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 we have found to be the VPN because we use it often."
"It makes it very easy to have delineated roles and responsibilities between network engineering and network security."
"The solution is used for the protection of the mobile data network. It is protecting 3G/4G Internet customers and the Private APN."
"The firewall and policy side are easy to use."
"We are using the Cisco AnyConnect for our end-user VPN with the ASA."
"The solution is excellent for enterprise-level networks."
"I like them mostly because they don't break and they have great diagnostics."
"The most valuable features for my client are the ASDM and monitoring."
"The virtual firewall feature is the most valuable. We have around 1,500 firewalls. We did not buy individual hardware, and the virtual firewalls made sense because we don't have to keep on buying the hardware. FortiGate is easier to use as compared to Checkpoint devices. It is user friendly and has a good UI. You don't need much expertise to work on this firewall. You don't need to worry much about DCLA, commands, and things like that."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the ease of use and there are several operating systems that can include the hardware capacities. In the newer releases, the resources were more useful because they were included in the operating system."
"The solution is highly scalable because they have devices that can handle a large amount of traffic."
"I like that they have given me a solution at a fair price."
"Fortigate represents a really scalable way of delivering perimeter network security, some level of layer 7 security, WAF, and also a way to create a meshed ADVPN solution."
"Virtual Domains (VDOMs) are a feature that we found valuable."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
"Allows for firewall rules to be programmed and named in a way that makes it “readable”"
"MSSP oriented interface: I would like a single console which would allow me to manage settings creating consistency across all customers."
"The only improvement that we could make is maybe [regarding] the roadmap, to have better visibility as to what we are targeting ahead in the next few quarters."
"In terms of functionality, there isn't much to improve. There could be more bandwidth and better interface speed."
"10Gb interfaces should be available on more models."
"Antivirus features must be integrated for end user security."
"The solution is overcomplicated in some senses. Simplifying it would be an improvement."
"The virtual firewalls don't work very well with Cisco AnyConnect."
"The process of procuring modern-day technology within the DOD needs to improve."
"Backup can be improved."
"The routing capability on the FortiGate devices has room for improvement."
"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution."
"I'm not sure if it's something that they already have or are developing something, however, we need some dedicated features for container security."
"The UTM filtering needs improvement."
"I haven't had a single issue since using Fortinet."
"Web security solutions can be improved."
"There can be more security in hybrid implementations. When a customer has a hybrid environment where some parts are in the cloud, we need a consistent security solution for such scenarios."
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, WatchGuard Firebox and Check Point NGFW. See our Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Fortinet FortiGate report.
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