We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall and SonicWall NSa 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."The most valuable feature is the ease of configuration."
"It is a good source for firewall protection."
"The main reason why I purchased the particular unit was that it had good reviews and what other people were saying as far as its completeness and its leading capabilities in terms of endpoint security was very good."
"The SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."
"We are using the FortiGate 100D series. VPN, firewall, anti-malware, OTM, and intrusion prevention are useful features."
"Mainly the FortiGate reporting system is very good. It guides us through all the expectations of security. Fortinet provides us all that we need for security. Also, Fortinet FortiGate is a next-generation firewall. It is much more advanced than others."
"Provides good firewall security and has great VPN features."
"There is an easy process for configuring it, and it is straightforward to implement the device from scratch."
"The most valuable feature is stability."
"The return on investment is not going to be restricted to just the box... Now, these genres have been expanded to cyber, to third-party integrations, having integrated logging, having integrated micro and macro segmentations. The scope has been widened, so the ROI, eventually, has multiplied."
"If you have a solution that is creating a script and you need to deploy many implementations, you can create a script in the device and it will be the same for all. After that, you just have to do the fine tuning."
"I work with Cisco and other partners, but the Cisco team is the best team in our country. When I call them, they always help us."
"Once configured to suit your needs, these firewalls are rock solid appliances."
"The most beneficial aspect of the Cisco Secure Firewall is the AnyConnect component within the firewall package, which we selected specifically for VPN usage due to its exceptional integration with various third-party devices and applications."
"The integration and configuration were pretty straightforward."
"The benefits we see from the ASA are connected to teleworking as well as, of course, having the basic functionality of a firewall in place and the prevention of attacks."
"User-friendly with good security and application control."
"The most valuable features are the VPN, SSL VPN, and IPSec VPN."
"It's very flexible and meets our customer's needs."
"SonicWall has all the usual functions, like LAN configurations, security features, word filters, etc., but it also has the CFS agent, which isn't available in any other firewall. Reporting port support is also there."
"The firewall feature is most valuable since my work is to analyze if there is any potential attack. SonicWall NSa gives the perfect analysis."
"We can do the hosting and security all under one box. The UTM is a good feature."
"Compared to Cisco, SonicWall NSa is much easier to configure."
"I like the solution's configuration, interfaces, and user guides."
"The logging details need to be improved."
"The non-error conserve mode has room for improvement."
"Technical support for this solution can be improved."
"Fortinet doesn't provide multiple virtual firewalls which would facilitate end users and customers."
"Some of the filtering is not robust, you can escape it with a VPN. Some of the users bypass some of the filters. It catches some but it also misses some, that area could be improved. It's functioning reasonably but there's room for improvement in that area."
"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."
"Its reporting and pricing need improvement."
"It does not have key authentication for admin access."
"Cisco is not cheap, however, it is worth investing in these technologies."
"I would like for them to develop better integration with other security platforms."
"Cisco wasn't first-to-market with NGFWs... they should look at what other vendors are doing and try not only to be on the same wavelength but a little bit better."
"The ASA needs to incorporate the different modules you have to integrate to achieve UTM functions, especially for small businesses."
"It could also use a reporting dashboard."
"VPNs are weak as this product still does not support route-based VPNs."
"Integration aspects and traffic shaping need improvement."
"The security features in the URL category need more improvement."
"I would like to see better integration."
"It would help us a lot of SonicWall sent us more information about the latest updates and things that are changing."
"It's very hard to manage this box. You really need a lot of skills to operate the SonicWall. There is training and the like, but it's just hard to manage. Even if you have the knowledge, there are too many options. The menus are not very clear, where you should find the information."
"The cost could be lower. There could also be more flexibility for smaller companies."
"Competitors provide SSL encryption licenses for free, whereas SonicWall only provides two licenses by default, but you have to pay for the rest of the licenses."
"The anti-spam requires a specific Java version on the server side (do not update it, otherwise it will break)."
"The problem primarily with SonicWall is it's a Unix box. And it's all software, all the activities, blocking, censoring, everything has to happen in the software. If you start hitting the box with a lot of sessions it slows down and that's not what I expect from a firewall."
"We still get phishing emails that manage to come through from time to time."
Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 404 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 20th in Firewalls with 76 reviews. Cisco Secure Firewall is rated 8.2, while SonicWall NSa is rated 7.8. 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 SonicWall NSa writes "Great performance and security with reasonable pricing". Cisco Secure Firewall is most compared with Palo Alto Networks WildFire, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, Sophos XG and Cisco ISE (Identity Services Engine), whereas SonicWall NSa is most compared with SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Cisco Secure Firewall vs. SonicWall NSa report.
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