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AWS Firewall Manager vs Cisco Defense Orchestrator comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AWS Firewall Manager
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
9th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Defense Orchestrator
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of AWS Firewall Manager is 4.4%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Defense Orchestrator is 1.0%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewall Security Management
 

Featured Reviews

Trivikram Rajendreaprabhu - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides detailed analytics and valuable auto-scaling functionality
Our primary use case involves managing cloud infrastructure and automating deployment processes. The environment comprises a hybrid cloud setup integrating both on-premises and cloud-based resources The solution has notably increased our operational efficiency and reduced the need for manual…
Vivek Balaji - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful guides, excellent support, integration could improve
Cisco Defense Orchestrator has useful guides for the steps that need to follow by users Cisco Defense Orchestrator can improve by providing more support for third-party security components. I have been using Cisco Defense Orchestrator for approximately eight months. The Cisco Defense…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Also, the strength of the community is invaluable."
"The most valuable feature is scaling, which allows you to deploy one configuration and scan and deploy it across the network. The automated policy application feature also streamlines security operations."
"The interface is intuitive and it is easy for the users."
"The most valuable feature is the centrally managed rule. I also like the central orchestration."
"It has centralized cloud firewall management rules. It provides compliance in tracking and reporting."
"The product is highly reliable."
"Once this solution is set up, we hardly have to touch it."
"AWS Firewall Manager isn't a separate solution when you create the virtual private cloud (VPC), so you can control the traffic through that security group."
"We have quite a few Active Stone by pairs. If they fail over... I'll see that there's a change on it and I'll have a look. The only change on it is that now this one is the standby, it took over the active role. I can go into that firewall and find out what happened... and troubleshoot based on that. That's pretty cool too."
"I like the upgrade feature. That is pretty valuable to me because I have dual ASAs and when I go through CDO it does it for me pretty well. It's all done in the back-end and I don't really have to be involved. I just initiate, pick the image, and I pick when I want it done and it just does it, whether I have a single ASA or have a dual ASA."
"The most valuable feature is the Intrusion prevention."
"The ability to see the uptimes on the different VPNs that we have configured for site-to-site."
"Cisco Defense Orchestrator has useful guides for the steps that need to follow by users."
"The initial setup was straightforward. We spun up the VM onsite. We generated the key that it needed to talk to the Cloud Orchestrator. After that, as I started adding devices, it was relatively quick and easy."
"The most valuable feature is that you can push one policy or one rule out to several devices at a time."
"The bulk changes feature is definitely the most valuable."
 

Cons

"I would like to see AWS add some UTM features to the firewall. It would also be great if AWS Firewall had native IPS/IDS. They have the separate IPS/IDS, GuardDuty."
"This solution is suitable for a small-scale enterprise and may not scale up to a very high volume of traffic or a large number of servers."
"AWS Firewall Manager should be open to manage other third-party appliances as well."
"Enabling and configuring the logging is not that straightforward."
"The system should be more customizable."
"It needs to be more employee-friendly, and the security management could be more efficient."
"They could consider organizing and enhancing documentation in a more structured and chronological manner"
"The product could benefit from improvements in the user interface and integration capabilities."
"It would be a better product if it incorporated device control for third-party products easily."
"I've found dozens of bugs over the year we've been using it. The more I use it for different things, the more problems I find... Most of the problems have to do with the user interface. A lot of thought and work has gone into the back-end component to make the product do what it's intended to do, but the way it is presented for use hasn't gotten nearly as much thought to make it smart and bug-free."
"CDO doesn't have a report, an official report that I can check daily. It has another module called FTD, but it doesn't have that specifically for ASA. In the reporting, there are a lot of things that aren't there. There is also room for improvement in the daily monitoring."
"I'd like CDO to be the one-stop-shop where we could do all the configurations easily. It would be nice, for ASA upgrades, if we could do them from a central repository and not have to reach out to Cisco. That would be a definite plus."
"They need to work on the user interface. It needs to be improved to make it more user-friendly."
"Cisco Defense Orchestrator should be made more user-friendly overall. Currently, to use it effectively, one must be specific with the rule set that needs to be set up."
"Cisco Defense Orchestrator should be made more user-friendly overall."
"It should have more features to manage FirePOWER appliances."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"From what I've heard from my colleagues, it appears that the pricing is competitive, which influenced our decision to choose this option."
"It is a cost-efficient product."
"The AWS Firewall Manager is a little on the costly side."
"The licensing is on a pay-as-you-go basis and we are billed monthly."
"I work with a lot of clients, and the price or value of the Cisco Defense Orchestrator can vary from one client to another. If you have a lot of Cisco solutions, the price of the Cisco Defense Orchestrator is justified. Whereas if you have some security components from other vendors, such as Check Point or Palo Alto. This solution would be a pretty expensive proposition considering that they don't integrate with them well."
"After our free trial was done we got a subscription for three years and it was under $3,000 or so. It's part of the EA we already paid for, so I don't know what it would be if it was a la carte."
"It is about a $100 per year for an ASA 5506 firewall, and from there it keeps going up if you have a bigger box. For example, the 5516 is $200 to $300 per year."
"It is covered under the CIsco Enterprise License Agreement (ELA). So, it is licensed and ours."
"It's around £500 per unit for a three-year license."
"If you compare to what is available on the market, they are in the same range with respect to pricing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Hospitality Company
6%
Computer Software Company
52%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Legal Firm
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AWS Firewall Manager?
It has centralized cloud firewall management rules. It provides compliance in tracking and reporting.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Firewall Manager?
On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the pricing for AWS Firewall Manager as seven, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with AWS Firewall Manager?
AWS Firewall Manager should be open to manage other third-party appliances as well.
What needs improvement with Cisco Defense Orchestrator?
Cisco Defense Orchestrator should be made more user-friendly overall. Currently, to use it effectively, one must be specific with the rule set that needs to be set up. Additionally, I suggest impro...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Defense Orchestrator?
Our primary use case for Cisco Defense Orchestrator is the automation of playbooks. We primarily use it for this purpose to streamline processes.
What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Defense Orchestrator?
Those who want to use Cisco Defense Orchestrator should build their own use case and see if it fits their environment. The most significant benefit for us is the response time because it automates ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
CDO
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Insurance Company of British Columbia, Shawmut
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Firewall Manager vs. Cisco Defense Orchestrator and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.