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Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software vs. Forcepoint NGFW

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ACisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the core OS for the ASA suite. It provides firewall functionality, as well as integration with context-specific Cisco security modules. It is scaled for enterprise-level traffic and connections.N/A

    Forcepoint NGFW

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AForcepoint Next-Generation Firewall delivers network security at scale. They can be deployed from anywhere through the Secure Management Console (SMC) and unify policy management, incident response and reporting.

    $900

    one-time fee for the entry tier Forcepoint N60 (approx)

    Pricing
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareForcepoint NGFW
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Forcepoint NGFW N60
    $900
    one-time fee (approx)
    Forcepoint NGFW N120
    $1314
    one-time fee (approx)
    Forcepoint NGFW N350
    $7850
    one-time fee (approx)
    Forcepoint NGFW N1200
    $13600
    one-time fee (approx)
    Forcepoint NGFW N2200
    $36000
    one-time fee (approx)
    Forcepoint NGFW N3400 & N3500
    varies
    one-time fee
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareForcepoint NGFW
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsFirewalls are bought predominately through partners and third-party VARs. Pricing for purchase and lease and support options vary by reseller.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareForcepoint NGFW
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Forcepoint
    Chose Forcepoint NGFW
    There are similar hardware and license costs between the two products. The Forcepoint NGFW product is by far easier to use and manage.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    87%
    Would buy again
    40 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    42 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    42 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    41 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareForcepoint NGFW
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Forcepoint NGFW
    Feature
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    8.9
    50 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Forcepoint NGFW
    8.1
    1 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Identification Technologies7.932 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Visualization Tools7.931 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Content Inspection8.433 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls8.446 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP8.448 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console9.049 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging8.949 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    VPN10.049 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    High Availability9.649 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection10.046 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Proxy Server9.032 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareForcepoint NGFW
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.4 out of 10
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    F5 BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM)
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareForcepoint NGFW
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (88 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.1
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    7.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.7
    (8 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    6.5
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareForcepoint NGFW
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    Cisco ASA's are great for internal network connected access between a firewall and the central management server. And, for complex networks where high security requirements with overly strict compliance are necessary. For networks with limited connectivity to the core or for poor network connectivity these are not the best solution. There are other more stand-alone firewall's that do this better. These firewall's are a little more complex to set up to start with so significant knowledge of these devices is required to set them up and ensure they are best practice installed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Forcepoint
    If you are looking for a smaller network/security team, the ease and low complexity create an easy to manage environment. One engineer can easily manage 100 nodes/locations. If you are just starting to get security conscious and predict regular adjustments to policy, routing, and access, this is a very good system for making easy to understand and low impact changes on a regular basis without operations interruption.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • ASA is our VPN concentrator. The client and server are very stable and very easy to use
    • ASA also offers Intrusion Prevention, to an extent. This is also very useful for an improved security posture for a small company
    • ASA allowed us to scale very quickly. We could onboard clients, partners, and consultants and give them a great onboarding experience as well
    • Administrative costs with ASA are low. It's very easy to administer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Forcepoint
    • Easy to manage and make changes on - ACL's are done with ease.
    • Easy USB initial configuration - The easy initial setup of a new location and firewall saves massive time. Settings are automatically pushed to new nodes upon contact with the controller.
    • Low Complexity - This system does not have a lot of complexity requiring extra hours, training, or personnel to manage.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • The ASDM software is at times a nightmare to install because of different java versions[.]
    • [The firewall] could do with a power button, just to be able to do a hard reboot when needed[.]
    • It would be nice to manage the firewall via the web on port 443[.]
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Forcepoint
    • Poor Reporting - It exists but even when calling in to support for assistance, they have no idea how to tackle customizing reports or searching for specific data.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    To be honest there has been now great products out in the market compared to Cisco ASA. I beleieve Cisco has to do a lot of improvement in this area. The other defeiniete factors is the cost when it comes to renewals which is always a premium on Cisco products
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Forcepoint
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Forcepoint
    The Graphical User Interface is very easy to read, understand and work with. The usability of this product is very high.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    I generally have not noticed the outages, however since it's a machine it can malfunction, we need to implement the firewall infrastructure in such a way that it is highly available with device failure, region failure etc. Else any solution will be having the issues if they are not build with resiliency.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Forcepoint
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    The support is usually very good and gets back to you very quickly. However I had some instances of when two engineers will give me wildly different answers to what I thought was a simple question. Overall however I do rate the support highly and they are generally always very good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Forcepoint
    Support has varied over the history of the company. Terro is a name that comes up often with the best of service from this company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    It was quite a good one, how ever requires an expertise to deploy hence the SMB segment would be finding it difficult to implement this product. The one good reason is that there are lot of ASA certified engineers in compared to the other certified engineers. Hence this resembles positively on the deployment as you have quite a lot of experienced engineer on your deployment
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Forcepoint
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    We were using [pfSense] before in our environment but we regularly facing difficulties over it due to software bugs & downtime. After implementing Cisco ASA, it resolved our availability issue & provides us a reliable solution with the best security features & easy to understand GUI.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Forcepoint
    There are similar hardware and license costs between the two products. The Forcepoint NGFW product is by far easier to use and manage.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Most network engineers have worked with ASA, so there is no need for re-training when adding or turning over staff
    • Current configs from older devices plug in easily, and are operational on larger devices if an upgrade is required
    • Many support options available
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Forcepoint
    • Efficiency/Productivity increase. The company moved from Cisco firewall and routing hardware to Forcepoint NGFW. It now takes fewer people and fewer hours to manage the new product. This has allowed the company to put the man-hours to use on other projects and tasks.
    • Long term viability. This has been a concern in the past when the company started as Stonegate, merged to become Stonesoft then got purchased by McAfee, then McAfee got purchased by Intel. However, with Forcepoint the product seems to have found a stable home.
    • Low complexity. The Web GUI based system for management has reduced the cost of personnel and training required. There is no longer a need for the company to have higher trained and higher salary cost employees to manage the system. Mid-level admins at lower salaries are capable of managing the GUI based system with ease.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots