We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Network Wildfire based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, with all other factors being more or less equal, Cisco Secure Firewall comes in a bit ahead of Palo Alto simply because of their stronger support.
"Overall, the pricing of the solution is very good. The product offers good value."
"The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."
"Fortigate is very scalable to serve our customers' needs. We have scaled already from fifty to more than a hundred instances of Fortinet FortiGate. Around 20 staff are required for deployment and maintenance, mostly engineers."
"It is a safe product."
"The security features are about the best that I've seen anywhere."
"The solution is easy to configure and maintain remotely."
"The VPN is the most valuable feature."
"The CLI and GUI do a good job of putting a lot at your fingertips."
"The most valuable feature would be the IP blocking. It gets rid of things that you don't need in your environment."
"The most valuable feature is that the encryption is solid."
"It's easy to integrate ASA with other Cisco security products. When you understand the technology, it's not a big deal. It's very simple."
"I found that setting up rules for HTTPS and SSH access to the management interface are straightforward, including setting the cypher type."
"The fact that we can use Firepower Management Center gives us visibility. It allows us to see and manage the traffic that is going through the network."
"We have been using a 5520 for seven years in our datacenter and we are satisfied by this version."
"The most valuable features are the provision of internet access, AnyConnect, and VPN capabilities."
"I like the firewall features, Snort, and the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)."
"You have better control because you define apps. You just don't define ports. You define apps, and the apps are monitored in the traffic. It is more specific than the Cisco firewall when it comes to our needs."
"Intuitive threat prevention and analysis solution, with a machine learning feature. Scalable, stable, and protects against zero-day threats."
"Whole team can use the firewall and understand it."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is how it keeps up-to-date with viruses."
"Their technical support is outstanding and top-notch."
"Detailed reporting on analysis of content. The inspections are easily applied to security policy profiles and profile groups, and may be assigned on a per-rule basis."
"The analysis is very fast."
"It is the best device in comparison to other network products in the marketplace."
"Some of the features in the graphical user interface do not work, which requires that we used the command-line-interface."
"The web-cache feature which was previously on the FortiGate device, but was deleted with the recent upgrade should be returned. It was a very valuable feature for us."
"I would like to see a more intuitive dashboard."
"Maybe they could make some features more accessible, such as a way to translate directions between two networks that share the same subnets."
"In the balance between links feature normally you can just choose one option to balance. It would be better for the solution to have more than one option, preferably three."
"Fortinet FortiGate is not very easy to use. The navigation could be improved to make it easier to use."
"I would like to see more advanced developments of a wireless controller in the future."
"Backup can be improved."
"Critical bugs need to be addressed before releasing the version."
"The Cisco ASA device needs overall improvement, as configurations alone do not completely secure my network."
"I would like it if they made the newer generation a bit simpler. You can do ASA code and FXOS. It is just a bit confusing with the newer generational equipment on what it can do."
"There is room for improvement in the stability or software quality of the product. There were a few things in the past where we had a little bit of a problem with the product, so there is room for improvement."
"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."
"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."
"The price and SD-WAN capabilities are the areas that need improvement."
"It is slowly not supported and other vendors are a few years ahead of Cisco in development."
"In the future, Palo Alto could reduce the time it takes to process the file."
"The deployment model could be better."
"The configuration should be made a little bit easier. I understand why it is as it is, but there should be a way to make it easier from the user side."
"I don't think it needs to improve anything, except maybe the speed to deploy the changes."
"The cyber security visibility and forensics features to receive more information about incidents could improve in Palo Alto Networks WildFire."
"The GUI is better in 8.0, but I still feel it lacks the fast response most of us desire. Logs are much quicker."
"The price could be better."
"They should make their user interface a little more user-friendly."
Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 404 reviews while Palo Alto Networks WildFire is ranked 3rd in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) with 58 reviews. Cisco Secure Firewall is rated 8.2, while Palo Alto Networks WildFire 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 Palo Alto Networks WildFire writes "Good technical support and provides automatic analysis that saves us time in filtering email". Cisco Secure Firewall is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and Juniper SRX Series Firewall, whereas Palo Alto Networks WildFire is most compared with Proofpoint Email Protection, Juniper SRX Series Firewall, Fortinet FortiSandbox, Check Point SandBlast Network and Zscaler Internet Access.
We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.