Cisco Secure Firewall vs Hillstone E-Series comparison

Cisco and Hillstone Networks are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Cisco is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.1, while Hillstone Networks is ranked #39 with an average rating of 8.0. Cisco holds a 6.9% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Hillstone Networks’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Hillstone Networks users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 4, 2026

Cisco Secure Firewall and Hillstone E-Series are top competitors in the network security sector. Cisco edges ahead with its robust security architecture and strong user support, while Hillstone E-Series excels in user-friendliness and affordability.

Features: Cisco Secure Firewall is known for advanced security measures like threat management systems, application visibility, and control, ensuring comprehensive protection. Hillstone E-Series shines with user-friendly features, high hardware capacity, and cost-effectiveness, making it appealing for budget-conscious organizations.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Secure Firewall's complexity in configuration and its high pricing structure require attention, along with enhancing its integration capabilities. Hillstone E-Series could improve by adding more robust reporting features and conducting more frequent live webinars for user skill enhancement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Secure Firewall is widely deployed on-premises with some hybrid options and is backed by solid technical support, though some users mention delays. Hillstone E-Series supports both on-premises and cloud deployments, with commendable customer service known for accessibility and reasonable support.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Secure Firewall is seen as a premium choice with a higher cost but provides a satisfactory ROI owing to its comprehensive security features. Hillstone E-Series offers economical pricing with straightforward options, delivering good ROI for those seeking essential security on a budget.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Hillstone E-Series Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Hillstone E-Series

December 2025

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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

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 18.7%, down from 20.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall is 6.9%, up from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	18.7%
Cisco Secure Firewall	6.9%
Hillstone E-Series	0.4%
Other	74.0%

Firewalls

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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Phil Shiflett

Senior Manager, Network Engineering at TTi Power Equipment

Unified policies streamline network management but complex licensing requires attention

Cisco Secure Firewall has some growth opportunities in terms of visibility and control capabilities regarding managing encrypted traffic. It has the ability to analyze encrypted traffic, and there is potential for more integration with APIs and AI to enhance these capabilities. Cisco Secure Firewall needs improvement in deployment time and the capability to access the CLI during support calls. I often encounter issues when technical support uses a CLI that is not familiar to me while troubleshooting through the GUI. My ongoing complaint for the last six years has been the lack of CLI functionality, which hinders my ability to work on the firewall, alongside concerns regarding deployment time. For the next release, they should look at the features offered by competitors such as Fortinet, including the ability to perform packet capture directly from the interface. If they enhanced their troubleshooting efficiency related to packet capture for each specific rule, it would simplify the process significantly.

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TahirMahmood

IT Manager at Zubair Feeds

Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users

We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"FortiGate's threat detection capability is excellent."

"The most helpful features of FortiGate include its firewall policy, specifically the user-based policy, which I find to be quite beneficial in managing our network security effectively."

"It is quite easy to handle."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."

"We have a redundant setup for failover, however, it has not had to fail over ever and we have not had a capacity issue."

"The FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is always updating. For example, if there is a big attack, they fix it in their firmware. They release new firmware with the necessary patches to address the vulnerabilities."

"The best features of Fortinet FortiGate include the simple user interface."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The most important feature is the intensive way you can troubleshoot Cisco Firepower Firewalls. You can go to the bit level to see why traffic is not handled in the correct way, and the majority of the time it's a networking issue and not a firewall issue. You can solve any problem without Cisco TAC help, because you can go very deeply under the hood to find out how traffic is flowing and whether it is not flowing as expected. That is something I have never seen with other brands."

"Collaboration with other Cisco products such as ISE and others is the most valuable feature."

"Everything is all documented in the file or in the command line script that gets uploaded to the device. It gives us great visibility."

"The features I've found most valuable are the packet captures and packet traces because they help me debug connections. I like the logs because they help me see what's going on."

"The most valuable Cisco Secure Firewall features are options, features, and ease of deployment because it's an appliance."

"Management Console and user profiling to define activities."

"If only a Layer 4 FW is needed, this is a good solution."

"The most valuable feature is the Intrusion Prevention System."

More Cisco Secure Firewall pros

"Five out of five ROI."

"The installation is easy, we have not had any complaints from our customers."

"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."

"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ransomware protection that the tool offers."

"Working with the Hillstone E-Series has, from a remote perspective, allowed me to give my clients a secure connectivity."

"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."

"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."

More Hillstone E-Series pros

Cons

"One area for improvement is the licensing policy. If support licenses are not renewed, the product's functionality ceases, which can be disruptive."

"I could not configure sFlow from the FortiGate graphical user interface. I realized that the sFlow configuration is available only from the CLI, and discovered that sFlow is not supported on virtual interfaces, such as VDOM links, IPsec, or GRE."

"One area for improvement involves FortiAnalyzer, specifically regarding the SOC part and log interpretation. Sometimes interpretation is very difficult."

"It would be good if they had fewer updates."

"They could simplify their deployment process, especially when customers have existing devices."

"The stability could be a bit better."

"To some degree, it's almost a question as to why some of this stuff isn't simpler. For example, for an AP deployment, while it's integrated, the number of steps that you have to go through in order to get the AP up, seems like a lot."

"In an incident, after a restart, Fortinet FortiGate did not connect to FortiGuard servers. Due to that reason, on the customer end, all websites got blocked. I don't know why this happened. The firewall of a bank in Sri Lanka rebooted yesterday, and after that, FortiGuard servers did not connect properly, blocking all customer environment websites."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"We found it difficult to publish an antennae sidewalk with the ASDM. I think Cisco should improve this by creating a simpler interface for the firewall."

"There is limited data storage on the appliance itself. So, you need to ship it out elsewhere in order for you to store it. The only point of consideration is around that area, basically limited storage on the machine and appliance. Consider logging it elsewhere or pushing it out to a SIEM to get better controls and manipulation over the data to generate additional metrics and visibility."

"Downtime due to bugs requiring code upgrades has been problematic. That's the reason why we are moving away from Cisco Secure Firewalls."

"Cisco makes horrible UIs, so the interface is something that should be improved."

"Cisco Firewall is not user-friendly."

"They need to do an overhaul of the management console."

"This product is managed using the Firepower Management Center (FMC), but it would be better if it also supported the command-line interface (CLI)."

"I would like it to have faster deployment times. A typical deployment could take two to three minutes. Sometimes, it depends on the situation. It is better than it was in the past, but it could always use improvement."

More Cisco Secure Firewall cons

"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."

"I am not sure if this solution offers active directory integration. Adding that feature will definitely be an advantage."

"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."

"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."

"The current usage reporting is very basic."

"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."

"The tool needs to improve its price."

"The tool only had some memory-related problems."

More Hillstone E-Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is very reasonable."

"A year or two years back, its price was competitive and reasonable. That was one of the reasons that people easily switched to Fortinet. Over the last two years, the prices have increased drastically. However, the prices of others have also increased. An advantage is there from the price point but not as much as it was previously."

"No comment."

"Although the solution's pricing is high, compared with other products, it may be cheap."

"Licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is on a yearly basis. Pricing for it is a bit high. It could be cheaper."

"These boxes are not that expensive compared to what they can do, their functionality, and the reporting you receive. Fortinet licensing is straightforward and less confusing compared to Cisco."

"Fortinet FortiGate is cheaper than Palo Alto. It is about 20% cheaper."

"The solution is offered as an annual license."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"We sell Cisco ASA Firewall as a bundle — the price is very cheap. If a customer were to go for renewal direct from Cisco, then the price would be quite high."

"That'd be more for my leadership, but I give them the quotes, and if they approve, they're happy. They've never wavered, so I wouldn't say it's out of the realm where they're considering another product. It must be in the direct price range for our leadership to not blink an eye when we give it to them."

"The price is fair. It's not the cheapest, but it's not bad."

"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."

"With AnyConnect, it depends on your license. It depends on the number of concurrent users you want to connect."

"In terms of scalability, it is really expensive. It is scalable, but when it comes to pricing, the upgrading is a bit high."

"The licensing features are getting more complicated. These should be simplified."

"Pretty much everything is included in the price for what we are using."

More Cisco Secure Firewall pricing and cost advice

"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."

"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."

"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."

"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."

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Comparison Review

it_user206346

Security Consultant at Webernetz.net - Network Security Consulting

Mar 11, 2015

Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto Networks

Cisco ASA vs. Palo Alto: Management Goodies You often have comparisons of both firewalls concerning security components. Of course, a firewall must block attacks, scan for viruses, build VPNs, etc. However, in this post I am discussing the advantages and disadvantages from both vendors concerning…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

University

Comms Service Provider

15%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	188

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	180
Midsize Enterprise	126
Large Enterprise	212

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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Which is better - Meraki MX or Cisco ASA Firewall?

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the operating software for the Cisco ASA suite. It supports netw...

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What needs improvement with Hillstone E-Series?

We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the fire...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Hillstone E-Series?

I use the solution in my company for site-to-site VPN, SSL VPNs, URL filtering, IPS, IDS and all the other features w...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Hillstone E-Series?

Our company did not use the tool's micro-segmentation features. There were no issues while integrating the tool. I ha...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 19% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 6% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 11% of the time

Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

Check Point Quantum Force (NGFW) vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 3% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Secure Firewall Competitors

OpenVPN Access Server vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 18% of the time

Hillstone A-Series vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 10% of the time

Sangfor SSL VPN vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 7% of the time

Sophos XG vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 6% of the time

A10 Networks Thunder CFW vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 5% of the time

More Hillstone E-Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2026

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Firewall

January 2026

Download Cisco Secure Firewall product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

January 2026

Download Hillstone E-Series product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Firewall, Cisco ASA NGFW, Adaptive Security Appliance, Cisco Sourcefire Firewalls, Cisco ASAv, Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall, Cisco Secure Firewall ASA Virtual - BYOL

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

Cisco Secure Firewall provides comprehensive network security with advanced features such as application visibility, URL filtering, and malware protection. It combines a user-friendly interface with robust VPN capabilities, making it a reliable choice for varying network environments and industry applications.

Cisco Secure Firewall offers exceptional protection with its integration into Cisco's broader ecosystem, ensuring enhanced threat detection and policy unification. Despite its complexity in command-line interfaces and management, Cisco Secure Firewall remains a potent tool for safeguarding data. It is widely adopted for edge security, VPN services, perimeter defense, and traffic segmentation, especially in hybrid settings. Essential sectors like banking and telecom benefit from its stable connectivity and centralized security management. Though there are challenges with costs and support for third-party APIs, the firewall's scalability and high availability provide comprehensive support for protecting network assets.

What are the key features of Cisco Secure Firewall?

Application Visibility: Offers in-depth visibility of application traffic to monitor and protect against threats.
Advanced Malware Protection: Protects against known and emerging malware threats with powerful detection capabilities.
URL Filtering: Manages and restricts access to websites, enhancing organizational data security.
VPN Capabilities: Ensures secure remote access and encrypted communication through strong VPN features.
Integration with Cisco Ecosystem: Enhances security measures with seamless integration with Cisco's suite of security tools.

What benefits and ROI should be expected from Cisco Secure Firewall?

Comprehensive Protection: Offers multi-layered security for diverse network environments, increasing overall data protection.
Performance Efficiency: High availability and scalability lead to improved network performance and resource management.
Management Simplification: Centralized security management streamlines policy deployment across networks.
Enhanced Threat Detection: Integration capabilities improve threat detection and mitigation for better security posture.

Cisco Secure Firewall is widely implemented across sectors like banking, education, ISPs, and telecoms. It fortifies data centers and network edge security, delivering strong protection for client access, hybrid environments, and intrusion prevention. In these industries, firewall solutions ensure secure connectivity and manage RTU traffic effectively, leveraging centralized management and integration with Cisco's security tools.

Cisco

Hillstone E-Series is a comprehensive network security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats. It offers a range of features including a firewall, intrusion prevention system (IPS), virtual private network (VPN), and application control.

With its advanced threat intelligence capabilities, E-Series can detect and prevent sophisticated attacks, ensuring the security of critical data and systems. It also provides granular control over applications, allowing organizations to enforce policies and optimize network performance.

E-Series is easy to deploy and manage, with a user-friendly interface and centralized management console. It offers high-performance throughput and scalability, making it suitable for small businesses to large enterprises. With its robust security features and ease of use, Hillstone E-Series is an ideal choice for organizations looking to enhance their network security posture.

Hillstone Networks

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

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.

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Hillstone E-Series

December 2025

Free Report: Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Hillstone E-Series

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Hillstone E-Series and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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