We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security and OPNsense 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."The pipe filter application is an outstanding feature."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is Quota."
"SSL-VPN is very useful for us and has been very reliable."
"I only deal with it from a security analyst's point of view. I don't really get into the features of the actual FortiGate. From the security point of view, it works, and it does its job."
"The solution is very user friendly. The user interface in particular is quite nice."
"You can purchase switches and you don't need to do anything with them. You just put in the firewall and the switches get all the policies and rules that you already have in the firewall. With Fortinet, you just connect the FortiSwitch to the Fortinet and that's it."
"Valuable features include the Web Application Firewall, and it even has DLP (data leak prevention)."
"Some of the valuable features are the firewall, IPS, web filter, and gateway capabilities. Additionally, it is easy to use and flexible."
"Cisco IOS Security is very robust and works very well."
"The hardware is pretty stable. It's also a very good product performance-wise. Initially, it wasn't mature like a firewall and there were other leaders, but now they have included almost all the features of next-generation security. Basically, it's a good product to work with."
"The Intrusion Firewall is a valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature is endpoint protection."
"The most valuable features of Cisco IOS Security are the plenty of functionality it provides, many people are IT certified the usage, and the user interface is good."
"The security is very good."
"The product has valuable features for business intelligence."
"The capabilities for scalability with this product are huge"
"The system in general is quite flexible."
"One of the most valuable features is the network checking. Additionally, the firewall and web filtering functionalities are highly useful."
"The technical support is very good."
"It's more secure and more reliable."
"I feel that its valuable features are that it is simple and free."
"I find the solution to be user-friendly. It has a lot of reports and easy settings."
"It has an open license. It works very well, and there is an update every month."
"OPNsense is easy to scale when running on the hardware."
"There are some problems that support cannot give you a logical reason as to why it happened. For example, I had a case where I was dealing with a WhatsApp application that was giving issues. Technical support gave more than one reason it could be giving issues, but none of them solved the problem. Eventually I solved the problem, but it was far from the solutions that support had given."
"The support we receive when we need to upgrade is not satisfactory and has room for improvement."
"In terms of what could be improved, the SD-WAN is quite difficult, because if you install the new box, 15 is okay, but if you change from an old configuration, if there is already configuration and a policy when you change to SD-WAN, you must change the whole policy that you see in the interface."
"Fortinet Fortigate could benefit by simplifying some of their processes."
"Bandwidth usage in reporting could be improved for Fortinet FortiGate."
"The solution can have more features in a single box that can be multi-applied to integrate everything."
"Technical support could be better. You don't always get the level of help you need right away."
"If they had better integration with security products, such as Cisco ISE or Rapid Threat Containment, then it would be an improvement."
"Cisco IOS Security could improve its security features. There are competitors that have some additional security features, such as Fortinet FortiGate. Additionally, there should be better synchronization with Cisco IOS Security and other vendors, and improved AI features would be beneficial."
"The graphical user interface or the GUI could be better. Beginners can use some devices with the GUI, but some security devices are configured using CLI. It would also be better if it had its own Intrusion Protection Service and Intrusion Detection Service on the server."
"We faced significant challenges related to licensing issues, particularly when licenses expire."
"The solution is not user friendly and it is hard to manage the GUI interface."
"Cisco very slowly introduces and implements the products, unlike other brands."
"With respect to user-friendliness, it is a command-line interface and those with such experience will get along just fine, whereas others may struggle."
"Signatures and other critical definitions need to be updated more frequently."
"In the next release of this solution, we would like to see support for the 100BT and 7000 models."
"The scalability needs improvement."
"When using the solution at the beginning was difficult. There was a steep learning curve."
"The solution would not be suitable for anything large-scale."
"There is room for improvement in SSL inspection."
"I would like better documentation concerning the provided packages and their integration."
"Given that OPNsense plays a pivotal role as a firewall, safeguarding against various threats, having a reliable backup ensures uninterrupted protection even if unforeseen events impact the primary virtual machine."
"The reporting part could be better."
"The interface needs to be simplified. It is not user-friendly."
Cisco IOS Security is ranked 22nd in Firewalls with 47 reviews while OPNsense is ranked 3rd in Firewalls with 36 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while OPNsense is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco IOS Security writes "User-friendly and excels in documentation, making it easier to resolve issues". On the other hand, the top reviewer of OPNsense writes "Robust network security and management offering a user-friendly interface, open-source flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, with challenges regarding initial setup and the absence of official support". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Meraki MX, Fortinet FortiOS, Netgate pfSense and Palo Alto Networks URL Filtering with PAN-DB, whereas OPNsense is most compared with Netgate pfSense, Sophos XG, Untangle NG Firewall, Sophos UTM and IPFire. See our Cisco IOS Security vs. OPNsense report.
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