Cisco Secure Firewall vs Sophos Cyberoam UTM comparison

Cisco and Sophos are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Additionally, 83% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of Sophos users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall and Sophos Cyberoam UTM based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Sophos Cyberoam UTM Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Sophos Cyberoam UTM

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar28

Senior Manager at Cognizant

Sep 25, 2024

Effective threat prevention with responsive customer support

We are using Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall Fortinet FortiGate has been invaluable. It has helped save costs due to its various features, reliable performance, very good UI, low latency, and stability. The Threat Intel engine in Fortinet FortiGate is highly rated for its effectiveness in…

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Daniel Going

Managing architect at Capgemini

Jun 26, 2022

Is intuitive in terms of troubleshooting, easy to consume, and stable

We use it for data center security for both the north-south and east-west. With Firepower, you get the next-generation functionality and the next-generation firewall features. Traditionally, when you have a layer three access list, it's really tricky to get the flexibility you need to allow staff…

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Kiarash Heydari

Information security manager at asa com

Jan 26, 2023

Stable and has a straightforward setup; reporting is fast and easy

Sophos Cyberoam UTM has room for improvement in specific rules-based objects and redesign. The solution also needs to improve in adding rules and policies, including renewing and finding policies. The Sophos team should make Sophos Cyberoam UTM policies and rules better and more useful than the old ones because that can be difficult and confusing sometimes. For example, adding policies or rules can be confusing, and that can be risky. To improve Sophos Cyberoam UTM, Sophos should add an IPS or IDS signature feature in the current plans offered to customers. Upgrading or patching the solution can be slow, so that's another area for improvement. In the next version of Sophos Cyberoam UTM, I want it to have an appliance management feature, similar to what's in FortiManager, where you can connect all appliances and manage the devices because that would be easier in terms of reporting.

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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

"UTM/NGFW features and FortiCloud for logs and backups are awesome."

"The scalability is good in Fortinet FortiGate."

"I like that you are able to manage FortiGate from the FortiManager to create a more centralized environment."

"Using this product makes the VPN seamless and almost invisible to me in the sense that I don't have to think about it."

"The most valuable features are the possibility of having one fabric for switching on security."

"Fortinet FortiGate is a security device. It can optimize security on the networks of a company. It actually protects the company from attacks from outside. With FortiGate, you can categorize the users. You can create a group of users that can access all of the websites for their work. You can limit other users' access."

"Overall security features and performance routing is good."

"Its stability is the most valuable."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"All the features except IPS are valuable. IPS is not a part of my job."

"The implementation is pretty straightforward."

"It has definitely improved our organization. It gives us remote connectivity, helps workers connect remotely, and also gives us good connectivity to our other branches."

"The ASA has seen significant improvement due to the IPS."

"I think that the firewall feature is the most valuable to me as it is one of the oldest features for this solution. We also appreciate how stable the VPN is."

"It's a flexible solution and is well-known in the community."

"The protection and security features, like URL filtering, the inspection, and the IPS feature, are also very valuable for us. We don't have IT staff at most of the sites so for us it's important to have a robust firewall at those sites"

"It is pretty stable. I haven't seen many issues during the past four years."

More Cisco Secure Firewall pros

"It has been working fine. You just turn it on, and it works."

"In terms of features and user-friendliness, the solution is good. It’s very stable. The solution is scalable. In Sophos Cyberoam UTM, the most valuable features are web and application filtering, routing functionalities, and VPN. It has helped us manage the bandwidth."

"The main features I have found best are the load balancer and ease of use."

"The VPN is excellent on the solution."

"The solution is easy to use."

"I find Sophos Cyberoam UTM very good. I like the feature of being able to block off Mac IDs that host users. For example, you have a Mac or Windows laptop and you created a hotspot. Other devices like mobiles and tablets e.g. iPads connected to that hotspot. We can block those devices that connected to the hotspot we created, only through Sophos. It's a good feature we didn't find in other UTMs."

"The most valuable features are the firewall section, the VPN, and how you control live users."

"The solution works perfectly without any users."

More Sophos Cyberoam UTM pros

Cons

"Its reporting capabilities can be improved. It should have some out-of-the-box reporting capabilities and some degree of customization. The basic reporting that it currently has is not sufficient to create more usable reports. It needs some sort of out-of-the-box reporting. They try to make customers purchase FortiAnalyzer for this kind of reporting, which is an additional cost. Other firewall vendors, such as SonicWall and Sophos, provide this sort of reporting without any additional cost."

"Difficult to add or define, and not that easy to configure and manage."

"The improvement is related to logs. Instead of the CLI, we should be able to have more insights into the logs of the firewall in the GUI."

"Fortinet already improved FortiGate, but in the current market, many brands of security devices have improved together. Fortinet still needs to catch up with market standards. Fortinet is lacking in features in comparison to competitors."

"I would suggest that Fortinet add sandboxing to their solution."

"To the best of my knowledge, Fortinet does not have a CASB solution and Fortinet does not have a Zero trust solution."

"Fortinet FortiGate needs to improve the protection, it did not prevent us from being attacked. Additionally, Fortinet FortiGate could provide more features for WAF devices. I should not have to purchase two solutions, it would be a benefit to combine these features into one solution."

"I would like some automated custom reporting."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The solution could offer better control that would allow the ability to restrictions certain features from a website."

"Sometimes my customers say that Cisco Firewalls are a bit more difficult compared to Fortigate or Palo Alto. There is complexity in the configuration and the GUI could be improved."

"The price can be better."

"Our latest experience with a code upgrade included a number of bugs and issues that we ran into. So more testing with their code, before it hits us, would help."

"Cisco should work on ASDM. One of the biggest drawbacks of Cisco ASA is ASDM GUI. Cisco should improve the ASDM GUI. The configuration through ASDM is really difficult as compared to CLI. Sometimes when you are doing the configuration in ASDM, it suddenly crashes. It also crashes while pushing a policy. Cisco should really work on this."

"At times the product is sluggish and slow"

"Most users do not have awareness of this product's functionality and features. Cisco should do something to make them aware of them. That would be quite excellent and useful to organizations that are still using legacy data-center-security products."

"The software was very buggy, to the point it had to be removed."

More Cisco Secure Firewall cons

"I would like to see real-time alerts on traffic insights."

"Technical support could be faster."

"The VPN is an area that can be improved."

"The reporting part could be more user-friendly for troubleshooting and identifying network issues. It should be more easy for a normal user to identify the problem in their network."

"The solution had a feature to import users from a CSV file. However, the latest version does not have that option."

"There is a lot or room for improvement, because it is still not a fourth or fifth generation firewall. It lacks security features."

"Smaller CR15 units don’t have a hard disc or built in IView software. These units could do with that feature."

"There are some issues with logs and report limitations."

More Sophos Cyberoam UTM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You need to pay a license for this solution. Our licensing is now done in our subsidiary."

"We purchased a five-year bundle package, which worked out cheaper than competing solutions."

"It is not a very costly product if you compare it with other products. The return on investment is also good. If you compare the return of investment and money that you are spending on this product with Palo Alto, Cisco, Check Point, and other solutions, the investment is very less. We are happy with this solution. The optional licenses are there, and you can choose which one you want and which one to avoid."

"Fortinet FortiGate as a less expensive solution than Palo Alto."

"For our organization, the licensing costs are approximately $7,000 per year."

"Fortinet is the least expensive solution."

"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."

"We find the most valuable aspect of this solution is the price. It is affordable, and cheaper than other firewalls."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"It's very competitive with other products."

"The product is very expensive."

"The price is comparable."

"We have a perpetual license for all of our firewalls. For some of the features, we purchase them on demand. The pricing is decent but it could always be cheaper, we would be happier."

"I know that licensing for some of the advanced solutions, like Intrusion Prevention and Secure Malware Analytics, are nominal costs."

"Cisco pricing is premium. However, they gave us a 50 to 60 percent discount."

"I'd say it's probably well-priced."

"I wish there was an easier way to license the product in closed environments. I have worked in a number of closed environments, then it is a lot of head scratching. I know that we could put servers in these networks and that would help with the licensing. I have never been in a situation where we connected multiple networks, i.e., having an external network as well as an internal network, as those kinds of solutions are not always the best. I think licensing is always a headache for everyone, and I don't know if there is a simple solution."

More Cisco Secure Firewall pricing and cost advice

"Prices are very high."

"The product is reasonably priced."

"This is a cost-effective solution compared to other vendors, such as Cisco."

"I rate Cyberoam's pricing a five or six out of ten since it is affordable."

"I have no comment about the pricing."

"The product's pricing is a challenge."

"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is high."

"The product has a very low price compared to other solutions."

More Sophos Cyberoam UTM pricing and cost advice

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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

Educational Organization

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

32%

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

27%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Media Company

11%

Real Estate/Law Firm

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...

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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 ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 do you like most about Sophos Cyberoam UTM?

The solution works perfectly without any users.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sophos Cyberoam UTM?

The solution has a reasonable price.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sophos Cyberoam UTM?

They could improve the product by enhancing hardware reliability, addressing occasional memory overflow issues, and i...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 22% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 13% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 9% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 6% of the time

Meraki MX vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 4% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 3% of the time

Sophos XG vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Secure Firewall Competitors

Netgate pfSense vs Sophos Cyberoam UTM

Compared 26% of the time

OPNsense vs Sophos Cyberoam UTM

Compared 12% of the time

Sophos UTM vs Sophos Cyberoam UTM

Compared 9% of the time

SonicWall NSa vs Sophos Cyberoam UTM

Compared 8% of the time

More Sophos Cyberoam UTM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

November 2024

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Firewall

November 2024

Download Cisco Secure Firewall product report

Buyer's Guide

Sophos Cyberoam UTM

October 2024

Download Sophos Cyberoam UTM product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate

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

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Fortinet

Cisco

Sophos

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate enhances network security, prevents unauthorized access, and offers robust firewall protection. Valued features include advanced threat protection, reliable performance, and a user-friendly interface. It improves efficiency, streamlines processes, and boosts collaboration, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and growth.

Cisco Secure Firewall stands as a robust and adaptable security solution, catering to organizations of all sizes. It's designed to shield networks from a diverse array of cyber threats, such as ransomware, malware, and phishing attacks. Beyond mere protection, it also offers secure access to corporate resources, beneficial for employees, partners, and customers alike. One of its key functions includes network segmentation, which serves to isolate critical assets and minimize the risk of lateral movement within the network.

The core features of Cisco Secure Firewall are multifaceted:

Advanced threat protection is achieved through a combination of intrusion prevention, malware detection, and URL filtering technologies.
For secure access, the firewall presents multiple options, including VPN, remote access, and single sign-on.
Its network segmentation capability is vital in creating barriers within the network to safeguard critical assets.
The firewall is scalable, effectively serving small businesses to large enterprises.
Management is streamlined through Cisco DNA Center, a central management system.

The benefits of deploying Cisco Secure Firewall are substantial. It significantly reduces the risk of cyberattacks, thereby enhancing the security posture of an organization. This security also translates into increased productivity, as secure access means uninterrupted work. Compliance with industry regulations is another advantage, as secure access and network segmentation align with many regulatory standards. Additionally, it helps in reducing IT costs by automating security tasks and simplifying management processes.

In practical scenarios, Cisco Secure Firewall finds diverse applications. It's instrumental in protecting branch offices from cyberattacks, securing remote access for various stakeholders, safeguarding cloud workloads, and segmenting networks to isolate sensitive areas.

User reviews from PeerSpot reflect an overall positive experience with the Cisco Secure Firewall. Users appreciate its ease of configuration, good management capabilities, robust protection, user-friendly interface, and scalability. However, some areas for improvement include better integration capabilities with other vendors, maturity, control over bandwidth for end-users, and addressing software bugs.

In summary, Cisco Secure Firewall is a comprehensive, versatile, and reliable security solution that effectively meets the security needs of various organizations. It offers a balance of advanced protection, user-friendly management, and scalability, making it a valuable asset in the realm of network security.

Cyberoam Unified Threat Management hardware appliances offer comprehensive security to organizations, ranging from large enterprises to small and branch offices. Multiple security features integrated over a single, Layer 8 Identity-based platform make security simple, yet highly effective.

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.

Gulf Corporation for Technology, Maridive & Oil Services, Fidelity Bank, Petra University, Capital FM Kenya, Safari Park Hotel and Casino, Mayfair Casino, Pacific International Lines, Mozambique Ministry of Education, University of Namibia, Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, University of Hawai, New Delhi Municipal Council

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Sophos Cyberoam UTM

October 2024

Free Report: Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Sophos Cyberoam UTM

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