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.
"Cisco's engineer helped us with a lot of scripting to see what existed. Previously, we didn't have a proper policy. In fact, we didn't have any policy because we didn't have any firewall for the data center, so generating a policy was a big challenge. Cisco's engineer helped us to do some scripting and find out what kind of policy we can have and organize those policies. That was nice."
"The configuration support is very good. You can find a lot of configuration samples and troubleshooting tips on the internet, which is very good."
"Once configured to suit your needs, these firewalls are rock solid appliances."
"Cisco Secure Firewall improved our organization. We have it in every one of our French offices."
"VPN load balancing has been particularly essential for my connections to integrate via multiple time zones."
"The most valuable features of Cisco firewalls are the IPS and IDS items. We find them very helpful. Those are the biggest things because we have some odd, custom-made products in our environment. What we've found through their IPS and IDS is that their vulnerability engines have caught things that are near-Zero-day items, inside of our network."
"The features I have found most valuable are the ASA firewalls. I like to have features like most integrated systems in ACI."
"The whole firewall functionality, including firewall policies and IPS policies, is valuable. It has all kinds of functionalities. It has IPS, VPN, and other features. They are doing quite a lot of stuff with their devices."
"The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is good."
"FortiGate is on the cheaper end, and it offers good value."
"Our project needs to link two sides through the internet. One of these was in Cairo and the other in another city. We used FortiGate as the integrating solution between the two locations, i.e. the Fortinet 30E & 100E."
"The SD-WAN function is very developed. It has SD-WAN functionality with security features in one device. We can manage from one single console SD-WAN and the security policy."
"The FortiGate controls the user's activities and maximizes my bandwidth use overall."
"The security features are about the best that I've seen anywhere."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The most valuable feature of FortiGate is FortiView which provides proactive monitoring."
"The management of the firewalls could be improved because there are a lot of bugs."
"The initial setup was complex."
"On firewall features, Fortinet is better. Cisco needs to become more competitive and add more features or meet Fortinet's offering."
"It is not easy to configure."
"I wish the Cisco interface was not so granular. Check Point was easier to create specific rules than with ASAv."
"ASDM can be improved."
"The Cisco ASA device needs overall improvement, as configurations alone do not completely secure my network."
"The reporting and other features are nice, but there is an issue with applying the configuration. That part needs some improvement."
"There were quite a few problems with the stability of the system."
"To the best of my knowledge, Fortinet does not have a CASB solution and Fortinet does not have a Zero trust solution."
"The way everything is set up could be easier. Currently, people need a lot of experience and knowledge to administer it and to link it to devices."
"I would prefer to have more detailed logs within the FortiGate products themselves rather than relying on a separate tool."
"They should improve high CPU and memory usage that occurs."
"Fortinet needs to overhaul its documentation."
"Currently, without the additional reporting module, we only have access to basic reporting."
"The reporting in Fortinet FortiGate could improve. Customers are having to purchase additional reporting components. When I have used the Sophos solution it is a complete solution, in Fortinet FortiGate you have to use additional tools to have the features needed."
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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