We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall and Fortinet Fortigate based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, Fortinet Fortigate comes out on top. Its ease of deployment combined with its solid set of features and excellent service and support ratings make it a more desirable solution than Cisco Secure Firewall.
"We found the initial setup to be easy."
"You do not have to do everything through a command line which makes it a lot easier to apply rules."
"It is a comprehensive suite and complete package."
"It integrates with various Cisco security portfolios and products, and there is an easy and seamless integration for building a complete security framework for our customers."
"It helped us a lot with our VPNs for the home office during COVID. There has been more security and flexibility for VPNs and other applications."
"The most stable firewall I’ve ever worked with. Once you get the ASA set up properly, it can run for a whole year without any major issues, apart from the normal daily administration."
"This solution made our organization more secure and gave us better control."
"It is a highly stable product. We rarely receive any serious outdates, so it works quite well."
"Fortinet FortiGate is stable. It's used across all the countries, this is the way most multinationals run their system."
"It is a good source for firewall protection."
"It's very fast and easy to configure."
"It is easy to manage, and it doesn't need much knowledge from the team. It is a stable device, and there are many features that are included out of the box."
"Using this product makes the VPN seamless and almost invisible to me in the sense that I don't have to think about it."
"I'm pretty happy with its reliability. It is also very scalable."
"We have found it to be very reliable and that's why our teams and various users in our company use it as our main firewall every day."
"The VPN is the most valuable feature."
"I would like to see an IE version of the solution where it is ruggedized."
"Most of the time, when I try to run Java, it is not compatible with ASA's current operating systems."
"ASDM can be improved."
"One issue with Firepower Management Center is deployment time. It takes seven to 10 minutes and that's a long time for deployment. In that amount of time, management or someone else can ask me to change something or to provide permissions, but during that time, doing so is not possible. It's a drawback with Cisco. Other vendors, like Palo Alto or Fortinet do not have this deployment time issue."
"FMC could be improved because management with FMC is quite difficult compared to using Firepower web-based management."
"The user interface is too complex for people who are not trained to or certified to engage with the product. The interface should be easier to use."
"There are always vulnerabilities that come up and there was one in early 2018 but this was patched with software updates."
"They really need support for deployment."
"The improvement is related to logs. Instead of the CLI, we should be able to have more insights into the logs of the firewall in the GUI."
"Lacks training for new features."
"They should improve high CPU and memory usage that occurs."
"The performance and speed are aspects of the solution that could always be improved upon."
"They need faster serviceability and more security features."
"One area for improvement is the performance on the bandwidth demands for smaller devices, as well as better web filtering."
"Its reporting can be improved. Sometimes, I don't get proper reports."
"The support system could be improved."
Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 404 reviews while Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 306 reviews. Cisco Secure Firewall is rated 8.2, while Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco Secure Firewall writes "Highlights and helps us catch Zero-day vulnerabilities traveling across our network". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "It's a reliable solution that's easy to install and cheaper than competitors ". Cisco Secure Firewall is most compared with Palo Alto Networks WildFire, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, Sophos XG and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, whereas Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, Check Point NGFW and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Fortinet FortiGate report.
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We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
