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."A strong point of FortiGate is the graphical interface is complete and easy to use."
"The signature database and zero-day detection are Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features."
"It's super reliable. I don't think I've ever had a reliability issue with it."
"We use a lot of function on the IPS and it works well for us."
"The most important features of Fortinet FortiGate are the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and firewall control applications."
"FortiGate is flexible and easy to use."
"The inspection and web security features are most valuable."
"FortiGate has a strong security topic which allows all of the Fortinet devices to communicate and share information which makes their security more powerful."
"IPSec Tunnel and AnyConnect (of course), the context awareness was a good feature, but clumsy at the beginning. I think it's better now."
"The Firepower IPS, based on Snort technology, has an amazing detection engine and historical analysis capability of files that eases threat investigations a lot."
"The solution's dashboard is fine, and in terms of support, Cisco is better than other OEMs in the market."
"It helped us a lot with our VPNs for the home office during COVID. There has been more security and flexibility for VPNs and other applications."
"If only a Layer 4 FW is needed, this is a good solution."
"The most valuable features for my client are the ASDM and monitoring."
"For companies prioritizing security, the optimal choice is one that offers a range of feeds to cater to diverse needs. This is particularly crucial for organizations implementing DDoS mitigation. The preferred solutions typically align with the top server vendors, with Cisco, Forti, and Barracuda consistently ranking among the top three vendors we collaborate with."
"It is much better than most of the other firewalls that I have worked with."
"SonicWall NSa has a user-friendly firmware"
"Overall SonicWall NSa is a good solution for our use case."
"The most valuable feature is the sandbox."
"We can do the hosting and security all under one box. The UTM is a good feature."
"The features that I have found most valuable are the firewalling, which is very good and the GUI which is very intuitive. It is easy to use, and provides great security."
"This product is user-friendly and easy to configure."
"The functionality is the same whether it is on hardware or a virtual appliance. The interface is the same. It's nice that it's standardized."
"Easy to setup and implement"
"The price of FortiGate should be reduced because there are some other leading products that are cheaper."
"Security is a continuous process. In every product, there is a requirement for improvement. Its pricing should also be improved according to Indian market requirements. They must also improve on the reporting part. Its reporting can be more precise. If we can get a real-time report in a specific format, it will be helpful for customers to know about the current status of their security."
"The inability to scale the FortiAnalyzer to match our growth necessitates the purchase of new hardware."
"The logs need to be better. They need to be more visible and easier to access."
"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."
"We would like to see better pricing."
"I use the FortiGate 60D model and realized the 300Mbps bandwidth limitation. Because it is a product that offers many services, I think it could have greater bandwidth capacity."
"It should come integrated or have its own type of network monitor tool in a module. There should just be one package, and you are good to go."
"10Gb interfaces should be available on more models."
"The solution needs to have better logging features."
"Managing various product integrations, such as Umbrella, is challenging."
"I would like it to have faster deployment times. A typical deployment could take two to three minutes. Sometimes, it depends on the situation. It is better than it was in the past, but it could always use improvement."
"Most of the features don't work well, and some features are missing as well."
"There is no support here in Georgia. If something goes wrong, support is not always very helpful with the other firewalls or other products."
"This product is managed using the Firepower Management Center (FMC), but it would be better if it also supported the command-line interface (CLI)."
"One of the problems that we have had is the solution requires Java to work. This has caused some problems with the application visibility and control. When the Java works, it is good, but Java wasn't a good choice. I don't like the Java implementation. It can be difficult to work with sometimes."
"The features I would like to see improve are the dashboard and the UI."
"The content filter needs to be improved."
"Customer support is severely lacking with very slow response times."
"When it comes to security I think all of the features are currently open to improvement."
"The dynamics needs to be improved. The solution is not very compatible compared to the market products."
"This product is unable to secure access to endpoints for our external employees."
"The solution can be a bit expensive."
"Having to deal with too many lower-level people in technical support means that it takes longer to resolve issues, so escalating support tickets should be faster."
Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 404 reviews while SonicWall NSa is ranked 20th in Firewalls with 77 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 Huawei NGFW, 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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