We performed a comparison between Cisco Secure Firewall vs Palo Alto Network Wildfire based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Based on the parameters we compared, with all other factors being more or less equal, Cisco Secure Firewall comes in a bit ahead of Palo Alto simply because of their stronger support.
"There is an easy process for configuring it, and it is straightforward to implement the device from scratch."
"It has improved our organization with control data."
"The license management is very valuable. You can get a new license each year, or you can enroll every two to four years. You can get the logs, and you will get the information on the risk in your network and the entire organization. With this information, you can take action on your actives, computers, or devices. You can bring your own device as an SSE."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the APIs. They are the most widely known."
"The flexibility and ease of configuration are the most valuable features."
"The solution is highly scalable because they have devices that can handle a large amount of traffic."
"The customization potential is quite impressive."
"FortiGate has a strong security topic which allows all of the Fortinet devices to communicate and share information which makes their security more powerful."
"It is extremely stable I would say — at least after you deploy it."
"The most valuable feature is the Intrusion Prevention System."
"For business purposes, it's a very detailed solution, which is it's greatest benefit, as you can get almost any piece of information you need from the solution. It allows for admins to be able to troubleshoot pretty easily."
"A good intrusion prevention system and filtering."
"It has a good security level. It is a next-generation firewall. It can protect from different types of attacks. We have enabled IPS and IDS."
"The implementation is pretty straightforward."
"Cisco Secure Firewall made it easier so that more than one person can handle things. We are able to have a bigger team that can handle simple tasks and have a smaller team focus on the deep-dive needs."
"Network segmentation is the most valuable feature."
"You have better control because you define apps. You just don't define ports. You define apps, and the apps are monitored in the traffic. It is more specific than the Cisco firewall when it comes to our needs."
"The solution has plenty of features."
"The most valuable features of the solution are user-friendliness, price, good security, and cloud-related options."
"I love the idea of Palo Alto Networks WildFire. It's more geared toward preventing malware. If someone's laptop or phone is malware-infected, the tool prevents it from uploading valuable corporate data outside the corporate network. That's what I love about Palo Alto Networks WildFire. It stops malware in its tracks."
"Remote access is excellent."
"Being an application-based firewall, this is one of the critical focus factors along with the threat prevention services it provides."
"Stability is never a concern."
"They have many different options with Palo Alto WildFire and the set-up is quick. If you have all the details in hand, it does not take more than 15 minutes to deploy a firewall."
"There are a lot of bugs I have found in the solution and it is difficult to upgrade. These areas need improvement."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having more capabilities for troubleshooting VPN connections. For example, I do get some feedback about the current status, but I could use some history and logging of important events. The information is logged in our Syslog server, but I could use that information from the device. If they could provide a GUI to have some more insight on what's going with my VPN would be useful."
"It does not have key authentication for admin access."
"The routing capability on the FortiGate devices has room for improvement."
"Fortinet currently has many products bundled with FortiGate including the basic firewall and load balancer, and I think that that they need to have separate product portfolios for each of these specialized services."
"It can be a little bit more user-friendly in terms of policy definition and implementation. It seems a little bit complicated, and it could be simplified."
"Some configuration elements cannot be easily altered once created."
"Its reporting and pricing need improvement."
"The stability and the product features have to really be worked on."
"I would like to see the inclusion of a protocol that can be used to protect databases."
"The initial setup could be simplified, as it can be complex for new users."
"In the future, I would like to be able to use an IP phone over a VPN connection."
"The user interface is too complex for people who are not trained to or certified to engage with the product. The interface should be easier to use."
"ASDM can be improved."
"The service could use a little more web filtering. If I compare it to Cyberoam, Cyberoam has more the web filtering, so if you want to block a website, it's easier in other solutions than in Cisco."
"Deploying configurations takes longer than it should."
"The size of Palo Alto's cloud is big but it could be easier to use from a product management perspective."
"The GUI is better in 8.0, but I still feel it lacks the fast response most of us desire. Logs are much quicker."
"The only problem with this solution is the cost. It's expensive."
"There are some formats that the solution cannot support ."
"The support is good but they could be faster."
"It would be nice if there was an easier way to install and deploy it, such as through the inclusion of wizards."
"The VPN and decryption need improvement."
"The initial setup was complex."
Cisco Secure Firewall is ranked 4th in Firewalls with 404 reviews while Palo Alto Networks WildFire is ranked 3rd in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) with 58 reviews. Cisco Secure Firewall is rated 8.2, while Palo Alto Networks WildFire is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco Secure Firewall writes "Highlights and helps us catch Zero-day vulnerabilities traveling across our network". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Palo Alto Networks WildFire writes "Good technical support and provides automatic analysis that saves us time in filtering email". Cisco Secure Firewall is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Meraki MX, Sophos XG, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls and Juniper SRX Series Firewall, whereas Palo Alto Networks WildFire is most compared with Proofpoint Email Protection, Juniper SRX Series Firewall, Fortinet FortiSandbox, Check Point SandBlast Network and Zscaler Internet Access.
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