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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

    Metasploit

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AMetasploit is open source network security software described by Rapid7 as the world’s most used penetration testing framework, designed to help security teams do more than just verify vulnerabilities, manage security assessments, and improve security awareness.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco IOSMetasploit
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
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    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco IOSMetasploit
    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
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco IOSMetasploit
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
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    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Cisco NX-OS
    Score8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco IOSMetasploit
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.3
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (5 ratings)
    Usability
    9.3
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco IOSMetasploit
    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
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    Rapid7
    It is easy to use with sufficient documentation on how to use the tools for end users or newbies. Experienced testers will find it easy to customise and configure the test cases. Just wished that I could have taken up a course on using this tool in my study days so that I could had explored more and improved my familiarity with the tool, unlike when working where access and time to explore the other features of the tool is limited
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • User friendly CLI.
    • Quick fixes for critical bugs.
    • Longer uptime.
    Incentivized
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    Rapid7
    • Easy to use.
    • Many exploits available.
    • Multi-platform.
    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
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    Rapid7
    • More robust menus
    • Better plugin inter-operation
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Rapid7
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Rapid7
    We don't use it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
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    Rapid7
    Metasploit is the most well-known tool in the average pen tester's toolkit. It's hard to compare to its neighbor's due to its size and following.
    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
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    Rapid7
    • Positive: Improves efficiency of our network penetration testing operations.
    • Positive: Allows for collaboration and information sharing during a penetration test.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots