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Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Fortinet FortiGate vs. OpenText Network Detection & Response

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Secure Firewall

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/ACisco 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

    FortiGate

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AFortiNet FortiGate is a firewall option with high integrability. It offers a variety of deployment options and next-gen firewall capabilities, including integration with IaaS cloud platforms and public cloud environments.N/A

    OpenText Network Detection & Response

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AOpenText Network Detection & Response (based on technology from the company's 2021 acquisition of Bricata) fuses detection, forensic analysis and proactive threat-hunting to provide enterprise security teams with full visibility.Features include signature inspection, stateful anomaly detection and machine-learning-powered malware conviction to defend against both known and hidden threats.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Secure FirewallFortiGateOpenText Network Detection & Response
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Secure FirewallFortiGateOpenText Network Detection & Response
    Free Trial
    YesYesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—FortiGate pricing starts at $250 for home office use, up to $300,000 for large enterprise appliances. Must contact sales team for pricing.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Secure FirewallFortiGateOpenText Network Detection & Response
    Considered Multiple Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    The Cisco Secure Firewall has less throughput than the Juniper SRX but easier integration and management. The FortiGate is extremely competitive in pricing and has a capable gui, but often gets called out for security vulnerebilities
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Gui of FortiGate is more user friendly
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Our organization chose Cisco Secure Firewall because, in our experience, Cisco Secure Firewall is more secure than FortiGate.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    I believe Cisco firewalls are definitely on par with Palo Alto but the latest AI feature releasing in 2024 will certainly surpass all expectations. Fortinet is going to struggle after this and I can say that with certainty given we have removed all our FortiGate firewalls.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Fortinet is a great competitor but it has had a lot of vulnerabilities and fair share of issues. We chose Cisco Secure Firewall solely because we are a CIsco environment that uses a lot of the Cisco products. We use the Catalyst switches, the Meraki switches and access points …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Fortinet and Palo both offer strong firewall capabilites but integrating them with the rest of our Cisco infra required additionnal efforts and multiple management consoles (so less visibility).
    With Cisco Secure Firewall, everyting operates in a complementary and unified way …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    because Cisco is the number one
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    I hate fortinet
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Cisco is our House brand, difficult to compete
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    same theory, differnet dashboard
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Having worked in the Fortinet and Sonicwall space, I have found that the Cisco Secure Firewall platform is the easiest to work with. The platform is easily customizable and overall very clean. Cisco has kept the platform feeling fresh with regular updates.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Our organization chose Cisco Secure Firewall for Simply object modification
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    The other products do well with simplifying some of the tasks such as rule creation where it would create rules based on a zone.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Good
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    We had a lot of bugs with CheckPoint, Cisco Secure Firewalls are much more reliable over time.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    result better in the use of policies and for the segregation of the customer infrastructure.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Because reputation of the brand, but fortinet its easier to operate
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Environment is heavily Cisco so the ecosystem made sense
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Cisco FTD ofers GUI management and overall if feature richer
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Palo Alto has better architecture with their multi cpu concept that increases throughoutput.
    Cisco has better features and mostly better integrations outside of their eco system.
    Overall the products and features of cisco are slightly better but if cisco would implement the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    Cisco FTD poc was more successful on our case
    Incentivized
    Fortinet
    No answer on this topic
    OpenText
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    93%
    Would buy again
    193 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    49 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    160 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    48 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    191 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    49 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    140 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    44 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    86%
    Implementation went as expected
    164 Answers
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    47 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Cisco Secure FirewallFortiGateOpenText Network Detection & Response
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Cisco Secure Firewall and Fortinet FortiGate and OpenText Network Detection & Response
    Feature
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    8.2
    196 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Fortinet FortiGate
    8.7
    53 Ratings
    1% above category average
    OpenText Network Detection & Response
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies8.1177 Ratings8.951 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools7.8175 Ratings8.351 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection8.3175 Ratings8.852 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls8.5183 Ratings8.953 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP7.9156 Ratings8.750 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console8.0182 Ratings7.752 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging7.7184 Ratings8.353 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN8.8164 Ratings9.152 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability8.9177 Ratings9.348 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection8.8171 Ratings9.251 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server7.793 Ratings8.539 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Secure FirewallFortiGateOpenText Network Detection & Response
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.3 out of 10
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.3 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    Cisco IOS Security
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Secure FirewallFortiGateOpenText Network Detection & Response
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.3
    (203 ratings)
    8.7
    (79 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    7.0
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    7.3
    (6 ratings)
    8.7
    (21 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.7
    (131 ratings)
    9.0
    (27 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.7
    (6 ratings)
    5.0
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.5
    (3 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Secure FirewallFortiGateOpenText Network Detection & Response
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    Fortinet FortiGate addressed an immediate security issue we had a few years ago. The device gave us a much clearer picture of the activities on our network and also more importantly, increased our awareness of threats from the internet as a whole. Fortinet FortiGate helps us to mitigate these threats with regular signature updates from Fortiguard labs, identifying certain characteristics which, once recognised by Fortinet FortiGate, can be harnessed to deploy powerful 'playbooks'.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    • SD-WAN - Load balancing of Internet traffic is a USP of Fortigate and makes it stand tall in the competition. Be it 3 or more Internet Links, multiple Subnets/segments of users to distribute and bandwidth load balancing for links and users. SLA based monitoring of Internet Links / MPLS links, makes it even better to choose the links on the basis of performance (Latency, packet loss, Jitter etc).
    • SSL VPN configuration - As we all have WFH force (to some extend or all employee) during Covid-19, it is impossible to plan BCP without having a SSL VPN. In Fortigate, the SSL VPN configuration is very easy with the help of wizard. The deep CLI-level debugging is also very helpful in troubleshooting. Type of tunnel can be easily configured - Full Tunnel or Split Tunnel for SSL.
    • Explicit Proxy - This is also a great feature to shape and re-route the traffic, configuring the Proxy on the Firewall itself. We are using this feature in Pilot for now, and planned to rollout in few weeks looking at the success rate of the POC.
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    • Documentation is missing a great deal of detail and assumes the customer and just guess and fill in the blanks themselves
    • Fortinet has lots and lots of video guides on topics that only a small percentage of customers would ever need
    • The documentation and video guides do not get updated so most is only relevant to older software versions
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    Fortinet's products have kept improving with new software releases and they continue to deliver great value. Their support is also very good. I believe that as a small enterprise, their products have given us competitive advantage delivering features and functionality that enable us to innovate and do things better. They also continue to be a leader in the markets they serve.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    The firewall runs very well, firmware updates are fairly quick but you must follow the upgrade path. Neglecting this step will cause a lot of pain. If you decide to go with Fortinet FortiGate switches and/or access points, they can be managed within the firewall which is great. We're also using the FortiAnalyzer which easily plugs into the firewall for any reporting you may require.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Fortinet
    We had didn't any hardware failures at our two main office locations and upgraded our units last year after using them for about 5-6 years
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    Good performance and really good integration. We have integration with Microsoft AD.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    The Support team at Fortinet is excellent. They can not only help you configure the device for what you are trying to do, they offer suggestions on improving rules, and troubleshooting issues. Their response time is fast, ensuring you are up and running immediately with no questions asked. We had a hard drive failure in one of our Fortinet Fortigate appliances. The tech answered immediately, and started rebuilding the drive after some preliminary investigations. After rebuilding, there were still errors and issues, so they dispatched a brand new Fortinet Fortigate appliance. The tech then backed up the configurations for when the new device came in, which showed up in a few hours. A restore of the configuration took less than a minute, and there were no more errors or issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    very good
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    I received it a couple years afters use it and it was just to confirm my knowledge about the tool.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    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)".
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    No answers on this topic
    OpenText
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Fortinet
    Make sure that you have the most current version of FortiOS. Make sure all Fortigates are on the same version
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    [Fortinet] FortiGate is not only cost effective but it gives the comprehensive security against the APT attacks and gives the complete traffic visibility and granular control. You can easily create the VDOMs (Virtual firewall) within a Fortigate firewall and customize the dashboard as per your requirement if you have multiple VDOMs within a single firewall.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    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)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    No changes needed to terms and conditions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    My environments are pretty small (less than 100 users per location) so no issues here.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    Professional Services
    Cisco
    was not involved
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    No answers on this topic
    OpenText
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Fortinet
    • The pricing given to us for our firewall was well within what we were already spending for other vendors solutions and had the added value of eliminating a separate expense for a dedicated web filtering appliance.
    • We have also adopted Fortinet's security fabric approach and thus changed vendors for our switch and AP devices. These devices have come at reduced prices as compared to another previous vendor we were using, particularly in relation to ongoing annual maintenance costs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    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