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.
"The most important feature is the VPN connection."
"One of the most valuable features of Firepower 7.0 is the "live log" type feature called Unified Event Viewer. That view has been really good in helping me get to data faster, decreasing the amount of time it takes to find information, and allowing me to fix problems faster. I've found that to be incredibly valuable because it's a lot easier to get to some points of data now."
"The stability of the solution is very good. We can see that it gets even better with every release."
"The most important point is the detection engine which is now part of the next-generation firewalls and which is supported by Cisco Talos."
"It has definitely improved our organization. It gives us remote connectivity, helps workers connect remotely, and also gives us good connectivity to our other branches."
"The initial setup was not complex."
"One of the most valuable features is the GUI front end, which is very easy to use. But I'm also a command-line guy, and being able to access the device via command-line for advanced troubleshooting is quite important."
"The ASDM (Adaptive Security Device Manager) which is the graphical user interface, works out, and Cisco keeps it current."
"The application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable."
"Layer-3 firewall and routing are the most valuable features."
"With FortiClient, you can easily connect when you are home, check out what you want to do, and connect to your network when you are not at work. You can switch on servers and you can check what is wrong."
"The initial installation is very straightforward."
"The next-gen features, the unified threat management capabilities are something that just about everybody is interested in at this point."
"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."
"This is a quality product with ok support, and it is better than the competition we've tried."
"The most important features with FortiGate are the web filter and application controls. We can control our internet usage and use the web filter for application purposes."
"They should improve their interface."
"While this applies to all vendors, pricing can be always lower. In my opinion, Cisco is the most expensive. The pricing can be reduced."
"The user interface is a little clunky and difficult to work with. Some things aren't as easy as they should be."
"The reporting and other features are nice, but there is an issue with applying the configuration. That part needs some improvement."
"The most valuable features of the product are the VPN and the NextGen firewall features such as application control, URL filtering, etc."
"The solution is overcomplicated in some senses. Simplifying it would be an improvement."
"The access layer of this solution could be improved in terms of the way the devices interconnect with our network. We need to be able to analyze the traffic between the different interconnection in these areas."
"If I need to download AnyConnect in a rush, it will prompt me for my Cisco login account. Nobody wants to download a client to a firewall that they don't own."
"I would like to see improvements with the antivirus and IPS as they are not working properly all the time."
"NGN, reporting and controls."
"From a reporting perspective, there's room for improvement. They're providing FortiAnalyzer through which one can get some enhancements, but the visibility and reporting still need slight improvement."
"The setup is pretty complex and not easy to implement."
"One area for improvement is the performance on the bandwidth demands for smaller devices, as well as better web filtering."
"In some cases, its initial setup could be hard for customers."
"Fortinet Fortigate could benefit by simplifying some of their processes."
"There aren't really any negative aspects to discuss."
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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