Cisco Secure Firewall vs. Zscaler Internet Access

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Secure Firewall
Score 8.2 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
Zscaler Internet Access
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Zscaler Internet Access™ (ZIA) is a secure web gateway (SWG), delivering cloud native cyberthreat protection and zero trust access to the internet and SaaS apps.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
Features
Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
Firewall
Comparison of Firewall features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Secure Firewall
8.0
139 Ratings
8% below category average
Zscaler Internet Access
-
Ratings
Identification Technologies8.3123 Ratings00 Ratings
Visualization Tools7.4125 Ratings00 Ratings
Content Inspection8.0122 Ratings00 Ratings
Policy-based Controls8.5130 Ratings00 Ratings
Active Directory and LDAP8.3113 Ratings00 Ratings
Firewall Management Console7.6129 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting and Logging7.7131 Ratings00 Ratings
VPN8.0116 Ratings00 Ratings
High Availability8.6125 Ratings00 Ratings
Stateful Inspection8.5121 Ratings00 Ratings
Proxy Server7.369 Ratings00 Ratings
Identity Management
Comparison of Identity Management features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Secure Firewall
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
5.0
2 Ratings
56% below category average
Multi-Factor Authentication00 Ratings5.02 Ratings
Endpoint Security
Comparison of Endpoint Security features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Secure Firewall
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
10.0
2 Ratings
10% above category average
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Threat Intelligence
Comparison of Threat Intelligence features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Secure Firewall
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
8.4
137 Ratings
8% above category average
Network Analytics00 Ratings8.3137 Ratings
Threat Recognition00 Ratings8.1134 Ratings
Vulnerability Classification00 Ratings8.4120 Ratings
Automated Alerts and Reporting00 Ratings8.4130 Ratings
Threat Analysis00 Ratings8.7128 Ratings
Threat Intelligence Reporting00 Ratings8.6127 Ratings
Automated Threat Identification00 Ratings8.5124 Ratings
Zero Trust Security
Comparison of Zero Trust Security features of Product A and Product B
Cisco Secure Firewall
-
Ratings
Zscaler Internet Access
8.9
160 Ratings
2% above category average
Continuous Verification00 Ratings8.6147 Ratings
Secure Web Gateways00 Ratings8.9142 Ratings
Network Flow Control00 Ratings8.8132 Ratings
Network Traffic Analysis00 Ratings8.6133 Ratings
Segmentation Leveraging00 Ratings8.1119 Ratings
Admin Access Control00 Ratings9.0141 Ratings
Network Data Encryption00 Ratings8.9129 Ratings
Network Topology Mapping00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
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Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
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pfSense
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Score 8.8 out of 10
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Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Quantum Firewalls and Security Gateways
Score 9.3 out of 10
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
Palo Alto Networks Prisma Access
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Palo Alto Networks Virtualized Next-Generation Firewalls - VM Series
Score 9.2 out of 10
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Score 8.3 out of 10
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User Ratings
Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
Likelihood to Recommend
7.9
(144 ratings)
8.9
(183 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.5
(4 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
6.4
(3 ratings)
8.4
(167 ratings)
Availability
8.7
(4 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Performance
5.0
(1 ratings)
5.5
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(79 ratings)
8.2
(8 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.8
(4 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
7.9
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
5.0
(1 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Secure FirewallZscaler Internet Access
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
This security solution is well-suited for a complex environment that requires a scalable and secure solution with granular control. It is also recommended that it be implemented with other Cisco security solutions. Requirements are Security-First. It is less appropriate in a small business scenario where advanced configurations are not required. It should be well-trained on this solution.
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Zscaler
It's best suited for a distributed remote workforce, securing internet access for users from anywhere. Suitable for highly regulated industries, such as banking and Healthcare. Not a good fit for an organisation where most of its legacy is in an on-premises environment. Bandwidth-intensive industries like media/entertainment firms.
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Pros
Cisco
  • It's good at segregating networks and ensuring that you only give the access that you need to give. Especially with medical devices, you want to only give the access that they need and keep them in their own separate areas so that they can't just communicate with the rest of the network. It's also good at the border for keeping attackers out of the network.
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Zscaler
  • Single Pane of Glass Management - Everything is very easy to access and monitor the entire environment from an internet security perspective.
  • Install Flexibility - We can and do install Zscaler Internet Access on both our client devices as well as our SD-WAN appliances and servers. This allows us to control internet security even on devices without an agent in our networks.
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Cons
Cisco
  • I wish that the deployment of the updates to the sensors from the FMC was faster.
  • Cisco ASA firewall did a great job of authentication and authorization on the local firewall. FTD does not authorize users well in terms that an AAA must be setup to provide the granular tools that the ASA did.
  • Cisco's method of licensing the firewall can be improved. The FMC and the FTD are licensed through the Cisco software manager and there are instances where the devices are licensed but the firewall still displays and error due to licensing.
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Zscaler
  • The logs feel kind of lack luster
  • When issues are arising with SSL Inspection, logs show everything working despite end user experience
  • Could use some kind of global find functionality or something that would allow you to search the entire configuration for matching URLs and the like
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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.
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Zscaler
While Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) delivers critical value in cloud security and RBI compliance, I rate renewal likelihood 7/10 due to evolving needs versus platform limitations. Below is my rationale:
Key Gaps:
1. Advanced Threat Costs:
ZIA’s add-ons (e.g., Advanced DLP, Sandboxing) incur 35%+ cost premiums – straining budgets as transaction volumes (UPI/iMobile) grow 50% YoY.
2. API Banking Scalability:
ZIA’s API rate limits throttle real-time policy sync during UPI peaks (10K+ TPS), forcing workarounds for finacle integrations.
3. RBI Future-Proofing:
Limited native support for upcoming digital rupee (CBDC) security rules requires custom development, increasing compliance overhead.
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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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Zscaler
The application is easy to install and configure on all Windows devices. To troubleshoot any internet issue, we can easily collect all the relevant logs from Zscaler and check the exact issue. The only problem is with the uninstall, as a dedicated crew needs to provide the password.
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Reliability and Availability
Cisco
would rate Cisco Secure Firewall’s availability a 9 out of 10.
In our production environments at Rackspace, the platform has been consistently reliable. We’ve deployed it in high-availability pairs, and failover works as expected with minimal disruption. Over the past several quarters, we’ve had no major unplanned outages directly attributable to the firewall itself.
The software has been stable
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Zscaler
No answers on this topic
Performance
Cisco
no slowing down, vpn is working fast
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Zscaler
There are often performance issues reported
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Support Rating
Cisco
Firewall support is professional just like any other technology Cisco sells. From answering simple questions to bringing out outages affecting a large population of our workforce, Cisco support is always courteous, professional, and communicates with our team to keep our request on their radar. Some of the brightest people I've met are from Cisco support both in IQ and EQ which shows the talent Cisco is able to onboard to their team.
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Zscaler
Zscaler's ZIA support is quick and knowledgable. They respond within 1-2 hours of you submitting your ticket. They are very thorough and are typically ready to jump on a live troubleshooting session. Our ZIA platform and how we use is it unique so at times tickets can be open for weeks but we alway get quality support compared to other unrelated product support in our enterprise
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In-Person Training
Cisco
very good
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Zscaler
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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Zscaler
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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Zscaler
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
Zscaler
Zscaler Intenet Access outperformed the competition due to its lightning-fast policy delivery and cross-compatibility. It is easy to track employee usage and block unnecessary websites, reducing company internet usage. Zscalar installed on every system increases cloud-based software bandwidth, decreasing user turnaround time and increasing efficiency.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Cisco
was not involved
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Zscaler
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Cisco
you can choose up to 50 devices i think thats enough for our organization
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Zscaler
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
Cisco
was not involved
Read full review
Zscaler
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Positive impact. Cisco is a big player in IT environment. It is future stuff, everything, what you learn today, maybe something can be tomorrow. And yes, it's quite important to learn the new stuff every day. And yes, that's it. Yes, I'm happy with Cisco.
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Zscaler
  • Has allowed us to remove other products that were suboptimal
  • Saved us money overall by stacking it with other Zscaler products
  • Created a more secure work environment for our users through intelligent internet policies that are not needlessly restrictive while still maintaining security best practices
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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

Zscaler Internet Access Screenshots

Screenshot of an overview of Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA), a cloud native security service edge (SSE) solution that builds on a decade of secure web gateway leadership. Offered as a scalable SaaS platform through Zscaler's security cloud, it replaces legacy network security solutions, preventing advanced attacks and data loss with a comprehensive zero trust approach. ZIA is integrated into the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange™ to provide superior defense-in-depth, secure connectivity, end user experience, and administrative visibility and control.