We compared Cisco Secure Firewall and Azure Firewall based on our users' reviews across several parameters.
Cisco Secure Firewall is regarded highly for its strong security features, user-friendly interface, and seamless integration within Cisco's security ecosystem. Customers appreciate the value they receive for the price paid and the efficient deployment process. Azure Firewall is praised for its competitive pricing, centralized network security management, and high performance in managing traffic. Users find the setup process straightforward, although some face challenges with customization and integration with other services. Both products receive positive feedback on customer service and support.
Features: Cisco Secure Firewall stands out for its robust intrusion detection and prevention system, seamless integration with Cisco's security ecosystem, and powerful threat intelligence capabilities. On the other hand, Azure Firewall is commended for its centralized network security management, seamless integration with Azure services, and high performance in handling large traffic volumes.
Pricing and ROI: Cisco Secure Firewall's setup cost is praised for its straightforwardness, offering users value for money. In comparison, Azure Firewall's competitive pricing and reasonable setup cost are highlighted, with flexible licensing options catering to diverse organizational needs. Cisco Secure Firewall offers a higher ROI with its strong security features and user-friendly interface. Azure Firewall, although cost-effective, lags in advanced security measures and comprehensive features.
Room for Improvement: Cisco Secure Firewall offers enhanced user-friendliness, efficient traffic handling, improved visibility, better integration with security solutions, regular updates, enhanced reporting, and scalability. Azure Firewall needs improvement in setup difficulty, protocol support, rule customization, logging, and integration with Azure services.
Deployment and customer support: Users found Cisco Secure Firewall to have a quicker setup process, emphasizing efficient deployment. Azure Firewall was noted for a longer implementation phase, causing frustration among users and highlighting the delay in establishing the new tech solution. Cisco Secure Firewall boasts efficient and reliable customer service, with users praising the support team's helpfulness and responsiveness. Azure Firewall customers appreciate the team's efficiency and effectiveness in addressing issues.
The summary above is based on 123 interviews we conducted recently with Cisco Secure Firewall and Azure Firewall users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"The notable features that I have found most valuable are that it includes the antivirus, and also IPS, and even SD-WAN."
"The scalability is good in Fortinet FortiGate."
"FortiGate is very simple to manage and easy to use."
"The CLI and GUI do a good job of putting a lot at your fingertips."
"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."
"The features that we have found most valuable are the SSL VPN and the User Portal."
"Easy to implement, and it is also reliable."
"Microsoft's technical support is very good. They're quite knowledgable and responsive."
"Azure Firewall is a cloud-native solution that removes the pain of load balancers."
"The initial setup is straightforward; Azure Firewall does not have a complex implementation process. It is very simple; you just need to enable the service within Azure. It does not require any maintenance because it is managed by Microsoft, that is, it is a fully managed service."
"The solution has many useful features. For example, the solution allows users to create virtual IP addresses."
"The solution should be capable of self-scaling, which is one of the features we like about it."
"One of the best features is that it natively integrates with Azure Services and tools. When you have a third-party offering, that is not the case. But Azure Firewall provides a comprehensive and seamless security solution for your Azure resources."
"All its features are good. That's why we recommend it."
"The Layer four features are okay and meet my business needs."
"This solution has good security, and it's a good product. You can trust Cisco, and there's support as well, which is really good."
"The best features are stability and scalability."
"Management Console and user profiling to define activities."
"The Inline Mode configuration works really well, and ASA works very impressively."
"The initial setup was not complex."
"We moved from a legacy firewall to the ASA with FirePOWER, increasing our Internet Edge defense dramatically."
"It is much better than most of the other firewalls that I have worked with."
"I like the ASDM for the firewall because it is visual. With the command line, it is harder to visualize what is going on. A picture is worth a thousand words."
"It claims it does DLP, but the degree and level of controls are very basic."
"Scalability for Fortinet FortiGate needs to be improved. SD-WAN security for this solution also needs some improvement."
"It needs to improve its ISP load balancing."
"It could use better throughput on some of the smaller boxes for the branch offices."
"At first glance, the interface for the device is very confusing."
"In the next release, maybe the documentation on how to use this solution could be improved."
"I think there could be more QoS features"
"The process of configuring firewall rules appears excessively complex."
"An Azure firewall is not a real firewall."
"There is room for further integration of AI into the system."
"The reporting, logging, and monitoring features, as well as the flexibility of the policies, need to be improved."
"It has fewer features than you can get from other firewalls, like anti-spam and anti-phishing. Those kinds of things are not included. It only includes IDS and IDB."
"They can improve the pricing of Azure Firewall."
"This solution is not mature when it comes to handling perimeter traffic like internet browsing."
"It is a cloud service, but the lending speed for each region is not always the same. For example, in China, the speed is slow. They need to think about how to make sure that the service pace or speed is always the same in all regions. It would be a great improvement if they can provide the same pace worldwide."
"The solution doesn't offer the same capabilities of Fortinet. It should offer intrusion prevention and advance filtering. These are two very useful features offered on Fortinet that Azure lacks."
"We would really like to see dual dual power supplies for some Cisco Firewall products."
"The solution's deployment is time-consuming, which should be minimized and made more user-friendly for us."
"When we first got it, we were doing individual configuring. Now, there is a way to manage from one location."
"Cisco still has a lot of work to do. You can convert an ASA over to a Firepower, but the competitors, like Palo Alto and Juniper, are coming in. And believe it or not, they are a little bit more intuitive. Cisco has a little bit more work to do. They're playing catch up."
"The price and SD-WAN capabilities are the areas that need improvement."
"It could use a web-based portal for VPN. Earlier they had it in the ASA model, but currently they don't have it."
"The GUI interface could be improved when compared to other solutions."
"I would like it to be easier to work with and have a better user interface. It is not straightforward. You need to know the Cisco command-line interface."
Azure Firewall is ranked 21st in Firewalls with 33 reviews while Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 404 reviews. Azure Firewall is rated 7.2, while Cisco Secure Firewall is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Azure Firewall writes "Easy to use and configure but could be more robust". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Secure Firewall writes "Highlights and helps us catch Zero-day vulnerabilities traveling across our network". Azure Firewall is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series and Netgate pfSense, whereas Cisco Secure Firewall is most compared with Palo Alto Networks WildFire, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, Sophos XG and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Azure Firewall vs. Cisco Secure Firewall report.
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