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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Juniper vSRX comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 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

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
318
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Cisco Secure Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
409
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
Juniper vSRX
Ranking in Firewalls
23rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Virtualization Security (4th), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.8%, up from 17.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall is 5.6%, up from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Juniper vSRX is 0.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

EhabAli - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable
In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.
Maharajan S - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhances security with precise access control but has integration challenges
Overall, I would rate the product six out of ten. Because of the support and cost, I moved away from Cisco, but otherwise, it is a good product. Recommendation depends on the requirement. If lacking a proper team and being dependent on the OEM and partner, Cisco is not suitable. However, if the team is qualified with Cisco-certified people and the requirement is a big network, it can be considered. In today's hybrid work world, having an expanded gateway is more typical than having a single one. Thus, Cisco is unlikely to be recommended for a hybrid requirement unless in-house skills align. Otherwise, depending on partners and Cisco, it can be a risk. I rate the overall solution six out of ten.
Stratos-Margaritis - PeerSpot reviewer
The ease of installation and licensing are also significant advantages
We use the application filtering, content filtering, and intrusion prevention system (IPS) features. These features are crucial for our network security. The ease of installation and licensing are also significant advantages, as it allows us to have one license for all products, which simplifies upgrading and maintenance. Additionally, the ease of deployment is critical for us.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The interface is very good."
"Fortinet has a very good solution for Secure SD-WAN. One very good feature is that they have robust and simple FortiOS through which they provide all solutions. That's their strength. There's not much complexity involved with the Secure SD-WAN solution of Fortinet as compared to Cisco's solution, which has a lot of flexibility but complexity also comes with that flexibility."
"Some of the valuable features are the firewall, IPS, web filter, and gateway capabilities. Additionally, it is easy to use and flexible."
"Customers want to load balance more than eight lines or six internet lines. FortiGate is the only solution that can accomplish this."
"The most valuable feature is the VDOM, which allows the customer to have multiple firewalls in a single campus."
"LinkGreat firewall capabilities"
"FortiGate SD-WAN facilitated a smooth transition for our customers between their two internet service providers, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity without any downtime."
"The tool is a nice product and easy to handle. The software's user interface is also good. You can easily implement remote access in the solution."
"Cisco ASA is very strong."
"It is a highly stable product. We rarely receive any serious outdates, so it works quite well."
"It is pretty stable. I haven't seen many issues during the past four years."
"An efficient, easy to deploy and dependable firewall solution."
"The firepower sensors have been great; they do a good job of dropping unwanted traffic."
"Cisco Firewall has very good features, like trusted applications and restricted access for users based on keywords."
"One of the best features is the ease of use. It's also easy to teach new engineers to use the ASA CLI."
"I like the firewall features, Snort, and the Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)."
"The support is excellent."
"It's a very powerful solution and the firewalls offer high performance"
"The architecture of the OS in Juniper is very good. It's flexibility, scalability, and the technicality is also good."
"It's basic functionality is probably the most valuable feature."
"The most valuable features are application filtering, content filtering, the intrusion prevention system (IPS), and definitely the application firewall."
"The authentication part is seamless and easy for people."
"The ease of installation and licensing are also significant advantages, as it allows us to have one license for all products, which simplifies upgrading and maintenance."
"The technical support has been good."
 

Cons

"Its reporting can be improved. Sometimes, I don't get proper reports."
"I would like to see improvements in the support from Fortinet. Here in the Philippines, whenever we have problems with a Fortinet product, we mostly ask for support from distributors and resellers and not directly from Fortinet."
"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."
"Security is a continuous process. In every product, there is a requirement for improvement. Its pricing should also be improved according to Indian market requirements. They must also improve on the reporting part. Its reporting can be more precise. If we can get a real-time report in a specific format, it will be helpful for customers to know about the current status of their security."
"Technical support needs to be improved."
"As far as wanting more scalability or things in the network diagram, it's going to cost you."
"A couple of things I've seen that need improvement, especially in terms of a hard coding. The driver-level active moment really is out-of-the-box and we have to have contact the customer support and sometimes it is difficult to resolve."
"Sometimes you do need to know some CLI commands, so it's a bit harder for technicians or new people that don't know it."
"The management usability and security of Cisco Firewall are based on Firepower Management Center, which is quite out of date compared to other vendors."
"​Initial setup was fairly complex."
"The GUI interface could be improved when compared to other solutions."
"One big pain point I have is the ASDM interface because it's Java, and sometimes, it's a bit buggy and has low performance. That's something that probably won't be improved because of backward compatibility."
"UTM features would be nice or some NextGen features."
"The overall licensing structure could improve to make the solution better."
"I wouldn't give them a ten. Nobody is perfect. I'll give them a nine because they help me with any issues I've had."
"One feature I would like to see, that Firepower doesn't have, is email security. Perhaps in the future, Cisco will integrate Cisco Umbrella with Firepower. I don't see why we should have to pay for two separate products when both could be integrated in one box."
"The solution should consider improving its licensing policies."
"There are too many types of licenses, which can be confusing."
"The GUI needs to be faster."
"We have some weird errors and some weird behavior on the solution occasionally. The device gets buggy without anyone touching it. It would work and then suddenly stop. Sometimes you need to just move the cards out and restart it again, and it will work. The solution itself, the hardware and the software, there must be some bugs that need to be dealt with."
"I would like to see an activity sensor for malicious content or sensor for viruses and malware."
"Juniper vSRX is expensive."
"he stability could be improved."
"The biggest downside of Juniper vSRX is its pricing, which may be too high for smaller organizations. While it's a decent solution, the cost may limit its accessibility to smaller customers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is an inexpensive solution."
"Fortinet FortiGate has different licensing models, depending on what you're going to do. Services included would depend on the license model. Licenses can be renewed annually."
"Setup cost may be not so low, as you expect, because it depends on different factors, but TCO for 5 years may pleasantly surprise you."
"FortiGate's pricing falls within the mid-range when compared to other leading firewall solutions."
"It was worth the money overall. It's good value."
"The pricing is justified. It's a little pricey, but what you pay for is what you get."
"Fortinet has more device options that are affordable for small businesses than Palo Alto, and its enterprise-level models are also cheaper. Palo Alto also has a separate license for VPN connections and SD-WAN, but FortiGate offers these features standard."
"The price depends on the size of the company. From the beginning, you just want to know the internet bandwidths, speed, and the number of users to be able to offer the right product and model. They have a lot of products in FortiGate according to the size of the company, like 200D and 300D."
"The price is fair. It's not the cheapest, but it's not bad."
"We bought a three-year license as a part of the enterprise agreement, which includes help with implementation and troubleshooting. We have a big data center with many applications, so implementation was not straightforward. We had to put effort into it. It wasn't an easy or straightforward implementation. The support that we got from Cisco engineers with the three-year premium license was helpful. The enterprise agreement helped to consume the licenses in a practical and faster way and streamline the implementation."
"The cost is a bit high compared to other solutions in the market."
"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."
"The licensing is not as complicated as that for some other Cisco products. There are a couple of tiers of licensing, but the price point is a little too high for the market. There are other vendors that come in lower and offer more for fewer licensing options. They may offer URL filtering or malware filtering with a single license rather than requiring two or three licenses. I think Cisco could do a bit more in this area."
"This product requires licenses for advanced features including Snort, IPS, and malware detection."
"We are in the process of renewing our three-year license, which costs approximately $24,000 USD for the thirty-six months."
"With AnyConnect, it depends on your license. It depends on the number of concurrent users you want to connect."
"Our experience purchasing the solution through the AWS Marketplace was good."
"The ongoing licensing cost seems to be pretty standard. There are no additional costs."
"It is not that costly."
"We like pricing through the AWS Marketplace."
"The solution is inexpensive."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The solution could have been cheaper."
"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten."
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Comparison Review

it_user206346 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
22%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
42%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Government
4%
Educational Organization
84%
Computer Software Company
3%
Financial Services Firm
2%
Comms Service Provider
1%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
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...
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...
What do you like most about Juniper vSRX?
One of Juniper vSRX's most valuable features is its integration with safety applications. It keeps the software secur...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper vSRX?
The pricing is competitive, being neither the most expensive nor the cheapest option. It falls within the medium to h...
What needs improvement with Juniper vSRX?
I would suggest improving the pricing, particularly the licensing model. Although it is currently quite reasonable, m...
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Firewall, Cisco ASA NGFW, Adaptive Security Appliance, Cisco Sourcefire Firewalls, Cisco ASAv, Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall
No data available
 

Overview

 

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.
Expedient Data Centers
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Juniper vSRX and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.