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Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama comparison

Cisco and Palo Alto Networks are both solutions in the Firewall Security Management category. Cisco is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0, while Palo Alto Networks is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.2. Cisco holds a 0.8% mindshare in Firewall Security Management, compared to Palo Alto Networks’s 8.9% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Palo Alto Networks users who would recommend it.
Cisco Secure Firewall Manag...
Read 25 Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center reviews
  • 499 Views
  • 182 Comparison Views
86% willing to recommend
Palo Alto Networks Panorama
Read 88 Palo Alto Networks Panorama reviews
  • 5,133 Views
  • 2,357 Comparison Views
97% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Palo Alto Networks Panorama and Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center compete in centralized firewall management. Users appreciate Panorama for its pricing and support, while Cisco's features make it compelling for those who value robust capabilities and comprehensive functionality.

Features: Palo Alto Networks Panorama is known for centralized management, scalability, and ease of use, with strong automation capabilities and robust reporting features. The automation and credential theft prevention make it notable, as is the ability to seamlessly manage multiple firewalls. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is recognized for all-in-one firewall protection and centralized management critical for large network infrastructures.

Room for Improvement: Panorama users indicate room for improvement in pricing and complexity of managing multiple firewalls. Its documentation and integration with third-party products also need enhancement. Cisco users suggest improvements in user interface simplicity and cost, with some indicating performance issues tied to complex setups.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Panorama supports deployment models including hybrid cloud and on-premises and is praised for its versatile deployment options. Cisco Secure Firewall supports on-premises and private cloud deployments, with robust support noted despite occasional response delays for both.

Pricing and ROI: Palo Alto Networks Panorama is perceived as expensive yet offers strong ROI due to its extensive feature set and efficiency. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center's cost is similar, with charges for additional features but offers flexible licensing for diverse user needs. Both provide potential ROI through increased productivity and centralized management.

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To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Palo Alto Networks Panorama Report (Updated: December 2024).
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Palo Alto Networks Panorama
December 2024
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Categories and Ranking

Cisco Secure Firewall Manag...
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Palo Alto Networks Panorama
Ranking in Firewall Security Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is 0.8%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Palo Alto Networks Panorama is 8.9%, down from 10.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewall Security Management
 

Featured Reviews

Awais Ejaz - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable and reasonably priced product that protects organizations from malware
The product must improve its performance. When we push policies from the console, it takes a lot of time. It takes five to seven minutes to push one policy. If someone pushes a wrong policy and there is an outage in the banking system, they would have to wait six to seven minutes to revert it. We have highlighted this issue to Cisco. A year ago, we told Cisco that we need APIs for integration with SOAR for pushing policies. We cannot push policies or run playbooks from SOAR to block any IOCs on the web and email gateway because Cisco doesn’t expose the APIs. It is one thing for which we have been following up with Cisco for the last year, but I don't think they've developed the API integration. Palo Alto and Fortinet provide this feature to their users.
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ManjitSingh - PeerSpot reviewer
Built-in proxy with the ability to maintain your own policies
Our company uses the solution for monitoring and policies. We monitor data, make rules for firewalls, and allow source IPs to destination IPs with respect to ports and services.  We also use UR filtering to allow or block things. We have a Prisma Access Firewall that we allow or block for remote…
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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 tool helps with internet access protection."
"Scalability is not an issue as long as you are able to buy additional licenses. Ten percent of our customers use Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, and we have large accounts with 50% of their end users behind this firewall."
"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is scalable."
"The solution is easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of the Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is the UTM."
"The most valuable aspects are the antivirus and URL filtering."
"One of the most valuable features of Cisco Secure Firewalls is their seamless integration with other Cisco products."
"The technical support team is responsive and supportive."
More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center pros
"The most valuable feature of Palo Alto Networks Panorama is its ease of use."
"Palo Alto Networks Panorama has a lot of features."
"This is an efficient solution."
"The initial setup isn't very complex, it's user-friendly."
"It is really useful for big deployments."
"It provides a quicker response time to vulnerabilities and more visibility into traffic flows."
"The solution is easy to use."
"Panorama integrates security management by allowing easy modification of policy by account, IP, or application."
More Palo Alto Networks Panorama pros
 

Cons

"The IOS and the deploy option could be improved."
"The solution could improve the number of ports available and load balancing."
"I had a challenging time trying to size the firewall on the cloud. Maybe the information is there, but I couldn't find it easily. Usually, it depends on the cloud provider itself, whether you use AWS or Azure. These guys give you the information, so this part is not as detailed."
"Cisco Firepower has been effective in solving various problems, but it could be improved by making it simpler and more user-friendly like Fortinet."
"Areas for improvement include pricing points and the range of products available at any given time."
"Some duplicated values and security standards are not working in some high-application protocols with Cisco's next-generation firewalls."
"It takes five to seven minutes to push one policy."
"I recommend they work on usability and ensure the solution is more user-friendly."
More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center cons
"Palo Alto Networks Panorama currently lacks the capability of integrating with other software, such as AlgoSec to simplify rule management and schedule management. However, this feature has been requested by the company and it is uncertain if Palo Alto will implement it in the future. Additionally, the UI needs improvement, it is too slow."
"Customer support can improve."
"We had some challenges with the initial setup, but it was more on a learning curve basis."
"The integration between Strata Cloud Manager and Panorama could be enhanced to allow customers to stay on Panorama for many years while still utilizing Strata Cloud Manager for deployment."
"A bottleneck in Palo Alto Networks Panorama is the licensing. The licensing model for the product is complicated. Another area for improvement is the PDF report generation because you'll notice that it's missing some details."
"There were a few bugs a couple of years into it. There was a big bug where it had trouble communicating with the two main boxes."
"It should have more connection with Threat Intelligence Cloud. They can also include features related to SecOps and automation API."
"As the cybersecurity threats have become more aggressive these days, Palo Alto Networks Panorama can still be improved, particularly on the security side, for example, more network management, and penetration test. Improving the security feature for internal endpoints is needed in the solution."
More Palo Alto Networks Panorama cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When you are using a Cisco solution you know it will be expensive. Cisco makes you pay for everything individually. We pay for the licenses that we need."
"I rate Secure Firewall Management Center eight out of 10 for pricing."
"The price of the solution is expensive. We do not have to pay more than the standard licensing fees."
"My license offers all the protection, like malware protection, VPN protection, IDS, IPS, and endpoint protection."
"It could be considered relatively cheaper when compared to some other vendors in the market."
"I use the free version of the product."
"It is rather expensive."
"The platform is costly."
More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center pricing and cost advice
"Palo Alto is costly compared to Fortinet and Sophos."
"Everyone, I suppose, would like the price to be improved. Price is always a good thing to change."
"The licensing is not cheap. There are always hidden costs. You have support costs, or maybe you need to buy more optics on how the solution fits into the rest of your environment. It is possible some of the rest of your environment will need to change too."
"It has freed up staff time, which is where we are seeing ROI."
"You only pay for the license and there are no additional costs."
"Palo Alto Networks Panorama has so many licenses. For example, it has threat protection and group protection licenses. One license depends on another. I find it more expensive than Cisco."
"There is a license needed to use Palo Alto Networks Panorama. The cost is not that important, what is important is meeting all the requirements and security features."
"There is a license required to use this solution and it is paid annually."
More Palo Alto Networks Panorama pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
19%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Engineering Company
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
The platform has significantly enhanced our organization's operations by providing secure communication channels between different office locations.
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
The product pricing is reasonable and falls in the mid-range.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?
We encountered challenges, particularly when building use cases for this firewall, as it requires specific OS versions and firmware upgrades, which can lead to increased downtime. It adds an admini...
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What do you like most about Palo Alto Networks Panorama?
The most valuable aspect of Palo Alto Networks Panorama for me is the centralized management of multiple firewalls.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Palo Alto Networks Panorama?
In large installations, it can be expensive with hardware appliances, however, virtual Panorama is well-priced and is sold every time there's a solution.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Palo Alto Networks Panorama?
The integration between Strata Cloud Manager and Panorama could be enhanced to allow customers to stay on Panorama for many years while still utilizing Strata Cloud Manager for deployment.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

AWS Firewall Manager vs Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Logo
AWS Firewall Manager vs Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
Compared 70% of the time
More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Competitors
AlgoSec vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama Logo
AlgoSec vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama
Compared 20% of the time
AWS Firewall Manager vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama Logo
AWS Firewall Manager vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama
Compared 16% of the time
Tufin Orchestration Suite vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama Logo
Tufin Orchestration Suite vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama
Compared 16% of the time
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama Logo
Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama
Compared 13% of the time
ManageEngine Firewall Analyzer vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama Logo
ManageEngine Firewall Analyzer vs Palo Alto Networks Panorama
Compared 2% of the time
More Palo Alto Networks Panorama Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
December 2024
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center reportDownload Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center product report
Buyer's Guide
Palo Alto Networks Panorama
December 2024
Palo Alto Networks Panorama reportDownload Palo Alto Networks Panorama product report
 

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Cisco
Palo Alto Networks
 

Overview

The Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is the administrative nerve center for select Cisco security products running on multiple platforms. It provides unified management of Cisco Secure Firewalls with Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) software for port and protocol control, application control, IPS, URL filtering, and malware protection functions. Firewall Management Center is the centralized event and policy manager for:

● Cisco Secure Firewall with the Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) OS

● Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services

● Cisco Secure IPS (Firepower Next-Gen IPS / NGIPS)

● Cisco FirePOWER Threat Defense for ISR

● Cisco Malware Defense (AMP)

Panorama network security management provides static rules and dynamic security updates in an ever-changing threat landscape. Reduce administrator workload and improve your overall security posture with a single rule base for firewall, threat prevention, URL filtering, application awareness, user identification, file blocking and data filtering.

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
University of Arkansas, JBG SMITH, Temple University, Telkom Indonesia
Buyer's Guide
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Palo Alto Networks Panorama
December 2024
Free Report: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center vs. Palo Alto Networks Panorama
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We monitor all Firewall Security Management 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.