Cisco Meraki MX vs. Untangle NG Firewall

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Meraki MX
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Meraki MX Firewalls is a combined UTM and Software-Defined WAN solution. Meraki is managed via the cloud, and provides core firewall services, including site-to-site VPN, plus network monitoring.
$595
per appliance
Untangle NG Firewall
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Untangle NG Firewall is an open-source firewall and gateway security platform. It offers a free core firewall platform with paid add-ons, and a cloud-based management platform with a variety of deployment options for smaller teams.
$25
per month
Pricing
Cisco Meraki MXUntangle NG Firewall
Editions & Modules
MX64
$595
per appliance
MX67
$695
per appliance
MX68
$995
per appliance
MX84
$1,995
per appliance
MX100
$4,995
per appliance
MX250
$9,995
per appliance
MX450
$19,995
per appliance
Open Source Firewall
$0.00
free under the GNU General Public License (GPL)
NG Firewall Complete
$25.00
per month
z4 appliance
$299
one-time purchase
z4w appliance
$329
one-time purchase
z4 Plus appliance
$399.00
one-time purchase
z6 appliance
$1199.00
one-time purchase
z12 appliance
$1999.00
one-time purchase
z20 appliance
$3499.00
one-time purchase
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Meraki MXUntangle NG 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
Cisco Meraki MXUntangle NG Firewall
Considered Both Products
Cisco Meraki MX
Chose Cisco Meraki MX
I would prefer both Untangle and Fortinet over Meraki. The only downside of those two products is you need more technical network knowledge to manage the product. Untangle and Fortinet both offer more features and cost less than Meraki MX devices. Untangle has better …
Untangle NG Firewall

No answer on this topic

Features
Cisco Meraki MXUntangle NG Firewall
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Meraki MX
7.9
131 Ratings
9% below category average
Untangle NG Firewall
8.2
6 Ratings
5% below category average
Identification Technologies8.0126 Ratings8.06 Ratings
Visualization Tools8.4123 Ratings7.06 Ratings
Content Inspection8.1121 Ratings8.06 Ratings
Policy-based Controls7.9121 Ratings8.06 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP7.5105 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Firewall Management Console7.4123 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Reporting and Logging7.4128 Ratings7.06 Ratings
VPN8.8122 Ratings9.06 Ratings
High Availability8.7124 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Stateful Inspection7.6117 Ratings8.06 Ratings
Proxy Server6.670 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Meraki MXUntangle NG Firewall
Small Businesses
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.4 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.4 out of 10
pfSense
pfSense
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 9.5 out of 10
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 9.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Meraki MXUntangle NG Firewall
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(174 ratings)
7.0
(9 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.7
(14 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
8.4
(10 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.3
(19 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(141 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.3
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Meraki MXUntangle NG Firewall
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
It's very well suited for retail locations where you have a small footprint and it's a collapsed core design and it's connecting to a larger hub. We don't necessarily use them in our data centers just because they don't have the full capability we have. We use FTDs in our data centers, so we use a different Cisco product for that. So I would say they're really good at setting up sites quickly, getting them connected, protecting the traffic, and then they're a little weak in a data center right now.
Read full review
Untangle
Untangle is very strong in the "traditional" sense of security. That means an edge appliance that either works with an existing router or is the router itself (recommended). This approach has also been adapted well to cloud environments in order to protect virtual servers and VDI workstations. As mentioned earlier, many schools are using cloud-based filtering for their 1:1 solutions for their students. This is an area where Untangle is unable to serve. Some have used an instance of Untangle in the cloud with VPN to serve their remote needs, but it is not the same as solutions that are designed for cloud-based filtering of devices without VPN.
Read full review
Pros
Cisco
  • The Cisco Meraki MX series is phenomenal at allowing us to remotely manage networks. So the devices usually act as the brain behind our client's networks, which makes it really, really easy for our team to take a look at what's going on in those client network environments, resolve any issues, and make sure that our client's networks are staying secure.
Read full review
Untangle
  • Web Filtering is strong, and can also do application fingerprinting to allow Facebook, but not Facebook games. Secondly, a separate partition called a "rack" can be set up to give one subnet or group of users different web filtering policies than another. For example, teachers would get more freedom to browse the web than students at a school.
  • Built-in SD-WAN connectivity as part of your license. IPSEC tunnel creation is also amazingly easy.
  • Will install on any x86 hardware created in the last 5-10 years. Ram and processor requirements per user are very low.
  • Reporting is phenomenal, however you can get death by details very easily.
Read full review
Cons
Cisco
  • Inbuilt wireless does not support tunnel SSID mode. This has meant not all SSID in our organisation can be deployed at a MX site.
  • Whilst Inbuilt switch ports support dot1x, they do not report as well on our NAC server as on a MS switch or catalyst switch.
Read full review
Untangle
  • The full suite can be expensive for business but will be powerful enough.
  • The full suite for home or small office isn't that bad of a price but may be out of reach for most home users but remember the basics are FREE so anyone can get started with it.
  • I would like to see it promoted for mid to large businesses as I think it can handle it.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
The simplicity and ease of use for the Meraki Dashboard make it an easy choice for our organization to renew our Meraki Enterprise Agreement. We will likely continue using the Meraki MC67-C, MX450, and other MX models in their catalog until we shift away from Meraki completely
Read full review
Untangle
Service renewal is in Feb 2021. We will be renewing!
Read full review
Usability
Cisco
Some features simply aren't there, but the ones that are there are pretty easy to use. Sometimes it is easy to get lost when trying to find the specific device you want to work on, but that's mostly due to how rarely we have to go into the interface.
Read full review
Untangle
Generally works well but seeing more and more bugs with the OpenVPN app.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Cisco
Meraki MX devices support high availability (HA) configurations, which ensures minimal downtime if one device goes offline. This feature has helped us maintain a stable and reliable network, even in cases of hardware failures. ince Meraki is cloud-managed, we've noticed that the cloud infrastructure is generally highly reliable, with minimal service interruptions or downtime. This makes it easier to manage the network remotely without significant availability concerns. Meraki automatically pushes firmware updates and patches, which helps maintain system stability without requiring manual intervention. These updates are rolled out in a manner that ensures minimal disruption to service.
Read full review
Untangle
No answers on this topic
Performance
Cisco
The interface is pretty responsive. The lower end devices are easy to overwhelm if you have a lot of throughput. Be sure the model you get is rated for the amount of traffic you will have. Overbuild if possible, otherwise you won't be fully leveraging the connection from your ISP.
Read full review
Untangle
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
I haven't ever had a bad experience with Meraki support. On the few occasions where I wasn't understanding the UI or needed some clarification about what a setting actually would do, I contacted them and they were very quickly able to provide help. Returns are simple and fast, too. We had to return a defective device one time and they shipped the replacement before we had even un-racked the one that was faulty. Unlike many other vendors, they didn't ask use to a do long list of scripted diagnostics, they just took my word for it that the device was broken and sent out a replacement immediately
Read full review
Untangle
The phone support reps are highly competent and native-English speakers. big plus vs some other vendors with difficult to understand or less knowledgable support engineers.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Cisco
great when they offered it, really tested your knowledge with hands on and see what your peers from other orgs know. glad to see that we were ahead of the curve of what our peers knew
Read full review
Untangle
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Cisco
it was okay as it was moderated but still better than nothing and done via semi self paced webex meeting
Read full review
Untangle
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Cisco
Implementing Meraki MX devices in phases—starting with a pilot group or select branch offices—was invaluable. This allowed us to identify potential configuration issues, troubleshoot problems, and refine our setup before rolling it out company-wide. It also helped to get feedback from early users and adjust the deployment strategy accordingly. The SD-WAN capabilities in Meraki MX were essential for optimizing our WAN traffic and ensuring better application performance across various locations.
Read full review
Untangle
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cisco
The Meraki Dashboard has been a lot more intuitive than CradlePoint NetCloud. We switched from CradlePoint to Cisco Meraki MX because we were already familiar with the interface which allowed us to be familiar with a single dashboard.
Read full review
Untangle
Untangle NG Firewall has a partnership with third parties to provide an amazing suite of applications. You pay for those. With free software, you have to wait for it to be updated. With Unifi, the hardware was too underpowered to do anything meaningful. I don't mind the monthly fees because these companies update quickly; they have a reputation to maintain.
Read full review
Scalability
Cisco
When I first started with my company we had various infrastructure and a mix of tech. Since going to Cisco Meraki MX we have noticed better network performance and our new sites are much easier to bring online. Users have noticed an improvement in VPN connection and getting into all our systems.
Read full review
Untangle
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • From a positive impact? Basically it allows us to set up shop very quickly. It allowed us to add sites to our network very quickly. From a negative perspective, I think the only thing is that I can see from a negative perspective is I have a preference to working with ACLI in terms of how I engage with the youth tool At the moment, the only way to actually engage with a tool is on a gui and sometimes what I'd actually like is more detailed information in terms of actual configuration that you'll actually get out of ACLI.
Read full review
Untangle
  • It's allowed us to be PCI compliant which we need to do business.
  • It's allowed us to not only be PCI compliant but follow best practice to be actually as secure as we can be.
  • It's really presented us with a lot of flexibility in terms of how we connect to other services.
  • There is some maintenance, but it's very minimal.
Read full review
ScreenShots