We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall and Fortinet Fortigate based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, Fortinet Fortigate comes out on top. Its ease of deployment combined with its solid set of features and excellent service and support ratings make it a more desirable solution than Cisco Secure Firewall.
"This solution is easy to use if you know how to set it up."
"The most valuable feature would be the IP blocking. It gets rid of things that you don't need in your environment."
"We found the initial setup to be easy."
"Logging is great. It will show when it reaches its capacity before it is too late, unless you have bursts of traffic."
"The Firepower+ISE+AMP for endpoint integration is something that really stands it out with other vendor solutions. They have something called pxGrid and i think it is already endorsed by IETF. This allows all devices on the network to communicate."
"I love the ASDM (Adaptive Security Device Manager) which is the management suite. It's a GUI and you're able to see everything at a glance without using the command line. There are those who love the CLI, but with ASDM it is easier to see where everything is going and where the problems are."
"Its ability to discover attacks is a valuable feature. All of the other features that have to do with security are good."
"The features I've found most valuable are the packet captures and packet traces because they help me debug connections. I like the logs because they help me see what's going on."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is security. They are known for efficiency and are on the top of Gartner Quadrant reviews. Fortinet FortiGate has an easy-to-use platform with a good graphical interface. The configuration is simple and the solution provides an overall good layer of security."
"The solution is easy to configure and maintain remotely."
"The pipe filter application is an outstanding feature."
"The email protection and VPN features are the most valuable."
"The SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."
"What's most important is the ease of use."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex."
"The process of procuring modern-day technology within the DOD needs to improve."
"The software was very buggy, to the point it had to be removed."
"Some of the features, like the stability, need to be improved."
"We have seen some bugs come up with Cisco Secure Firewall in terms of high availability. The solution should be improved to avoid these bugs."
"Setting it up is not as intuitive as other more modern NGFWs."
"Sometimes, it is not easy to troubleshoot. You need to know where to go. It took me quite awhile. It's like, "Okay, if it doesn't go smoothly here, then go find the documentation." Once you do it, it is not so bad. However, it is sometimes a steep learning curve on the troubleshooting part of it."
"I see room for improvement when it comes to integrating all the devices into a central management system. Cisco doesn't provide this, but there are some good products in the market that can provide it."
"I have a lot of difficulties with the solution's Firewall Management Center (FMC) and the GUI. Neither is responsive enough and should be improved."
"It claims it does DLP, but the degree and level of controls are very basic."
"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."
"There are some cloud-based features that could be much more flexible than they currently are."
"The support from Fortinet FortiGate could improve. They are not easily accessible when we need them. They could improve their response time."
"The solution's framework needs to be frequently updated in order to have a stable solution."
"Fortinet FortiGate should improve the VPN tokens."
"MTBF: Hardware failure is more common when compared to SonicWall or Cisco ASA."
"The performance and speed are aspects of the solution that could always be improved upon."
Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 112 reviews while Fortinet FortiGate is ranked 2nd in Firewalls with 67 reviews. Cisco Secure Firewall is rated 8.2, while Fortinet FortiGate is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco Secure Firewall writes "Includes multiple tools that help manage and troubleshoot, but needs SD-WAN for load balancing". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate writes "Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable". Cisco Secure Firewall is most compared with Palo Alto Networks WildFire, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, Sophos XG and Juniper SRX Series Firewall, whereas Fortinet FortiGate is most compared with Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, Check Point NGFW and WatchGuard Firebox. See our Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Fortinet FortiGate report.
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