Azure Firewall vs. Cisco Secure Firewall

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Azure Firewall
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Azure Firewall is a cloud-native, intelligent network firewall security service that offers threat protection for Azure cloud workloads. It is a fully stateful firewall as a service, featuring built-in high availability and unlimited cloud scalability.
$0.40
per deployment hour $0.065 per GB processed
Cisco Secure Firewall
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Secure Firewall delivers comprehensive threat protection for modern, distributed networks. Built to support hybrid workforces and multicloud environments, it enables Zero Trust access, application visibility, and secure remote connectivity. With integration across the Cisco Secure portfolio, including SecureX and Talos threat intelligence, the firewall powers organizations to detect and stop more sophisticated threats. Centralized management simplifies policy enforcement, orchestration,…N/A
Pricing
Azure FirewallCisco Secure Firewall
Editions & Modules
Basic
$0.395
per deployment hour $0.065 per GB processed
Standard
$1.25
per deployment hour $0.016 per GB processed
Premium
$1.75
per deployment hour $0.016 per GB processed
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Azure FirewallCisco Secure Firewall
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Azure FirewallCisco Secure Firewall
Features
Azure FirewallCisco Secure Firewall
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Azure Firewall
8.0
1 Ratings
8% below category average
Cisco Secure Firewall
8.0
170 Ratings
8% below category average
Identification Technologies8.01 Ratings8.2152 Ratings
Visualization Tools7.01 Ratings7.5153 Ratings
Content Inspection7.01 Ratings8.2152 Ratings
Policy-based Controls9.01 Ratings8.4160 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP8.01 Ratings7.8139 Ratings
Firewall Management Console9.01 Ratings7.2159 Ratings
Reporting and Logging7.01 Ratings7.8161 Ratings
VPN8.01 Ratings8.1144 Ratings
High Availability9.01 Ratings8.5155 Ratings
Stateful Inspection8.01 Ratings8.6151 Ratings
Proxy Server00 Ratings7.484 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Azure FirewallCisco Secure Firewall
Small Businesses
pfSense
pfSense
Score 8.8 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 8.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.3 out of 10
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 9.1 out of 10
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Azure FirewallCisco Secure Firewall
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(142 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(4 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(3 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(4 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.2
(78 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.8
(4 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.9
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Azure FirewallCisco Secure Firewall
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Azure Firewall is well suited for most mid sized and large sized companies that deal with thousands of users within multiple environments. Azure Firewall allows you to protect business assets by preventing malicious attacks from entering the network. Azure Firewall would be less suited for a small company that does not use a vpn or have users outside of the office as something smaller would be more appropriate.
Read full review
Cisco
We can create personalised policies for our environments. Support every type of old and new environments for deployments and integration. It is necessary for managing hybrid networks where network security is mandatory. Ensure better control of our networks to handle all the issues. I would rate it 9/10. So, my team always suggested it.
Read full review
Pros
Microsoft
  • Azure Fire wall is easy to use
  • Azure fire wall is easy to set up
Read full review
Cisco
  • Cisco's firewall actually does its job of blocking what it is supposed to block. We had an old Firewall that led to slippages. Cisco catches 97% of malware and vulnerabilities during testing. For Coitiar, that means an engineer who clicks a link with malware is handled quickly.
  • We actually tested if failovers would affect running sessions. We pulled our primary unit during a certification submission period. The firewall just switched, and the connection kept running.
  • The AI assistant in policy management is excellent, and for our lean team, it makes the whole process easy and efficient. I don't have to audit 200 policies manually; the AI steps in and does its thing.
Read full review
Cons
Microsoft
  • Azure Fire wall pricing may not always be competitive
Read full review
Cisco
  • I mean I think a lot of the technology with managing them is getting better. There's a few cons to the new firewall management console. You can't sort through routes or I think you can with interfaces now, but there's a few caveats that they haven't really worked out yet, but they're implementing AI into it, so it's getting to be a lot easier to use.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
It works really well. We can do most anything we want or need to with it, and you don’t have to have a doctorate or multiple certs to necessarily figure it out. The thing that would probably have to happen to make us switch would be if we just got priced out - Cisco’s more powerful and higher bandwidth models cost a pretty penny.
Read full review
Usability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
i think overall after ALOT of tac cases it works allright now. But still have alot of issues if you use cloud based mangement. fx, if you open 2 windows of access policys, both of the pages, rules starte to jump form side to side. if you then open one more list, its start to jump even faster. if you close the 2 of them, its back to normal. ALSO the extended access lists for VPN, SUCKS. Its the tiniest window when opening the editor, and you are not able to give the rules names, Which means finding and editing rules SUCKS, its a horrible experience, and eveytime we have to we want to yell :P
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Rationale:


Strengths:


High availability (HA) and failover configurations ensure continuous operation during hardware or network issues.


Minimal unplanned outages reported; system remains responsive under full inspection load.


Centralized monitoring and proactive alerts help prevent downtime.




Minor Considerations:


Occasional maintenance windows or updates may require brief service interruptions.


Complex integrations with other systems may sometimes require extra attention to maintain uptime.




Overall, Cisco Secure Firewall is highly available and dependable, supporting business continuity and operational resilience.
Read full review
Performance
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
We have not had any performance issues with Cisco Secure Firewall, even with DPI and IPS enabled, we have not seen a performance hit. Emoployes have not complained about any slow network speeds that could have been attributed to the secure firewall it has always been something else within the office network.
Read full review
Support Rating
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Firewall support is professional just like any other technology Cisco sells. From answering simple questions to bringing out outages affecting a large population of our workforce, Cisco support is always courteous, professional, and communicates with our team to keep our request on their radar. Some of the brightest people I've met are from Cisco support both in IQ and EQ which shows the talent Cisco is able to onboard to their team.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
very good
Read full review
Online Training
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
was a good training but questions was answered not so good. Training was "Fundamentals of Cisco Firewall Threat Defense and Intrusion Prevention (SFWIPF)".
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Our initial implementation was aided by Cisco's professional services and was excellent. The engineer was very knowledgeable and helped us work through issues while building out our new internet security edge Part of this involved tools to migrate the firewall configuration from old to new.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
Azure Firewall is a very competitive product that exceeds or meets the competitions offerings and is able to effectively manage a company network and securely lock down the domain environment with seamless integration and easy to use tools while offering great support assistance. We selected Azure Firewall because the customer service that comes with the product is second to none and allows us to keep maximum uptime to protect our assets.
Read full review
Cisco
Cisco Secure Firewall works better with the Cisco ecosystem when we can utilize it and feels beefy enough when we utilize it in the data center. The Fortinet we have found are great, small cost boxes for remote offices with a better UI then Cisco Secure Firewalls. The feature set included with the firewalls feels similar from a security point of view.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
A solid, realistic rating most people give for Cisco Secure Firewall pricing is 7 or 8 out of 10 (because the product is strong but licensing can be a bit complex)
Read full review
Scalability
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Cisco Secure Firewall has never given us any trouble, it has stayed up at all times, upgrading the appliance has also become much simpler. We operate the appliance in a HA pair, so 0% downtime within our organisation. During switchover while upgrading, not a single packet seems to get lost, so this has been a very valuable asset to our company.
Read full review
Professional Services
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Cisco
was not involved
Read full review
Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • Azure Firewall decreased our overhead by over 7%
  • Azure fire wall has increased efficiency within the security department
Read full review
Cisco
  • Cisco Secure Firewall gives details on the possible intrusions attempts that are occurring on the network, which gives stakeholders confidence that the network is being protected.
  • Cisco's reputation as a longstanding network leader provides the trust that is needed in keeping networks secure.
  • The wide variety of tools and features that Cisco Secure Firewall provides allows business owners to plan for changes that can occur in the network as Cisco is able to adapt to the different needs.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Azure Firewall Screenshots

Screenshot of a diagram of Azure Firewall BasicScreenshot of a diagram of Azure Firewall StandardScreenshot of

Cisco Secure Firewall Screenshots

Screenshot of Cisco Secure 1200 Series Firewall FamilyScreenshot of Cisco Secure 4200 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Secure 4200 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Secure Firewall 1200 Stack FamilyScreenshot of Cisco Secure Firewall 200 SeriesScreenshot of Cisco Secure Firewall 200 Series