TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Cisco Secure Firewall vs. HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    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

    HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/AThe HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager provides role- and device-based network access control for employees, contractors and guests across multi-vendor wired, wireless and VPN infrastructures.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Secure FirewallHPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Secure FirewallHPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    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 Secure FirewallHPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    93%
    Would buy again
    193 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    160 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    11 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    191 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    11 Answers
    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
    10 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    86%
    Implementation went as expected
    164 Answers
    90%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    Features
    Cisco Secure FirewallHPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Cisco Secure Firewall and HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    Feature
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    8.2
    196 Ratings
    5% below category average
    HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    -
    Ratings
    Identification Technologies8.1177 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visualization Tools7.8175 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Inspection8.3175 Ratings00 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls8.5183 Ratings00 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP7.9156 Ratings00 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console8.0182 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging7.7184 Ratings00 Ratings
    VPN8.8164 Ratings00 Ratings
    High Availability8.9177 Ratings00 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection8.8171 Ratings00 Ratings
    Proxy Server7.793 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Secure FirewallHPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    Small Businesses
    SonicWall NSA Series
    Score8.3 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Secure FirewallHPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.3
    (203 ratings)
    9.5
    (11 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    7.3
    (6 ratings)
    7.8
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.7
    (131 ratings)
    8.0
    (7 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.7
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.5
    (3 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Secure FirewallHPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Policy Manager
    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
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    Aruba ClearPass is suited well for large enterprise networks with many connecting buildings and branches. Aruba ClearPass protects your endpoints from unauthorized or unknown devices accessing your network. You can apply policies that prevent devices from meeting the required policies in ClearPass. ClearPass will allow only authorized access for devices that are using the policies.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    • You can use ClearPass authenticate using wired and wireless network devices. This is helpful that you don't have to have multiple systems to accomplish this.
    • Because devices can have different purposes Clearpass can configure groups that will specify what access they have. You can use parameters such as vendor or mac address so clearpass know what group to push them to.
    • It is very easy to view device logs. This is really helpful to troubleshoot auth issues. Once you find the device Clearpass provides more than enough info to know what the issue is and to fix it.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    • Going to the end of the page to edit the rules and save them later causes problems.
    • An AND operation can be performed within a rule, but an OR operation cannot. therefore having to write too many rules
    • The license structure seems very complex at first.
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    It's a great product, does what we expect from it however it's not easy to set up. You'll likely need an integrator to assist
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    Though Aruba ClearPass offers a lot of insight and features, it is not the easiest to navigate. A lot of other systems can be figured out as you go, but Aruba ClearPass often requires a lot of research in order to set something up correctly. It's not always easy to find what you're looking for. Once you learn the basics, it becomes a lot more manageable, but it's definitely worth investing in some sort of training.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    We have it as a cluster
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    It’s very responsive
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    This product has consistently provided the results needed from it and when issues arose, Aruba TAC was able to provide support effectively. In the previous question, I stated that Aruba Wireless is used as well. With those systems in place with ClearPass troubleshooting becomes much easier. I am sure other issues may arise if calling support while using another vendor for wireless such as Cisco, Juniper, etc.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    very good
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    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
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    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
    Read full review
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    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
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    From my experience, ClearPass has been the best NAC server of all I've seen. Even though configuration is somewhat hard and it's hard to get training, once you learn how to configure it it works very well. The policies are very granular and scalable and the interface is a well-done web GUI that does not need any extra plugins installed, as some of Cisco's product require. There are many more options than with FortiNAC, and many more integration options. Also, troubleshooting and logging is good.
    Incentivized
    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)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    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
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    It’s very reliable
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Cisco
    was not involved
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    Got the job done
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
    • ClearPass has streamlined everything so we don't have to have as many people managing our device auth systems.
    • Our Security team loves that ClearPass can deny unauthorized users and devices from the network. This alone has probably saved us a lot of money and headaches.
    Incentivized
    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