Extreme licensing is based on the number of access points. When you buy the license for the first year, everything is included, such as access to mapping, etc. If you don't renew your software assurance for the second year, the access points will still work, but you can't use the cloud management tools."
"I would advise that you be sure to compare apples with apples. Many customers just look at the price per AP and licences, and compare that against other solutions. But, they do not look at the complete picture such as: TCO - how much the equipment will cost you over, say, seven years? Will the customer need to change complete infrastructure when they want to buy the newest hardware? Does support include a lifetime warranty and RMA?"
"The price was okay."
"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."
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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.