Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate vs Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall is 6.2%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 22.6%, up from 18.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls is 2.1%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
Unique Categories:
Cisco Security Portfolio
8.2%
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
19.7%
WAN Edge
21.4%
No other categories found
 

Featured Reviews

Josh Schmookler - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 15, 2023
Provides excellent visibility, helps to respond to threats faster, and their support is also fantastic
The policies module in FMC specifically isn't the most user-friendly. Coming from Cisco ASA, Cisco ASA is a little bit easier to use. When you get into particularly complex deployments where you have a lot of different interfaces and all that kind of stuff, it's a little bit tricky. Some usability improvements there would be nice. For scalability, they could support a little bit more diverse deployments around clustering and high availability. Currently, it's very active standby, and being able to do a three firewall cluster or four or five firewall cluster would suit some of my deployments a little bit better. It would also help to keep the cost down for the customer because you're buying smaller devices and clustering them versus larger devices.
PP
May 24, 2023
Provides solid protection against viruses, malware, and other threats
We use FortiGate for our firewall. We have a typical business environment that includes end-user workstations, an ERP, web hosting solutions, etc. It's around 600 endpoints.  FortiGate improved our security. It's one of the best hardware firewalls. We're secured against various outside threats.…
AA
May 17, 2023
The solution provides a unified platform, enhances security, and is stable
We use Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls as a gateway for our data center and server files because they are a reliable and robust device, and the best in the security field. We also use their threat intelligence and threat protection services, which are like brass fittings Palo Alto enables…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I have not contacted technical support. There is a lot of information on the internet for troubleshooting. All you need to do is use a search engine and you will find the information you are looking for easily."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of the Firepower solution is FireSIGHT, which can be easily managed and is user-friendly."
"We have been using a 5520 for seven years in our datacenter and we are satisfied by this version."
"Its in-depth monitoring and analysis help us to make better decisions and policies."
"If configured, Firepower provides us with application visibility and control."
"The most valuable feature for the customers is that they can control what communication is allowed and what is not allowed. That is, they can allow or deny client traffic."
"We moved from a legacy firewall to the ASA with FirePOWER, increasing our Internet Edge defense dramatically."
"FortiGate SD-WAN facilitated a smooth transition for our customers between their two internet service providers, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity without any downtime."
"It is easy to use and performs very well."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is URL filtering."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"With FortiClient, you can easily connect when you are home, check out what you want to do, and connect to your network when you are not at work. You can switch on servers and you can check what is wrong."
"Fortinet FortiGate is scalable for our users. Right now, we have almost 70 users. We do not have any plan to increase our usage of FortiGate. For maintaining the firewall solution, one staff member is enough."
"The interface is very user-friendly and I like it very much."
"FortiGate firewalls are easy to manage through a user-friendly web interface. They also have advanced features like DDoS and DLP. However, I wouldn't recommend enabling all of these features on one device because it can cause performance issues."
"I like the navigation of the general Panorama solution. I can easily navigate around and get to the thing I need. I'm not wasting time trying to find something."
"It's quite nice. It's very user-friendly, powerful, and there are barely any bugs."
"The Unified Threat Management (UTM) module, which consists of the basic firewall and IPS services, is what the majority of our customers use in Palo Alto Firewall."
"Palo Alto NGFW’s unified platform has helped our customers eliminate security holes. With a unified platform, customers can deploy the NG Firewall both in the data center edge, inside the data center, and in the product/public cloud environments. They have the same user interfaces and platform, so they can be maintained by a single unified platform called Panorama. Customers can use Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls in all the places where they need to protect their environments. This helps to decrease security holes."
"Comments have some delay, but overall, it's a good product."
"Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have a very nice interface for logging and monitoring. I find it easy to navigate and use, and the interface is organized as well. I can find answers within a couple of hours and have seen time savings."
"The most valuable feature is the security provided by the ATP."
"It's a next-generation firewall and it's pretty stable. You don't have to worry about if you restart it for some maintenance. It will just come back."
 

Cons

"I don't have any specific improvements to recommend. However, when you compare the throughput of a Cisco firewall to the competitors, especially Fortinet, what you find is that Cisco has lagged a little bit behind in terms of firewall throughput, especially for the price that you pay for that throughput."
"There is room for improvement in the stability or software quality of the product. There were a few things in the past where we had a little bit of a problem with the product, so there is room for improvement."
"The maturity needs to be better."
"I think that the solution can be improved with the integration of application-centric infrastructure. It could be used to have better solutions in one box."
"In the next release, I would like to see the VPN and UTM features included."
"Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall can be more secure."
"I wish the Cisco interface was not so granular. Check Point was easier to create specific rules than with ASAv."
"I'm not a big fan of the FDM (Firepower Device Manager) that comes with Firepower. I found out that you need to use the Firepower Management Center, the FMC, to manage the firewalls a lot better. You can get a lot more granular with the configuration in the FMC, versus the FDM that comes out-of-the-box with it. FDM is like Firepower for dummies."
"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."
"The security of Fortinet FortiGate could improve."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having better visibility. Palo Alto has better visibility."
"The solution lacks multi-language support."
"They should improve high CPU and memory usage that occurs."
"Compared to some other products, the DLP is not at par for the moment."
"It does not have key authentication for admin access."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve the user interface. There should be more functionality and options through the GUI."
"Its scalability for on-prem deployments can be better. For an on-prem deployment, the hardware has to be replaced if the volume goes up to a certain level."
"I'm thinking about a new feature. They have decryption. It's a good idea to use decryption on Palo Alto. It would be good if they had offloading of the traffic, and if they could decrypt the traffic and offload it. Like, for example, ASM on our site. We have an SSL decryption to offload the traffic. We could use that on Palo Alto."
"The support could be improved."
"The performance of the Panorama interface needs to be improved. It tends to be very sluggish at times."
"We would like to see the external dynamic list for this solution improved. The current version does not automatically block malicious IP addresses, which would be very useful."
"Could also use better customer support."
"Once in a while, they have new features being released that can be buggy. My criticism is more general to all sorts of network or security devices. In general, everybody is releasing less-tested software. Then, it usually ends up that the first few customers who get a new release need to end up troubleshooting it."
"Palo Alto could do better with integrating the Palo Alto Next-Gen Firewall with SD-WAN. The biggest issue with Palo Alto is that they are expensive. They are very expensive for what they offer. They should improve their pricing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Always plan ahead for three years. In other words, do not buy a firewall on what your needs are today, but try to predict where you will be three years from now in terms of bandwidth, security requirements, and changes in organizational design."
"It was initially heavy on my pocket, but it soon actualised its worth."
"I like its licensing because you buy the license once, and it is yours. We don't have to go for a subscription. So, I liked how they licensed Cisco ASA. Our clients are also very satisfied with its licensing model."
"It is a great solution for medium or big enterprises, not so much for small businesses, mainly due to the financial costs."
"It would be nice if pricing could do more to reflect the economy of the country where the product is being implemented."
"The pricing is too high and the licensing is too confusing."
"The price for Firepower is more expensive than FortiGate. The licensing is very complex. We usually ask for help from Solutel because of its complexity. I have a Cisco account where I can download the VPN client, then connect. Instead, I create an issue with Solutel, then Solutel solves the case."
"The price of Firepower is not bad compared to other products."
"The product pricing is reasonable."
"The price is high compared to some of the other solutions."
"Compared to Palo Alto, which we have used in the past, pricing and licensing are okay."
"It is quite affordable for our customers. There is a separate cost for IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and other features. They have a great choice of licenses. You can go for the license that you want, which is quite useful."
"I think that the pricing is fair."
"Their licensing costs are annual. The UTM feature license along with their support is called FortiCare. We include that as a part of the annual maintenance cost. Palo Alto or Juniper also have an annual subscription charge for UTM. Price, of course, can always be more competitive, but it is not the most expensive product. The price-performance ratio is quite high for FortiGate."
"It's very affordable."
"The price of FortiGate is good."
"The tool is expensive, especially considering all the necessary licenses for centrally managing firewalls. For medium-sized companies like ours, it's often not feasible within our budget constraints. We pay around €200k yearly for all our firewalls. Additionally, we received a quote of over €1 million per year for Prisma Access. There is a significant cost difference compared to other options, where it's around €200k per year."
"Licensing is a big issue for us because of the complexity and the lack of engagement from Palo Alto. It has been hard to talk with them as we don't get the best answers."
"The price of this product should be reduced."
"Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls are very expensive compared to other firewalls such as Fortinet. As a result, Palo Alto is losing some of its market share."
"Definitely look into a multi-year license, as opposed to a single-year. That will definitely be more beneficial in terms of cost... Palo Alto is definitely not the cheapest, but if you scale it the right way it will be very comparable to what's out there."
"The price of the solution is on the higher side compared to competitors."
"It's an expensive product."
"I would assume that it's still within mid-range given its company structure and everything else. My guess is it's still okay."
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Comparison Review

it_user216600 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 3, 2016
Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate
I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
24%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Educational Organization
21%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...
Which is better - Fortinet FortiGate or Cisco ASA Firewall?
One of our favorite things about Fortinet Fortigate is that you can deploy on the cloud or on premises. Fortinet Fort...
How does Cisco's ASA firewall compare with the Firepower NGFW?
It is easy to integrate Cisco ASA with other Cisco products and also other NAC solutions. When you understand the Cis...
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL I...
What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firew...
Features comparison between Palo Alto and Fortinet firewalls
In the best tradition of these questions, Feature-wise both are quite similar, but each has things it's better at, it...
Which is better - Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls or Sophos XG?
Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls have both great features and performance. I like that Palo Alto has regular threat si...
 

Also Known As

Cisco ASA Firewall, Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Firewall, Cisco ASA NGFW, Cisco ASA, Adaptive Security Appliance, ASA, Cisco Sourcefire Firewalls, Cisco ASAv, Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall
FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
Palo Alto NGFW, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewall
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

There are more than one million Adaptive Security Appliances deployed globally. Top customers include First American Financial Corp., Genzyme, Frankfurt Airport, Hansgrohe SE, Rio Olympics, The French Laundry, Rackspace, and City of Tomorrow.
1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
SkiStar AB, Ada County, Global IT Services PSF, Southern Cross Hospitals, Verge Health, University of Portsmouth, Austrian Airlines, The Heinz Endowments
Find out what your peers are saying about Netgate, Fortinet, OPNsense and others in Firewalls. Updated: June 2024.
790,761 professionals have used our research since 2012.