We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security and Meraki MX based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."We can detect any attack of viruses or malware at the first point of contact."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is the simple configuration."
"The IPsec tunnels are very easily created, and quite interoperable with devices from other vendors."
"It's quite comfortable to handle the FortiGate firewall."
"The flexibility and ease of configuration are the most valuable features."
"Whenever I need something, Fortinet improves and updates the software for me."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the rules and quality of service."
"There are great templates, so you don't have to customize them if you don't want to. You do have the option to custom create some folders and some reports, however, with what is there, you don't really need to go through extra effort, as they already give you a lot of predefined views of reports and so forth."
"Previously, anyone in the organization would see any data point in the wall. They could just go and connect their machine with that data point and could access the network. But now, even if someone came and tried that, they will not be given access."
"We are able to filter a lot of traffic especially when a lot of the traffic is in layer 7."
"The technical is excellent."
"Cisco IOS Security increases the overall security of our network, performs authentication, and provides level 15 access and privileges."
"The product is easy to use."
"The Intrusion Firewall is a valuable feature."
"The most valuable features are DNS service and shell self-service within a network."
"The stability of this solution is excellent."
"It is very easy to use and manage. It is also very easy to scale."
"It prevents us from being hacked and delivers information about who and where the attack came from."
"It is very easy to configure."
"The simplicity of configuration is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"The internet traffic shaping has been very valuable."
"The product is quite secure, easy to manage, and well-connected with other devices."
"MX is easy to manage, configure and install."
"Meraki MX offers advanced filtration options, plus it behaves like a router and a firewall at the same time."
"Price, of course, can always be more competitive or better."
"They are doing good, but they can improve the distributor assignment. The availability of the product and the timeline of delivery are the main things. The distribution should be swift, and the distributor should not reach out to end customers directly. They should work as a distributor. There should also be one more local distributor. Currently, there is only one distributor in Pakistan, and the rest of them are in UAE. It is difficult to work with only one distributor. Sometimes, you don't get along with the same distributor, and that's why they should have one more distributor. Their licensing should also be improved. The activation or renewal of the product should be done from the date of renewal, not from the date on which the license expired."
"I don't like that anything more than very basic reporting is not included."
"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."
"The solution needs to improve its integration with cybersecurity."
"The support we receive when we need to upgrade is not satisfactory and has room for improvement."
"Scalability is one of the disadvantages. When it comes to scalability, you have to actually change the box. If you want to upgrade it, you need to actually change the existing box and probably you take the system off to other sites."
"While FortiGate is cheaper than most other solutions, we're seeing increased license renewal costs. Most of our clients are asking for more significant discounts because the price is going up."
"We faced significant challenges related to licensing issues, particularly when licenses expire."
"In the next release of this solution, we would like to see support for the 100BT and 7000 models."
"If they could increase the performance a little better because the device sometimes gets slow."
"The solution is not user friendly and it is hard to manage the GUI interface."
"Cisco very slowly introduces and implements the products, unlike other brands."
"Sometimes I find it difficult to manage. Some configurations are difficult for new engineers, for example."
"The product's technical support services need improvement."
"The pricing is the only con for this product."
"We do not have account managers in our region for the solution. Some governments don't use the product since it is attached to the internet."
"In general, the SD-WAN feature needs to be improved. The load sharing and load balancing of the traffic should be improved. I have had some problems with these features in the past."
"FortiGate is cheaper than Meraki. Even the license renewal is less than Meraki."
"We feel that Cisco provides smaller features, with fewer possibilities versus other solutions out there."
"You cannot use switching behaviors as you see on the Meraki switch."
"We have been having a problem with the VPN. When the energy goes down and is back again, the VPN link doesn't get established. We have to manually turn off the modems and other pieces of equipment and manually establish the VPN. It has been around one month since we have been having this problem, and we don't have enough support from Meraki to solve the problem."
"The product is quite complex to set up."
"Meraki tech support staff have a lot more visibility into your network than you do, which is frustrating at times. I understand the approach is to keep the dashboard easier to understand. This will frustrate more advanced users at times."
Cisco IOS Security is ranked 22nd in Firewalls with 47 reviews while Meraki MX is ranked 2nd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 59 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while Meraki MX is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cisco IOS Security writes "User-friendly and excels in documentation, making it easier to resolve issues". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Meraki MX writes "Cost-effective, simplified, easy to manage, and reliable with advanced security features and granular visibility". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiOS, Netgate pfSense, OPNsense and Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB, whereas Meraki MX is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos XG, SonicWall TZ and Netgate pfSense. See our Cisco IOS Security vs. Meraki MX report.
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