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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco IOS

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/ACisco IOS, presently in its 15th edition, is a network operating system for service providers and enterprises alike.N/A

    Kali Linux

    Score9.4 out of 10
    N/AKali Linux is an open source, advanced penetration testing platform supported by Offensive Security headquartered in New York.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco IOSKali Linux
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco IOSKali Linux
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco IOSKali Linux
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Offensive Security
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco IOSKali Linux
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Metasploit
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco NX-OS
    Score8 out of 10
    Metasploit
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco IOSKali Linux
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.3
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.3
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco IOSKali Linux
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    I've worked with several network device vendors in my 10+ years of being in the industry and my favorite continues to be Cisco IOS. Overall, Cisco IOS tends to be the most stable, the most intuitive, has the best TAC support, and has the best knowledge base articles and white papers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Offensive Security
    Kali Linux is especially well suited in environments where high security is needed for your custom developed applications. This is well suited for offensive testing your high security in house developed applications. It is also very good for doing penetration testing on in house developed applications and safe guarding them from external attackers. Kali Linux is tough for use as a day to day Linux operating system as this was never intended to be used by beginners and occasional Linux users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • User friendly CLI.
    • Quick fixes for critical bugs.
    • Longer uptime.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Offensive Security
    • Analyzing SSL certificates
    • Analyzing SSL server configurations
    • Vulnerability scanning
    • Port scanning
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • By this point, there are several "flavors" of the Cisco IOS such as XE, XR, and the standard Cisco IOS. While they are all fairly similar, there does exist syntax differences between them. It would be ideal if at some point in the future, Cisco is able to unify all of them into one standard operating system which would use the same syntax across all platforms.
    • While overall Cisco does a great job of QA'ing their IOS, no matter the release, there's always some minor bugs. I think it's important that Cisco continue to pour resources into their QA team to test their software.
    • While I'm very familiar with the graphical readouts of "show processes cpu history" I would love for Cisco to eventually find a more intuitive way to display this data. I can't begin to count how many times I've had to teach more entry level (and even mid level) engineers how this graph is interpreted.
    • I do wish that Cisco had something similar to Juniper's "commit check" or "commit confirmed". This helps validate the changes you're about to apply, and catch errors, so that you have a better idea of the impact of the change.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Offensive Security
    • Option to deselect tools upon install
    • Instructions for all the tools
    • Lightweight install option
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Cisco
    IOS is pretty intuitive as you can use the question marks to check for all the options or parameters for a specific command. Also having the tab key to complete the words is nice as you don't need type the complete command. Using also abbreviated commands with 2 or 3 letters instead of the whole Word makes it a great OS.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Offensive Security
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Cisco has a better presence on corporate business so it makes it easier to find engineers and technitians to support your network. Also a lot of Universities and schools use it as a reference and use it to teach and prepare students so it will be easier to recruit people with cisco preparation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Offensive Security
    I will Stack Kali Linux at the top of among to its similar devices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Great uptimes on proven availability/reliability.
    • Longevity of these switches ensures great ROI.
    • Easy to learn for new users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Offensive Security
    • Costs
    • Time taken to setup
    • Configurations needed for each use
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots