We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security and OPNsense 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 SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."
"One of the nice things about FortiGate is that it can be deployed on the cloud or on-premises. You can actually do both. That's the biggest reason why I stick with this solution as opposed to something like Cisco Meraki. Another nice thing is that I can log directly into a FortiGate or get to it through their FortiCloud access products. They're pretty reliable and consistent. One of the reasons why I started using the product was their single pane of management. I can deploy their line of firewalls in conjunction with their switching and access points, and I can manage the entire network from one interface. I don't have to log into one interface for the firewall, another one for the access points, and another one for the switches. These firewalls have access point controller functionality built right into the system, so I don't even have to purchase additional devices to manage them."
"The ease of setting the solution up is a valuable aspect for us."
"You can purchase switches and you don't need to do anything with them. You just put in the firewall and the switches get all the policies and rules that you already have in the firewall. With Fortinet, you just connect the FortiSwitch to the Fortinet and that's it."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the analytics."
"Layer-3 firewall and routing are the most valuable features."
"The FortiGate controls the user's activities and maximizes my bandwidth use overall."
"All of the features of Fortinet FortiGate are useful and the security protection is good."
"One of the main features is that the hardware is extremely reliable."
"Technical support for this solution is very good."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The Intrusion Firewall is a valuable feature."
"Cisco Technical Assistance Center works on a follow-the-sun concept and gives real 24x7 customer support, which is a great advantage when you have a service contract with them."
"We are able to filter a lot of traffic especially when a lot of the traffic is in layer 7."
"We use the product for firewalls."
"It is less expensive than alternative firewalls."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"The most valuable features of OPNsense are the GUI and frequent updates."
"The interface and the dashboard are the most valuable features of this solution."
"OPNsense is highly stable."
"The system in general is quite flexible."
"The feature I find most valuable, is that the program helped me to realize all the requested functionality that was needed."
"We have been operating here in our lab for several months, and everything appears to be extremely stable."
"The IDS and IPS features are valuable. From the usability perspective, there is a lot of good documentation. As IT professionals, we found it very easy to configure the firewall. It was easy to configure and use."
"It could use more templates for third-party site-to-site VPN setups other than FortiGate and Cisco."
"In the next release, I would like to see the interface simplified to be more user-friendly."
"For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial."
"There are mainly two areas of improvement in Fortinet FortiGate— the licensing cost and the timing of upgrading licenses for boxes."
"The pricing could be a bit better, especially when you consider how they have the most basic offering priced."
"The sniffing packets or packet captures, can be simplified and improved because it's a little confusing."
"The stability of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"To the best of my knowledge, Fortinet does not have a CASB solution and Fortinet does not have a Zero trust solution."
"If they could increase the performance a little better because the device sometimes gets slow."
"I wish it would be more like the next generation firewall technology. There should be more selection between the application and filtering."
"I would love it if it has a link-by-link feature, integration with Unified Threat Management (UTM), and load balancers. They haven't got any link-by-link feature right now, which can be a very attractive option. This link-by-link feature can also be made available for Cisco's UTM firewalls. The link-by-link feature is available in some of the other firewalls. Currently, integration with UTM is missing. Cisco IOS Security also doesn't have the load balancers and a few things that need to be done to get a good UTM firewall. Normally, other firewalls have UTM. As a next-generation firewall, it's good, but as a UTM, it has to do some work."
"With respect to user-friendliness, it is a command-line interface and those with such experience will get along just fine, whereas others may struggle."
"Cisco IOS Security could improve by having more compatibility with other Cisco solutions."
"The graphical user interface or the GUI could be better. Beginners can use some devices with the GUI, but some security devices are configured using CLI. It would also be better if it had its own Intrusion Protection Service and Intrusion Detection Service on the server."
"It would be ideal if the solution had more capacity."
"Most of their features are meant for Cisco. You cannot integrate them with any other vendor."
"There are a few weaknesses. For example, there is a lack of some features that I have in certain commercial products."
"The IPS solution could be more reliable."
"I would like better documentation concerning the provided packages and their integration."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"On the customer-side, because I'm a small business, I need a cheaper or free solution option."
"The only thing that I would like to see improved is the Insight or the NetFlow analysis part. It would be good to have the possibility to dig down on the Insight platform. Right now, we can easily do only a few analyses. If this page becomes more powerful, it surely will be a well-adopted platform."
"The interface of the solution is an area with shortcomings."
"OPNsense could improve by making the configuration more web-based rather than shell or command-line-based."
Cisco IOS Security is ranked 22nd in Firewalls with 47 reviews while OPNsense is ranked 3rd in Firewalls with 36 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while OPNsense is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco IOS Security writes "User-friendly and excels in documentation, making it easier to resolve issues". On the other hand, the top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Meraki MX, Fortinet FortiOS, Netgate pfSense and Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB, whereas OPNsense is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM and IPFire. See our Cisco IOS Security vs. OPNsense report.
See our list of best Firewalls vendors.
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.
