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 valuable feature is zone segmentation, which we utilize through the Firepower management console."
"The IPS, as well as the malware features, are the two things that we use the most and they're very valuable."
"One thing I like about the product is the logging features, the way it logs, the way it forwards the logs in Syslog."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco Secure Firewall is its ease of configuration and that it's scalable for firewalls and VPNs."
"The most important point is the detection engine which is now part of the next-generation firewalls and which is supported by Cisco Talos."
"The primary benefits of using Cisco Secure solutions are time-saving, a robust API, and convenience for the security team."
"The setup was straightforward. I was happy with the configuration and deployment of the solution, as it was quick."
"The features I found most valuable in this solution, are the overall security features."
"The email protection and VPN features are the most valuable."
"It's very easy to set up, it's very easy to make policies and, for an organization, that means you don't need IT expert in firewalls. You just need to have somebody who knows a little bit of IT, and that's it. With other products, you need someone with a "Masters" degree in firewalls."
"Fortinet FortiGate is easy to use."
"Good load balancing feature."
"Security solution with a straightforward and quick setup. It's a stable and scalable product."
"Fortigate's most valuable feature is that it doesn't need a push policy when writing rules."
"LinkGreat firewall capabilities"
"It is quite easy to handle."
"Licensing is complex, and I'd like it to be simplified. This is an area for improvement."
"In Firepower, there is an ability to search and dig into a search, which is nice. However, I'm not a super fan of the way it scrolls. If you want to look at something live, it's a lot different. You're almost waiting. With the ASDM, where it just flows, you can really see it. The second someone clicks something or does something, you'll see it. The refresh rate on the events in Firepower is not as smooth."
"One thing that we really would have loved to have was policy-based routing. We had a lot of connections, and sometimes, we would have liked to change the routing depending on the policies, but it was lacking this capability. We also wanted application filtering and DNS filtering."
"We would like to see MS Word BPM as a feature."
"The scalability has room for improvement."
"The use of it has really bogged down our response time for certain problems, given we have to go through AT&T for everything."
"I would say that in inexperienced hands, the interface can be kind of overwhelming. There are just a lot of options. Too much, if you don't know what you are looking for or trying to do."
"They need a user-friendly interface that we could easily configure."
"With FortiGate, the main complaint that I have heard is about the technical support."
"One of the features that I would like to have is to do with endpoint production, it should be integrated. For example, the firewall gets notified of any kind of forensic event that needs to be done, such as if there is a ransomware attack and how it originated, all those records have to be available from the firewall, which is not."
"NGN, reporting and controls."
"There aren't really any negative aspects to discuss."
"Improvement is needed in the Web Filter quotas to restrict users with allocated quotas."
"Cisco Meraki products are rising very quickly in the cloud and the connected era. Meraki products offer much better ROI, upgradability, and manageability."
"They should offer special pricing to premium partners and customers."
"Its reporting capabilities can be improved. It should have some out-of-the-box reporting capabilities and some degree of customization. The basic reporting that it currently has is not sufficient to create more usable reports. It needs some sort of out-of-the-box reporting. They try to make customers purchase FortiAnalyzer for this kind of reporting, which is an additional cost. Other firewall vendors, such as SonicWall and Sophos, provide this sort of reporting without any additional cost."
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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