Cisco Defense Orchestrator vs Fortinet FortiGate Cloud comparison

Cisco Defense Orchestrator vs. Fortinet FortiGate Cloud

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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

Cisco Defense Orchestrator

Ranking in Firewall Security Management

14th

Average Rating

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud

Ranking in Firewall Security Management

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Defense Orchestrator is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is 5.3%, up from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewall Security Management

Featured Reviews

Vivek Balaji

Technical Director - Cyber Security at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees

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…

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IgnitiusMolepo

Senior IP Network Defense at MTN

The hub-and-spoke setup is useful because I can manage security from where I am, while the IT engineers in branch offices can handle it on their end.

When we're upgrading, it's sometimes quite challenging, especially firmware. We usually don't upgrade unless we have a bug, and we still feel it's not safe to react instead of being proactive. We often have some delays when updating FortiGuard, too. Nevertheless, I believe that it's okay most of the time with proper management. We also run into some problems using FortiGate as a UTM solution. I feel like maybe they're not giving me a full view of the other components that they have in that box. Their box has some DDoS defense, but I need complete DDoS protection. I must not have light DDoS protection on other UTM boxes because if I'm uncertain about the security posture, it will compromise me. We like having everything in one box because running multiple boxes eats up more resources on the computing level. We need a total solution, not half-half.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The bulk changes feature is definitely the most valuable."

"The most valuable feature is the automation, as it reduces user intervention and allows us to focus on other tasks."

"Cisco Defense Orchestrator has useful guides for the steps that need to follow by users."

"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."

"If our server is blocked, this solution shows us why it is blocked and allows us to update the network routing."

"When we're looking to the policies, it identifies the shadow rules. It notifies us about anything that will supersede other rules."

"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."

"With Cisco Defense Orchestrator, we can manage the complete Cisco Security solution. It provides a simple and centralized way to manage all products."

More Cisco Defense Orchestrator pros

"The hardware is reliable, and their support is excellent."

"The most valuable feature is the inspection. It inspects before we have any traffic stops intrusion."

"Fortinet FortiGate Cloud has security features like DDoS protection and UTM."

"The IPS and firewall function is valuable in Fortinet FortiGate Cloud."

"I find it particularly helpful for certificate inspection and setting up anti-DDoS, intrusion prevention, antivirus, and file inspection policies."

"The solution's most valuable feature is log reporting. It has a wide range of products for small, medium, and enterprise customers. The tool is very user-friendly and straightforward, which sets them apart from other vendors. It also has good integration with other solutions."

"I have found centralized administration, cloud UI, and visibility and security on all networks valuable features."

"The sandboxing feature is very important."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cloud pros

Cons

"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."

"It would be a better product if it incorporated device control for third-party products easily."

"Cisco Defense Orchestrator should be made more user-friendly overall."

"If I make a change locally to the firewall, CDO gives an alarm or an error message and says there's a change in compliance: "The firewall has this configuration but the last time it was compiled it had that configuration." That view of new changes versus the old could be better... I had to log in manually, locally on the firewall, to check which version, which configuration was actually running. I couldn't see it in CDO."

"When logging into the device, we sort of had problems with it staying in sync. If somebody made a change onsite, it wouldn't do an automatic sync. It would have to wait, as you would have to do a manual sync up."

"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."

"There could be some slight improvements to navigation. In some of the navigation you've got to go back to be able to get into where you need to be once you've made a change. If I make a change, I've then got to go back to submit and send the change."

"It should have more features to manage FirePOWER appliances."

More Cisco Defense Orchestrator cons

"They're constantly doing maintenance and there are unexpected downtimes for the cloud interface."

"In Fortinet FortiGate Cloud, I am yet to see interoperability with other cloud options like OCI."

"There is room for improvement in the analytics reports. Other products in the market offer superior analytics, like a next-generation antivirus, CounterStrike, which provides excellent analytics reports."

"Fortinet could improve FortiGate Cloud by providing better integration with third-party applications and features."

"Fortinet could enhance their customer service by offering more direct remote sessions to resolve issues, as relying solely on documentation can be time-consuming."

"Fortinet FortiGate Cloud's customization is very limited."

"Fortinet should simplify the licensing model. It's too complex for decision-makers to choose from the range of options. Handling the pricing model is a nightmare, so it's difficult to sell the solution."

"GUI access could be improved. It should be simpler to access everything from the portal. Once we log in to the portal, we should be able to access all the Fortinet Cloud options."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"If you compare to what is available on the market, they are in the same range with respect to pricing."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is affordable. However, lowering the price would be good for the end-users. The cost of the solution was approximately $800 per year. There are some additional features you can add in addition to the regular features."

"FortiGate Cloud was the most affordable option I knew of, but their new pricing is less of a bargain as it has fewer levels."

"The price of the solution is high compare to competitors."

"The solution is neither cheap nor expensive."

"We pay around $19,000 a year and do not pay for extra technical support."

"Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is moderately priced. I rate Fortinet FortiGate Cloud a five out of ten for pricing."

"It is expensive."

"We need to pay a yearly licensing fee for Fortinet FortiGate Cloud."

More Fortinet FortiGate Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

51%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Legal Firm

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 ...

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiGate Cloud?

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud has valuable firewall, SSL VPN, and web filtering features.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiGate Cloud?

The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate is very competitive when compared to other industry-leading products such as Palo Alto and Cisco devices.

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiGate Cloud?

There are some areas that need improvement regarding customer support. Fortinet could enhance their customer service by offering more direct remote sessions to resolve issues, as relying solely on ...

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Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Panorama vs Fortinet FortiGate Cloud

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Product Reports

Cisco Defense Orchestrator

Download Cisco Defense Orchestrator product report

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud

Download Fortinet FortiGate Cloud product report

Also Known As

CDO

FortiCloud, FortiGate Cloud

Interactive Demo

Cisco

Demo not available

Fortinet

Overview

Cisco Defense Orchestrator (CDO) is a cloud-based management solution designed to ensure streamlined and consistent security policies across the Cisco security portfolio. Specifically tailored to manage all Cisco Secure Firewall form factors (running either ASA or Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) software), CDO offers real-time visibility and troubleshooting capabilities, effectively enhancing overall network security.

CDO addresses the challenges of migration, supporting transitions from on-premises to cloud environments and facilitating the shift from ASA to FTD configurations. As organizations embark on their cloud adoption journey, CDO simplifies provisioning workflows for remote branches, reduces operational expenditures related to inventory management, and offers scalability for multi-cloud deployments.

Cisco

FortiCloud can help with your wireless and security challenges in a number of ways. Our solution addresses common IT difficulties including time-consuming provisioning, high investment costs, complex management, vulnerability to advanced threats, and the need to easily scale with growth.

Fortinet

Sample Customers

Insurance Company of British Columbia, Shawmut

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Cisco Defense Orchestrator vs. Fortinet FortiGate Cloud