We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall vs. pfSense based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Cisco Secure Firewall and pfSense come out about equal in this comparison. Cisco ASA Firewall has a slight edge when it comes to service and support, but pfSense has an edge when it comes to pricing.
"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."
"It performs very well."
"Reliability is the best feature. We faced some issues when we were setting it up, but the service, portal, and administration are good."
"The application control features, such as Facebook blocking and Spotify blocking, are the most valuable."
"The Intrusion Prevention System and the web filtering are both working well."
"The user interface is relatively easy. The devices are easy to deploy and figure out when you have experience with other security appliances."
"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."
"What I like the most is the configuration and that it's simple, and straightforward to maintain."
"The most valuable feature is that it's secure."
"It's a flexible solution."
"The user interface is very easy to manage and find rules. You can do object searches, which are very easy. Also, the logging is very simple to use. So, it is a lot easier to troubleshoot and find items inside the firewall."
"We have not had to deal with stability issues."
"In v9.8 you are able to do active/backup HA with ASAv (Adaptive Security Virtual Appliance) deployed on MS Azure."
"The technical team is always available when we have problems."
"I would say the Firepower module is most valuable. I'm trying more to transition to this kind firewall. I had to study a little on Palo Alto Networks equipment. There is a lot I have to learn about the difference."
"The most valuable Cisco Secure Firewall features are options, features, and ease of deployment because it's an appliance."
"The flexibility of adding new kinds of services without spending any money can't be beaten."
"The scalability is very good, where you can do an HA configuration and then bring in another box, if necessary."
"The ability to perform packet captures on the command line and via the GUI is useful for diagnosing problems."
"The classic features such as content inspection, content protection, and the application-level firewall, are the most important."
"Great extensibility of the platform."
"I like the connectivity to the open VPN. It's very smooth."
"It is much simpler than other solutions such as Fortinet."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The cloud features and integration could be improved."
"One of the problems I was having was with user mapping, and it is an issue for which I have escalated tickets with Fortinet support."
"NGN, reporting and controls."
"I feel that the reporting needs to be improved."
"I think they need to improve more in order to be a competitor with the leaders of the field."
"The pricing could be reduced or include the first year warranty."
"FortiGate should have a better way of detecting and managing the system memory because otherwise if the memory is too low, a system restart is required."
"Fortinet should focus on enhancing the capabilities of FortiGate by consolidating its various products, such as FortiGate Cloud, FortiManager, and FortiAnalyzer."
"It should have an additional “operating mode”, like a “candidate configuration mode”, where you would have the possibility to test the changes you are going to implement and also the possibility to validate these changes."
"It's not unexpected, but it's a common scenario where customers request dual layers of security. For instance, when dealing with regulatory compliance, especially in financial sectors regulated by entities like the Central Bank, having two distinct units is often mandated. If a client predominantly uses a solution like Palo Alto, they may need to incorporate another vendor such as Cisco or Forti. Importantly, there's a significant disparity in interfaces and management platforms between these vendors, necessitating careful consideration when integrating them into the overall security architecture"
"The solution’s GUI could be better."
"Licensing is complex, and I'd like it to be simplified. This is an area for improvement."
"Most of the time, when I try to run Java, it is not compatible with ASA's current operating systems."
"Technical support takes a long time to respond."
"We have seen some bugs come up with Cisco Secure Firewall in terms of high availability. The solution should be improved to avoid these bugs."
"It doesn't have a proper GUI to do troubleshooting, so most people have to rely on the command line."
"The stability could be improved."
"There are some bias issues and some intrusions in our network that have to be addressed. So, we're thinking of changing this firewall to something like a professional hardware-enabled firewall."
"Other solutions provide more scope for growth. For instance, we can have only 10 to 20 employees on VPN, but other solutions can support more users. We also have more capabilities to increase the performance of the solution."
"It needs to be more secure."
"Could be simplified for new users."
"A way to clean squid cache from the GUI."
"The integration should be improved."
"It could use a little bit of improvement in the reporting."
Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 112 reviews while Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 15 reviews. Cisco Secure Firewall is rated 8.2, while Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Cisco Secure Firewall writes "Includes multiple tools that help manage and troubleshoot, but needs SD-WAN for load balancing". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "Feature-rich, well documented, and there is good support available online". Cisco Secure Firewall is most compared with Palo Alto Networks WildFire, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Juniper SRX Series Firewall and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, whereas Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, Sophos UTM, KerioControl and Untangle NG Firewall. See our Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Netgate pfSense report.
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