Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Firepower NGFW) vs SonicWall TZ

Likelihood to Recommend

Excellent enterprise grade solution with full features to perform any security scenario. Available licenses that can be customized to suit the security needs. Backed by Cisco Talos security centre that provides IPS and security signatures to keep the business protected at all times. Backed by manufacturer support and excellent help desk resources.

Read full review

Victor Lau

Network Architect

BSSTelecommunications, 10,001+ employees

View all 8 answers on this topic

Based on my experience, this is a solid platform for a small to mid sized company, especially when there is someone who has IT experience, or can get outsourced IT help. I would not recommend for someone who is a technology novice. Also, this is a competent device for someone who is looking to add VPN services for remote workers.

Read full review

Benjamin Hale

Freelance IT Advisor/Specialist

Orbis EducationInformation Technology and Services, 1-10 employees

View all 13 answers on this topic

Feature Rating Comparison

Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Firepower NGFW)

SonicWall TZ

Identification Technologies

Visualization Tools

Content Inspection

Policy-based Controls

Active Directory and LDAP

Firewall Management Console

Reporting and Logging

VPN

High Availability

Stateful Inspection

Proxy Server

Pros

Its very fast
Cisco products are generally very stable.
Cisco is on top of bug fixes.
You get well built hardware at this price point.
Compatibility with most 3rd party equipment.

Read full review

Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

View all 8 answers on this topic

Great security services package under Comprehensive Gateway Security Suite (GW AV, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention, app control, etc.).
Flexible customization of access rules, NAT policies, objects, etc.
Geo-location filtering cut a lot of bad and just suspicious traffic.
Ease of management and administration.
Good hardware and firmware performance (after an upgrade to the most recent version).
Low or competitive cost compared to other vendors.

Read full review

Valery Mezentsau

IT Department Manager

Acceptance Solutions GroupFinancial Services, 51-200 employees

View all 13 answers on this topic

Cons

The integration between ASA/Firewall functions and SourceFire functions could use some work.
Some little glitches in the interface which require refreshes or additional clicks.
Cost is high but it is likely because you're now buying two products in one.

Read full review

Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

View all 8 answers on this topic

management is confusing has many items that could be improved to facilitate the work to the network administrator
in the diagnostic tool I would improve the response times, that is, if a ping test is required, it should be quick, since in cases of failures it is sought to minimize the impact as much as possible.
each function has a different license item, I would place a single license package for all team functions

Read full review

Jhoneis Milano

Telecommunications, 5001-10,000 employees

View all 13 answers on this topic

Usability

Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Firepower NGFW) 8.0

Based on 1 answer

It's overall very great, however the Management Console needs updating to fix the slowness of policy and rule deployments.

Read full review

Kenneth Ma

AVP Network Security Team Lead

East West BankFinancial Services, 1001-5000 employees

View all 1 answers on this topic

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support Rating

Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Firepower NGFW) 8.0

Based on 6 answers

Cisco support is not at all suitable for this product, at least. It takes a long for them to help us with our server issues. A lot of the time, the customer support person keeps on redirecting calls to another person. They need to be well versed with the terminologies of the product they are supporting us with. Support needs a lot of improvement. Cisco Fire Linux OS, the operating system behind Cisco Firepower NGFW (formerly Sourcefire), also doesn't receive regular patches. In short, average customer service.

Read full review

Kuntal Das

Graduate Research Assistant

University of Colorado DenverHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

View all 6 answers on this topic

SonicWall TZ 9.4

Based on 10 answers

I have used the SonicWall TZ 350 for years and I can say that it is an excellent and complete firewall. It is easy to configure and administer because it has a friendly interface. It is safe, it offers several types of security features, VPN, and also protection against malware. Support and warranty also recommended. It's fast and the problem was solved in less than 1 day.

Read full review

João Mauricio

IT-Support

Grupo BoticárioCosmetics, 5001-10,000 employees

View all 10 answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

We selected Firepower after evaluating all features in nonproduction environment and validated against other similar vendors such as Fortinet, Palo Alto, Checkpoint, Sophos and Watchguard. NGFW provides flexibility in selecting the licensing model and is very cost-effective, easy to integrate with third-party tools and applications and offers user-friendly control.

Read full review

Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 10,001+ employees

View all 8 answers on this topic

SonicWall and WatchGuard are both fine appliances, but I am accustomed to the Barracuda NG. The Barracuda Control Center is so powerful and useful that it beats out the other two. SonicWall does a great job of dividing up firewall rules and NAT policies, but this is a preference among engineers.

Read full review

Derek Schroeder

Service Manager

Accellis Technology GroupInformation Technology and Services, 11-50 employees

View all 13 answers on this topic

Return on Investment

Not having security levels on the Cisco Firepower NGFW (formerly Sourcefire) negatively impacted when we cutover.
It has been rock solid in the running, has not been any downtime.

Read full review

Cody Plassmeyer

IT Network Specialist

Central Electric Power CooperativeUtilities, 51-200 employees

View all 8 answers on this topic

Adding the VPN to the network, through SonicWall TZ, has allowed remote users to access the files they need remotely, without additional fees or convoluted methods, thus saving quite a bit of time.
This device is less expensive than the previous device in terms of licensing.
Due to the reputation of the company, this device is less likely to require hardware updates as quickly as competitors, thus saving my client from purchasing new equipment unnecessarily.

Read full review

Benjamin Hale

Freelance IT Advisor/Specialist

Orbis EducationInformation Technology and Services, 1-10 employees

View all 13 answers on this topic

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Firepower NGFW) Editions & Modules

—

Additional Pricing Details

—

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

SonicWall TZ Editions & Modules

Edition

Tz270	Contact for pricing
Tz300	$872
Tz300-POE	$460
Tz350	$979
Tz370	Contact for pricing
Tz400	$756
Tz470	Contact for pricing
Tz500	$996
Tz570	$1,116
Tz600	$1,316
Tz670	$1,436
T600-POE	$1,396

Additional Pricing Details

SonicWall TZ appliance pricing starts at $300 for small scale firewalls, up to $2,300 for large-scale appliances.

Rating Summary

Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Firepower NGFW)

SonicWall TZ

Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Firepower NGFW)

SonicWall TZ

Cisco Secure Firewall (formerly Firepower NGFW)

SonicWall TZ