We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security and Fortinet FortiOS based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."It's very good and very stable for businesses. It works very well."
"The interface is very good."
"The security features are about the best that I've seen anywhere."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is load balancing. It can provide central management and VPNA. Additionally, it has enhanced our security environment."
"Initial setup is straightforward. There weren't too many issues with setting it up. It takes one hour or so."
"Valuable features include the Web Application Firewall, and it even has DLP (data leak prevention)."
"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
"Cisco IOS Security is very robust and works very well."
"The solution is easy to use."
"One of the main features is that the hardware is extremely reliable."
"Cisco IOS Security has many good features, but compared to other solutions, it has a more user-friendly interface with steps to apply and manage rules. Another good part of the solution is that it's more straightforward."
"You can scale it when you need to."
"One of the valuable features of the solution is its flexibility and it performs great."
"The VPN was valuable for us because more people are working from home. It has a lot of reporting and easy-to-use management tools."
"The technical is excellent."
"Fortinet FortiOS's valuable features include intuitive policy creation and deployment, precise parameter settings to determine thresholds, and security profiles such as web filtering and remote application filtering, among others."
"FortiOS' most valuable features are management, security, and easy updates with no downtime."
"We've been happy with the pricing."
"What I like about this solution, is that it is the only solution that currently offers VPN for clients."
"I have found the most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiOS is the low maintenance."
"For ten to 12 years it has been quite secure."
"There are a lot of features that we like within the solution. The resources or performance of the firewall is very good. However, the real selling point is the fact that the solution offers so many features, it gives our clients a lot of extras that they can work with. There's a lot on offer."
"The SSL VPN is fee for use is most attractive."
"The firmware needs improvement because there are bugs when a new release comes through. Sometimes, the configuration changes, and it's a bit harder to see where the fail is. The first time that you have the firmware, it tends to have some issues, and it's better to wait a bit to update the equipment."
"One area for improvement is the performance on bandwidth demands for smaller devices, as well as better web filtering."
"The monitor and the visibility, in this proxy, is very weak."
"We sometimes have issues with FortiGate's routing table in the latest firmware update. We had to downgrade the device because our customers complained about bugs."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure."
"The performance could be a bit better. Right now, I find it to be lacking. Having good performance is very important for our work."
"When we cluster the two Fortinet FortiGate boxes together we have some issues."
"The sniffing packets or packet captures, can be simplified and improved because it's a little confusing."
"I think setup could be one area for improvement, because sometimes we don't have people inside so we have to move to the place."
"Cisco IOS Security could improve its security features. There are competitors that have some additional security features, such as Fortinet FortiGate. Additionally, there should be better synchronization with Cisco IOS Security and other vendors, and improved AI features would be beneficial."
"An area for improvement in Cisco IOS Security is the performance because it's not as stable sometimes. There's also some latency in the solution, which could be improved. Cisco IOS Security integrates with other solutions, but you'll encounter many errors after integration, so this is another area for improvement. I'd like to see enhanced performance and a simplified setup in the next version of Cisco IOS Security."
"Cisco IOS Security could improve by having more compatibility with other Cisco solutions."
"While Cisco IOS Security is stable and scalable, I would like to see it improved to be even better."
"There are the usual bugs that are inherent to some software upgrades. Sometimes this provides some unexpected issues, however, it happens with all brands all the time."
"It takes too much time to deploy a policy to FMC. It takes around eight minutes. You can't afford any downtime when you're changing policies."
"Cisco IOS Security's monitoring is rather rudimentary and could be improved."
"The support is not very good, but the product is stable so it is not so much of a problem."
"Fortinet FortiOS can improve the GUI and remove the command line interface. All the functionality should be available from the GUI. Day-to-day management can be tough for IT administrators. Additionally, the reporting is not very good."
"There is no flexibility."
"I can only compare it with SonicWall, and it is missing many advanced features that SonicWall has."
"Fortinet FortiOS can improve the monitoring function, it could be more accurate, easy to use, and understandable."
"I would like to see fewer bugs. If you use the box with its basic features, the solution is straightforward and stable, but you can run into bugs when using newer features or in more complex use cases. They included a DNS filter as a new feature, and I had issues that required raising a ticket with customer support."
"The pricing model makes this product far more expensive than similar solutions."
"A switch should be introduced."
Cisco IOS Security is ranked 23rd in Firewalls with 47 reviews while Fortinet FortiOS is ranked 15th in Firewalls with 73 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while Fortinet FortiOS is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco IOS Security writes "User-friendly and excels in documentation, making it easier to resolve issues". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiOS writes "Provides effective filtering features, good stability but initial setup is moderately challenging". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Meraki MX, Netgate pfSense, OPNsense and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, whereas Fortinet FortiOS is most compared with Fortinet FortiManager, Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Fortinet FortiWeb, Darktrace and Zyxel Unified Security Gateway. See our Cisco IOS Security vs. Fortinet FortiOS report.
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