Array ASI SSL Intercept vs libnids: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Array ASI SSL Intercept is a commercial intrusion detection and prevention systems tool by Array Networks. libnids is a free intrusion detection and prevention systems tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best intrusion detection and prevention systems fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, integrations, company size fit, here is our conclusion:
Enterprise and mid-market security teams with hybrid cloud deployments need Array ASI SSL Intercept to inspect encrypted traffic without becoming a bottleneck; its hardware-accelerated processing hits 120 Gbps while supporting physical, virtual, and cloud appliances in the same policy framework. The tool handles both inbound and outbound decryption with Layer-2 and Layer-3 flexibility, letting you avoid the "decrypt everywhere or nowhere" trap that locks teams into single-vendor stacks. Skip this if you're looking for integrated threat response; ASI decrypts and classifies traffic for downstream tools, so you still need your own IDS, firewall, and analytics layer to actually stop threats.
Network defenders who need to detect and reassemble fragmented IP traffic and reconstruct TCP streams for offline analysis should reach for libnids; it's a lightweight, zero-cost library that handles the stack emulation work that most commercial IDS platforms bury inside proprietary code. The IP defragmentation and TCP port scan detection make it particularly useful for custom detection pipelines where you're already writing your own parsing logic. This is not for teams wanting a turnkey sensor or real-time alert generation; libnids is a development dependency, not a deployed appliance.
