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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

    Splunk Enterprise

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ASplunk is software for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated big data, via a web-style interface. It captures, indexes and correlates real-time data in a searchable repository from which it can generate graphs, reports, alerts, dashboards and visualizations.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco Secure FirewallSplunk Enterprise
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco Secure FirewallSplunk Enterprise
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco Secure FirewallSplunk Enterprise
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    No problems with compatibility.
    All the protocols are standards, so the implementation is natural (Vlans, TCP, routing protocols, etc ..)
    Incentivized
    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
    The Cisco Secure Firewall is more advanced and provides more visibility into possible issues across the network.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    It's more reliable and the level of Cisco support can not be compared.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco Secure Firewall
    We use both vendors in our environment, I believe it's positive to go with multi vendor approach. As previously mentioned, the PA has the global find option, which is a big asset when troubleshooting. On the other hand, I feel the FTD's CLI is more intuitive and can help you …
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    Chose Splunk Enterprise
    Splunk Enterprise stacks similarly to IBM's qradar and outperforms both Palo Alto's Panorama and Cisco's Secure Firewall Management Center in regards to storing large amounts of logs and the ability for quick searches. Splunk Enterprise handles queries of data effectively and …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    93%
    Would buy again
    193 Answers
    97%
    Would buy again
    59 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    160 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    49 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    191 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    59 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    140 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    43 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    86%
    Implementation went as expected
    164 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    50 Answers
    Features
    Cisco Secure FirewallSplunk Enterprise
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of Cisco Secure Firewall and Splunk Enterprise
    Feature
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    8.2
    196 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Splunk Enterprise
    -
    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
    Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
    Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of Cisco Secure Firewall and Splunk Enterprise
    Feature
    Cisco Secure Firewall
    -
    Ratings
    Splunk Enterprise
    8.2
    91 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings9.085 Ratings
    Correlation00 Ratings8.487 Ratings
    Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings8.488 Ratings
    Deployment flexibility00 Ratings8.081 Ratings
    Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings8.282 Ratings
    Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings8.887 Ratings
    Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings7.865 Ratings
    Data integration/API management00 Ratings8.334 Ratings
    Behavioral analytics and baselining00 Ratings7.732 Ratings
    Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds00 Ratings7.933 Ratings
    Response orchestration and automation00 Ratings7.529 Ratings
    Reporting and compliance management00 Ratings8.634 Ratings
    Incident indexing/searching00 Ratings8.737 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco Secure FirewallSplunk Enterprise
    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
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco Secure FirewallSplunk Enterprise
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.3
    (203 ratings)
    8.7
    (112 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    8.5
    (25 ratings)
    Usability
    7.3
    (6 ratings)
    8.5
    (45 ratings)
    Availability
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.7
    (131 ratings)
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.7
    (6 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 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)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco Secure FirewallSplunk Enterprise
    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
    Cisco
    I'm liking the newer products, and I'm looking forward to how they integrate with the overall product when they come together. Just log in and be able to query a large number of systems for similar issues or a unique one. That is a great fit for Splunk Enterprise, looking for a simple case or a simple String or something of that nature across multiple machines. It's a great fit for that to identify issues or particular software, whatever your scenario is, String, to find it across any particular server or group of servers, so that you can update or do a deployment or whatever it is you're looking to do.
    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
    Cisco
    • It is very useful in creating custom rules for analyzing system logs and display relevant information. The query language is very easy to learn.
    • We can create custom UI to visualize the output of our data. The interface is very flexible. It also allows the sharing of rules among users.
    • There is an open online community to help others. Stackoverflow also has a splunk community. These resources make it more convenient to learn.
    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
    Cisco
    • Splunk light limits number of users to 5. Wish there was a flexible license, where one could add more users.
    • Splunk light does not let you add > few realtime alerts. Wish there was a flexible license, where one could add as many realtime alerts as wanted.
    • Better insight into daily ingestion values
    Incentivized
    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
    Cisco
    We are using Splunk extensively in our projects and we have recently upgraded to Splunk version 6.0 which is quite efficient and giving expected results. We keep track of updates and new features Splunk introduces periodically and try to introduce those features in our day to day activities for improvement in our reporting system and other tasks.
    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
    Cisco
    You can literally throw in a single word into Splunk and it will pull back all instances of that word across all of your logs for the time span you select (provided you have permission to see that data). We have several users who have taken a few of the free courses from Splunk that are able to pull data out of it everyday with little help at all.
    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
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    Cisco
    When properly setup and configured, Splunk is extremely reliable.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Cisco
    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
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    Cisco
    Splunk maintains a well resourced support system that has been consistent since we purchased the product. They help out in a timely manner and provide expert level information as needed. We typically open cases online and communicate when possible via e-mail and are able to resolve most issues with that method.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    very good
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    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
    Cisco
    The online course was simple clear and described the main capabilities of the solution. There is also an initial module that can be done for free so anyone can familiarize themselves with the functionality of this solution. On the other hand, however, there could be more free online courses. Maybe even with a certificate, this would broaden the group of people who are familiar with the platform while increasing familiarity with the solution itself.
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    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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    Cisco
    Smooth without too many major issues.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Cisco
    A lot of products have natively inside their own dashboards and or their own logging repositories. And each one is difficult to learn or they're too complex or they're not verbose in the sense that they're not easy to mine the data that you're looking for. So that could be anything from the native logging that you find in other Cisco products. It's easier to use Splunk to draw the data that you're looking for as opposed to going to the individual's products themselves to get the logs that you're looking for.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Cisco
    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
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    Cisco
    Splunk can scale in to the petabyte per day range which of course is awesome
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Cisco
    was not involved
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    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
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    Cisco
    • Splunk has allowed developers to diagnose production issues when access of control was taken away from them to be allowed to view items in production environments and I believe that is invaluable.
    • At times some developers weren't super happy about using it, but it was more of the fact that they were used to having production access and not creating their splunk queries to get information.
    • Going one place to view logs was very beneficial to have.
    Incentivized
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    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