A modern replacement for
Andrisoft Wanguard
Wanguard is a capable on-premises tool with both flow-based and packet capture detection modes. But it requires dedicated hardware, per-component licensing, and in its most common flow-based deployment, has 10–60 second detection latency. Flowtriq deploys in 60 seconds, detects in under 1 second, and starts at $9.99/node/month or from $19/flow source for sFlow/NetFlow/IPFIX — no hardware required.
Why teams look for alternatives
The real cost of running Wanguard
Wanguard is a mature product with real deployments. But four structural constraints push growing teams to evaluate alternatives.
Dedicated hardware required
Wanguard requires a dedicated server for its Sensor and Filter components. The hardware must handle your peak flow export volume, and Andrisoft recommends PF_RING or DPDK-capable NICs for high-throughput deployments. This hardware is not part of the license — it is an infrastructure prerequisite you source and manage separately. For teams with multiple detection points, hardware costs multiply.
"Lacks efficient error tracking and log management capabilities."
- G2 Reviewer
Quote-based licensing, annual renewals
Wanguard pricing is listed on the Andrisoft store page: Sensor at $595/year, Filter at $995/year, and DPDK Engine at $1,410/year. Volume discounts (5-15%) start at the 5th license, and multi-annual discounts (5-15%) are available. The minimum licensing period is 12 months. Procurement is straightforward, but dedicated server hardware is required on top of the license cost, and scaling across multiple sites means additional per-component licenses.
"Does anyone know of similar software? We've been trying to get it running for a week now and their support is terrible so we've given up trying to work with them."
- WebHostingTalk User
"Time Zone is the killer here being over in .au" for support response times.
- NANOG Mailing List
Flow-based detection: 10–60 second latency
In its most common deployment, Wanguard builds detection on top of NetFlow, sFlow, and IPFIX — sampled flow exports from your network equipment. Flow export intervals on most routers are 10–60 seconds, and detection latency typically falls in that range. Wanguard also supports a packet capture mode using DPDK, PF_RING, or libpcap for unsampled detection, which is faster but requires dedicated capture hardware and an additional DPDK Engine license. In flow-based deployments, short-burst attacks (under 30 seconds) frequently complete before detection fires.
"Flow analysis is just not fast enough to detect most DDoS attacks."
- MikroTik Forum User
Self-hosted only, no cloud-native path
Wanguard is designed for on-premises deployment with dedicated hardware. Cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) do not expose the packet-level mirroring that Wanguard's Filter component relies on at scale. Teams with hybrid or cloud-first infrastructure end up with incomplete coverage — flow-based detection where it works, and blind spots where it doesn't. There is no SaaS deployment option and no lightweight agent model.
Multiple users have documented problems with Wanguard's BGP redirect and traffic flow-back routing not propagating correctly on certain routers, requiring extensive manual troubleshooting.
- Community Reports
Side-by-side comparison
Wanguard vs Flowtriq
A factual comparison across detection, mitigation, forensics, and operational requirements.
| Capability | Andrisoft Wanguard | Flowtriq |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | ||
| Setup time | Days to weeks (hardware procurement, OS config, Sensor + Filter setup) | 60 seconds — curl -sSL flowtriq.com/install.sh | sudo bash |
| Hardware required | Dedicated server (PF_RING/DPDK NIC recommended) | None — agent on existing Linux server |
| Pricing model | Quote-based, annual license + hardware | $9.99/node/month or from $19/flow source, self-serve, month-to-month |
| Cloud support | Self-hosted only — cloud coverage is incomplete | Full support: AWS, GCP, Azure, bare metal, VPS |
| Free trial | Available, requires contact with sales | 7 days, no credit card, instant access |
| Detection | ||
| Detection method | NetFlow/sFlow/IPFIX or packet capture (DPDK/PF_RING/libpcap/Netmap) | Kernel-level per-packet monitoring on each server |
| Detection speed | 10–60 seconds (flow mode); faster with DPDK/PF_RING packet capture | <1 second |
| Attack classification | Protocol-level breakdown (UDP, TCP, ICMP, etc.) | 7 attack families + confidence scoring |
| L7 / HTTP flood detection | Not available — L3/L4 only | Access log parsing (nginx / apache / caddy) |
| IP spoofing detection | Not available | TTL distribution analysis |
| Mitigation | ||
| BGP RTBH (blackhole) | Yes | Yes |
| BGP FlowSpec | Yes (Wanguard Filter) | Yes — with confidence scoring + auto-rollback |
| Auto-mitigation rule types | iptables/nftables, BGP | Automated: iptables, nftables, XDP/eBPF, cloud APIs |
| Cloud API mitigation (Cloudflare, DigitalOcean) | Not available | Yes — included |
| Forensics & Reporting | ||
| PCAP forensics | Not available | Pre-attack ring buffer + upload analyzer |
| Attack reports | Historical reports via web UI | Automated PDF / HTML / JSON postmortem |
| AI incident summaries | Not available | Included |
| Alerting & Integrations | ||
| Alert channels | Email, SNMP, script-based | Discord, Slack, Teams, PagerDuty, OpsGenie, SMS, and more |
| Prometheus metrics | Limited / via custom export | 15+ metric families, native |
Pricing
Wanguard vs Flowtriq: cost comparison
Wanguard pricing is not publicly listed. Based on community reports and operator accounts, here's a representative cost comparison.
Wanguard
- BGP RTBH + FlowSpec mitigation
- Web dashboard with traffic graphs
- Commercial support
- Per-component licensing (Sensor + Filter + DPDK separately)
- 12-month minimum licensing period
- Dedicated hardware required (not included)
- 10–60 second detection in flow mode (faster with packet capture)
- No PCAP forensics
- No cloud API mitigations
- No sub-second detection
Flowtriq
- BGP RTBH + FlowSpec included
- Full web dashboard — unlimited users
- Commercial support included
- Published pricing, self-serve signup
- Month-to-month — cancel any time
- No hardware required
- <1 second detection (kernel-level)
- PCAP forensics + pre-attack buffer
- Cloud API mitigations (Cloudflare, DO, Vultr…)
- Alerts wherever your NOC works (Slack, PagerDuty, SMS, and more)
Ready to switch?
Flowtriq runs alongside Wanguard during evaluation. No migration window, no downtime. Our team can walk you through the switchover in 30 minutes.
Getting started
Switch from Wanguard in 60 Seconds
Flowtriq runs alongside or replaces Wanguard. No migration window required — you can run both in parallel during evaluation.
Sign up — no credit card, no application
Create a free account at flowtriq.com/signup. No gatekeeping, no sales call required, no approval queue. Full trial access immediately.
Install the agent on any Linux server
Any modern Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+, CentOS 8+). <30 MB RAM. <0.1% CPU at idle.
Baseline auto-learns in ~5 minutes
No threshold tuning. Dynamic baselines adapt automatically to each node's traffic pattern. Run Flowtriq alongside Wanguard to compare detection during the trial.
Connect BGP (optional)
ExaBGP, GoBGP, BIRD 2, FRRouting — all supported. Configure via the web dashboard. BGP is optional; detection and alerting work without it.
Decommission Wanguard when ready
Once satisfied with detection reliability, decommission your Wanguard hardware and cancel the annual license at renewal. No migration data to transfer — Flowtriq starts a fresh baseline per node.
Being fair
Where Wanguard is the better choice
We sell Flowtriq, so we have obvious bias. Here is where Wanguard genuinely wins.
Network-wide flow visibility
Wanguard sees all traffic crossing your network via sFlow/NetFlow exports from your switches. Flowtriq sees traffic at individual servers. For capacity planning, transit analysis, and understanding aggregate traffic patterns across your entire network, flow-based tools provide visibility that agent-based tools cannot.
Price at scale
For large ISPs monitoring 500+ servers from a few central flow collection points, Wanguard's annual license model can work out cheaper than per-node pricing. If your flow infrastructure is already built and your team has the expertise to manage it, the cost comparison favors Wanguard at high node counts.
Full data sovereignty
Wanguard is entirely self-hosted. Your flow data, attack history, and traffic patterns never leave your network. For operators with strict data residency requirements or regulatory constraints on SaaS tools, this is a meaningful advantage that Flowtriq's cloud model cannot match.
Mature, proven at ISP scale
Wanguard has been in production at ISPs for over a decade. It is a known quantity with stable software, a polished web UI, and commercial support. Teams that value a long track record over a newer SaaS model have a legitimate reason to stay with Wanguard.
For a detailed breakdown of where each tool fits, read the full Flowtriq vs Wanguard comparison.
Common questions
Wanguard alternatives: FAQ
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Next Steps
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