Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Forcepoint NGFW

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Secure Firewall
Score 8.5 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
Forcepoint NGFW
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Forcepoint 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 Secure FirewallForcepoint 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 Secure FirewallForcepoint NGFW
Free Trial
YesYes
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 Secure FirewallForcepoint NGFW
Features
Cisco Secure FirewallForcepoint NGFW
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Secure Firewall
8.2
198 Ratings
5% below category average
Forcepoint NGFW
8.1
1 Ratings
6% below category average
Identification Technologies8.1179 Ratings5.01 Ratings
Visualization Tools7.8177 Ratings5.01 Ratings
Content Inspection8.3177 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Policy-based Controls8.5185 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP7.9158 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Firewall Management Console8.0184 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Reporting and Logging7.7186 Ratings8.01 Ratings
VPN8.8166 Ratings9.01 Ratings
High Availability8.9179 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Stateful Inspection8.8173 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Proxy Server7.895 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cisco Secure FirewallForcepoint NGFW
Small Businesses
SonicWall NSA Series
SonicWall NSA Series
Score 8.4 out of 10
SonicWall NSA Series
SonicWall NSA Series
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.1 out of 10
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.1 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
Cisco Secure FirewallForcepoint NGFW
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(205 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.3
(6 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
9.5
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.8
(132 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
In-Person Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.7
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.4
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.5
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Secure FirewallForcepoint NGFW
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
I can't think of scenarios where it is less appropriate, unless we are talking about real tiny businesses. More businesses will find Cisco Secure Firewall an outstanding tool to use, love, and trust from a reputable Network giant vendor. It is a must for businesses that want to focus on what they are doing, and leaving the network security for the pros.
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.
Read full review
Pros
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.
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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.
Read full review
Cons
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
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.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
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
Forcepoint
No answers on this topic
Usability
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
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Forcepoint
The Graphical User Interface is very easy to read, understand and work with. The usability of this product is very high.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
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.
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Forcepoint
No answers on this topic
Performance
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.
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Forcepoint
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
I rarely get the support I need in the time I need it. Often, while they are "looking at packet captures and going to get back to me" I fix the problem on my own. If you were to look at my TAC cases over the past year, you would see some very lengthy cases that usually ended with me contacting the TAC person and telling them to just close the case
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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.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Cisco
very good
Read full review
Forcepoint
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Cisco
was a good training but questions was answered not so good. Training was "Fundamentals of Cisco Firewall Threat Defense and Intrusion Prevention (SFWIPF)".
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Forcepoint
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
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.
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Forcepoint
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
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
Forcepoint
There are similar hardware and license costs between the two products. The Forcepoint NGFW product is by far easier to use and manage.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
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
Forcepoint
No answers on this topic
Scalability
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.
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Forcepoint
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Cisco
was not involved
Read full review
Forcepoint
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Cisco Secure Firewalls help with our segmentation policies and protect our company assets
  • Cisco Secure Firewalls help identify when our policies have changed on or network and troubleshoot network outages
  • Cisco Secure Firewalls help identify threats through Cisco Talos and other threat feeds that they ingest
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.
Read full review
ScreenShots

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