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Cisco Secure Firewall vs Zscaler Cloud Firewall comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
317
Ranking in other categories
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st)
Cisco Secure Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
406
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
Zscaler Cloud Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
23rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 20.5%, up from 17.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall is 5.8%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zscaler Cloud Firewall is 0.3%, down from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

DineshKumar28 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Daniel Going - PeerSpot reviewer
Is intuitive in terms of troubleshooting, easy to consume, and stable
Licensing is complex, and I'd like it to be simplified. This is an area for improvement. If we could create a Firepower solution that became like an SD-WAN or a SASE solution in a box, then perhaps we could exploit that on remote sites. We've already kind of got that with Meraki, but if we could pull out some of the features from ASA Firepower and make those available in SD-WAN in SASE, then it would be pretty cool.
Vikram Srirama. - PeerSpot reviewer
A highly scalable solution that helps monitor and block undesired, non-standard traffic
Zscaler Cloud Firewall is a cloud-based solution. Zscaler Cloud Firewall is a good product. Since it's a SaaS product, most of the maintenance of devices is eliminated, and it is bundled with your secure web gateway. People should use Zscaler Cloud Firewall for their remote users or work-from-home users. Overall, I rate Zscaler Cloud Firewall a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It blocks the vulnerabilities that can negatively impact us."
"The features that I have found most valuable are that it is good to use, and most importantly, the pricing. The customer especially likes the discount when they trade up or something like that."
"The dashboard I have found the most valuable in Fortinet FortiGate."
"The user interface (UI) is very, very good."
"The web filtering facility and application control are the most valuable features from the point of view of our clients. The VPN feature is also quite popular amongst our clients. Two-factor authentication is one of the good features in Fortinet. These features are important for the current scenario of security. Security has become a necessity nowadays. With cyber-attacks becoming more common, protecting an organization's data is one of the major tasks. It is also very stable and scalable, and it is very straightforward to configure. Their technical support is also good."
"This product is definitely scalable."
"The most valuable feature is the policy routing and application control."
"We have been able to offer several services to customers in a single box."
"Being able to use it as a policy-based VPN is valuable. It's very easy to understand. It's very easy to troubleshoot."
"VPN load balancing has been particularly essential for my connections to integrate via multiple time zones."
"Stability is perfect. I haven't had any problems."
"Being able to determine our active users vs inactive users has led us to increased productivity through visibility. Also, if an issue was happening with our throughput, then we wouldn't know without research. Now, notifications are more proactively happening."
"Clustering architecture which offers zero downtime upgrades, keeping uptime close to 99.999%."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is AMP (Advanced Malware Protection), as this is really needed to protect against cyber threats."
"The AnyConnect remote access VPN gives us an easy way to deploy remote working for our users."
"The monitoring dashboard is valuable to us for troubleshooting."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"Most of the features that Zscaler has to offer, we will deploy."
"It provides in-depth visibility into your network, ensuring that traffic flowing into your organization, be it from offices or individual users, is effectively filtered and secured through multiple layers of protection."
"The scalability is okay. We have around 2200 people using this solution."
"Once you have Zscaler running you have access to configure it however you want."
"It is a stable solution."
"Zscaler provides effective protection against various cyber threats ensuring a safe environment"
"It helps a lot of companies to reduce their downtime. Also, It helps businesses in terms of being secured and protected from any threats."
 

Cons

"The stability could be a bit better."
"The cloud management and automation capability could be improved."
"The solution could be more secure and stable."
"Web security solutions can be improved."
"Cisco Meraki products are rising very quickly in the cloud and the connected era. Meraki products offer much better ROI, upgradability, and manageability."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having a frequent ask questions(FAQ) area for people to receive quick answers to popular questions. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have an SMS notification feature. For example, if you cannot access your email you could receive an SMS message."
"Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution."
"Technical support could be better. You don't always get the level of help you need right away."
"I would like more features in conjunction with other solutions, like Fortinet."
"One thing that we really would have loved to have was policy-based routing. We had a lot of connections, and sometimes, we would have liked to change the routing depending on the policies, but it was lacking this capability. We also wanted application filtering and DNS filtering."
"There's a little bit of a disconnect between Firepower’s management and the rest of the products, like DNA and Prime. The solution should have fewer admin portals for network, security, and firewalls."
"For what we use it for, it ends up being the perfect product for us, but it would help if they could expand it into some of the other areas and other use cases working with speeding up and the reliability of the pushes from the policy manager."
"The policies module in FMC specifically isn't the most user-friendly. Coming from Cisco ASA, Cisco ASA is a little bit easier to use. When you get into particularly complex deployments where you have a lot of different interfaces and all that kind of stuff, it's a little bit tricky. Some usability improvements there would be nice."
"A feature that would allow me to load balance among multiple ISPs, especially since we have deployed it as a perimeter firewall, would be a great addition."
"I think that the solution can be improved with the integration of application-centric infrastructure. It could be used to have better solutions in one box."
"Report generation is an area that should be improved."
"The product could improve its integration with some legacy systems."
"It would be nice to have some sort of a form factor, a physical form factor perhaps, or virtual machine that you could install on devices or on a cloud, and have some cloud computing."
"Apart from the issues associated with the product in areas like the DC performance issues and DC failover, Zscaler Cloud Firewall's IP should not have a proxy IP."
"Because it's on cloud, it doesn't allow application of extra settings."
"Pricing is a challenge."
"Data Leak Prevention is only for web filtering and there is no protection for email."
"Instead of the standard license, they should certainly provide customers with the visibility to access and view the logs."
"They do not provide a few components that are fundamental to differentiate the products"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is too expensive for us. My organization is very small, and we have a total of ten users. We have three internal users and seven external users. The FortiGate 100D series is too expensive for renewing the licenses."
"It is quite affordable for our customers. There is a separate cost for IPS, antivirus, web filtering, and other features. They have a great choice of licenses. You can go for the license that you want, which is quite useful."
"It is a good product from a price perspective versus functionality."
"The pricing depends on the FortiGate model we are using, ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 US dollars."
"Fortinet FortiGate allows you to purchase licenses for hardware and software."
"The price for the Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable. Secure SD-WAN is free of charge. If you have their firewall, it's free of charge. It's very tempting."
"They need to be competitive with other solutions."
"The solution requires a license annually, it is not a user license, you can have as many users as your want. I must renew the license regularly per device."
"The price for Firepower is more expensive than FortiGate. The licensing is very complex. We usually ask for help from Solutel because of its complexity. I have a Cisco account where I can download the VPN client, then connect. Instead, I create an issue with Solutel, then Solutel solves the case."
"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."
"We pay about $200 yearly and we have two firewalls."
"​It is worth every penny that we have invested in it.​"
"​Price point is too high for features and throughput available.​"
"Cisco's pricing is high, at times, for what they provide."
"This solution might be expensive, but it is economical in the long run."
"It is pay-as-you-go, so it much cheaper than buying in the plants."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The product is a bit expensive compared to the solutions offered by its competitors, like Palo Alto. There is a need to make yearly payments towards the license in charges associated with the product."
"It is expensive for small businesses."
"There is an annual license required for the use of the Zscaler Cloud Firewall."
"There are different subscription models available."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis. It is somewhere around 30 or 40 pounds per user for our organization."
"Zscaler is priced too high compared to the cost of Fortinet."
"It is not the most budget-friendly solution, but it's important to consider its overall value."
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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%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Educational Organization
33%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

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 Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
The product’s firewall and VPN package are fantastic compared to any other solution.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
The product is a bit expensive compared to the solutions offered by its competitors, like Palo Alto. There is a need ...
What needs improvement with Zscaler Cloud Firewall?
Apart from the issues associated with the product in areas like the DC performance issues and DC failover, Zscaler Cl...
 

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
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.
Zenith Live, Azure, Carlsberg Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Zscaler Cloud Firewall and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
817,354 professionals have used our research since 2012.