Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software vs. Smoothwall UTM

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Cisco 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
Smoothwall UTM
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Smoothwall UTM is a firewall security suite for educational environments. It includes the standard firewall services, as well as load balancing, and has hardware and software deployment options.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareSmoothwall UTM
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareSmoothwall UTM
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareSmoothwall UTM
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareSmoothwall UTM
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
8.1
49 Ratings
5% below category average
Smoothwall UTM
9.3
1 Ratings
9% above category average
Identification Technologies8.632 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Visualization Tools7.030 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Content Inspection7.932 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Policy-based Controls8.645 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP8.347 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Firewall Management Console8.547 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Reporting and Logging5.948 Ratings9.01 Ratings
VPN9.048 Ratings10.01 Ratings
High Availability9.047 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Stateful Inspection8.046 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Proxy Server8.032 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareSmoothwall UTM
Small Businesses
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) SoftwareSmoothwall UTM
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(87 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
7.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.7
(8 ratings)
-
(0 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) SoftwareSmoothwall UTM
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.
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Smoothwall
After a year of using the Smoothwall UTM Firewall solution, we can say that it is a secure solution, it offers a graphical interface for configuration and access with easy understanding and usability, the security features and blocking of url and applications work very well and also protects against malware and ransomware. For small and even intermediate scenarios I recommend it, but not for very large scenarios. Licenses can be renewed and are priced very well compared to competitors.
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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.
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Smoothwall
  • easy to manage by its web platform that allows quick access to system functions
  • allows the administration of the company's network by creating IP navigation permissions to prevent access to unprotected pages
  • this system can be installed on computers with very few resources and even with old equipment just by adapting an additional network card. This is helpful for companies that are starting and do not have much capital to invest but need to protect their systems
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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[.]
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Smoothwall
  • Rare problems have been noticed when there are many connections at the same time.
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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
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Smoothwall
No answers on this topic
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.
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Smoothwall
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.
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Smoothwall
No answers on this topic
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
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Smoothwall
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.
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Smoothwall
Smoothwall is a system that is cheaper than just a free license due to being a Linux distribution. Simplewall is a bit more for robust equipment or large networks.
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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
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Smoothwall
  • Internal network security and intruder protection for a cost-effective solution.
  • The solution contributed and greatly reduced malware attacks and ddos ​​attacks.
  • Reports allowed more accurate analysis.
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ScreenShots