We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security and Netgate pfSense 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."Security solution with a straightforward and quick setup. It's a stable and scalable product."
"I like Fortinet's cloud management. It allows me to manage all my devices in different branches for three cloud accounts. Even though I use on-prem devices, I can manage everything on the cloud."
"FortiGate firewalls are easy to manage through a user-friendly web interface. They also have advanced features like DDoS and DLP. However, I wouldn't recommend enabling all of these features on one device because it can cause performance issues."
"The solution can scale well."
"Its performance in fulfilling our requirements has been satisfactory."
"It blocks the vulnerabilities that can negatively impact us."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is URL filtering."
"Overall security features and performance routing is good."
"It covers everything we need it to without looking to secondary solutions."
"The product has valuable features for business intelligence."
"I'm able to transfer data over internet network security. With the GRE I'm able to transfer data within one bunch to another bunch in a public way, like the internet. The communication is encrypted and is private. It gives me added privacy."
"The product is easy to use."
"The VPN connection portal scan works flawlessly, which was a big plus for us."
"Previously, anyone in the organization would see any data point in the wall. They could just go and connect their machine with that data point and could access the network. But now, even if someone came and tried that, they will not be given access."
"Cisco Technical Assistance Center works on a follow-the-sun concept and gives real 24x7 customer support, which is a great advantage when you have a service contract with them."
"The technical is excellent."
"Easy to deploy and easy to use."
"The tools' most valuable feature is load balancing."
"It is a better firewall than others and it has better features."
"I like pfSense's security features."
"The solution has good customization abilities and plenty of features."
"The solution is very robust."
"The interface is straightforward and easy to use."
"I use pfSense because it gives me the flexibility to greatly expand basic firewall features."
"They have to just improve its performance when we enable all UTM features. When you enable all the features, the performance of FortiGate, as well as of Sophos and SonicWall, goes down."
"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."
"There are SD-WAN network monitoring, SD-WAN features, Industrial Databases, Internet of Things, Detection, etc., however, we do have not licenses for those features. We thought that if you bought a product, you should have all of the features it offers. Why should you need to make so many extra purchases to enable features? They should have one price for the entire offering."
"It would be nice if backups could more easily migrate between different models."
"Some configuration elements cannot be easily altered once created."
"Stability and technical support are the two major issues I have found with Fortinet."
"NGN, reporting and controls."
"Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution."
"While Cisco IOS Security is stable and scalable, I would like to see it improved to be even better."
"Cisco IOS Security could improve by having more compatibility with other Cisco solutions."
"The configuration should be easier in the solution."
"We cannot directly upgrade the system. The tool's deployment is also very difficult in legacy environments. The tool needs to have bigger ports as well."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"Cisco IOS Security's monitoring is rather rudimentary and could be improved."
"In the security portfolio from Cisco, the issue is marketing. Cisco is still seen primarily as an enterprise network player rather than being acknowledged as a security vendor."
"The company needs to make its solution more affordable to make it more accessible to larger markets. Otherwise, it's seen as an enterprise-level solution that small or medium-sized organizations can't afford and therefore they won't even look at it."
"I would like to see different graphs available in the reporting."
"For the third-party packages, I'd rather have it built-in, like a core feature of pfSense, part of the core model."
"My only observation is about the quality of the IPSec logs, which are difficult to interpret and are poor in filters."
"I believe improving integration with various antivirus vendors could be beneficial."
"Many people have problems setting up the web cache for the web system."
"As an open-source solution, there are so many loopholes happening within the product. By design, no one is taking ownership of it, and that is worrisome to me."
"The technical support needs to be improved."
"I would like to see pfSense integrate WireGuard. Currently, pfSense uses OpenVPN, and there's nothing wrong with it, but WireGuard is a lot leaner and meaner."
Cisco IOS Security is ranked 22nd in Firewalls with 47 reviews while Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6. 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 Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiOS, Meraki MX, OPNsense and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, whereas Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XG, KerioControl, Sophos UTM and Cisco Secure Firewall. See our Cisco IOS Security vs. Netgate pfSense report.
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