Cisco Secure Web Appliance vs. Palo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Secure Web Appliance
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Secure Web Appliance (formerly Cisco Web Security Appliance [WSA]), powered by Cisco Talos, protects by automatically blocking risky sites and testing unknown sites before allowing users to link to them, helping with compliance. It is available models S690, S390, and S190.N/A
Palo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
The majority of attacks and exposure to malicious content occurs during the normal course of web browsing activities, which requires the ability to allow safe, secure web access for all users. URL Filtering with PAN-DB automatically prevents attacks that leverage the web as an attack vector, including phishing links in emails, phishing sites, HTTP-based command and control, malicious sites and pages that carry exploit kits.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering
Editions & Modules
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering
Free Trial
NoNo
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 Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering
Considered Both Products
Cisco Secure Web Appliance
Chose Cisco Secure Web Appliance
Considering we're with Cisco IronPort Web Security Appliances for the last 9 years, as I stated, we don't have too much experience with other producs. What I can say is that in the past, we evaluated Websense before it became Forcepoint and we also used MS ISA Server for …
Palo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

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Medium-sized Companies
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.1 out of 10
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Skyhigh Secure Web Gateway
Skyhigh Secure Web Gateway
Score 6.7 out of 10
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering
Likelihood to Recommend
6.6
(9 ratings)
9.6
(7 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.4
(2 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
We have both scenarios where we can describe that. For example, in the HQ, where we have about 3,000 users, Cisco IronPort Web Security Appliance is the ideal solution, because we can consolidate all the Internet access, policies, rules, etc. in the same box. However, if you have small offices with a few users, it's hard to justify one big and expensive box that could cost more than the whole office infrastructure.
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Palo Alto Networks
Because of it's complexity, Palo may not be well suited for a small organization that may not have dedicated networking staff. But for a mid to large-sized enterprise, Palo shines.
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Pros
Cisco
  • SMA gave us central control over multiple servers, simplifying management.
  • Performance of the Appliance VM exceeded that of our old physical appliance-based solution.
  • Convenient licensing for virtualized environments that allows easy scaling.
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Palo Alto Networks
  • Threat Detection and Prevention (Malwares, Un-Authorized Access)
  • Out of the box patterns for threat detection
  • Built in and Updated identification patterns
  • Unified Dashboard/Alerting on anomaly
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Cons
Cisco
  • I think that the interface could need updates to adapt it to a much more current system, achieve quick access to necessary tools and adapt the platform to a much more customizable and comfortable system to work with.
  • It is undoubtedly a platform that is worth having, however, the license costs could be better adjusted to small businesses so that it can be accessed more easily.
  • It could be a bit complex to use, the use of codes is quite extensive, it could be adjusted to something much more practical but just as efficient.
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Palo Alto Networks
  • Steep learning curve
  • The top-down URL filtering match can sometimes be tricky and requires some expertise in setting up the desired policy
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Usability
Cisco
Because it's one of those products you almost don't realize it exists from the end user. From the administrator perspective, you can do everything on its web interface and it's very intuitive to manage, once you know the concepts behind identities, acls, etc. Also, once you build the control structure, I mean, you link 'local' groups with your own Active Directory groups, as we did here, you don't need to be managing those things on the appliance itself.
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Palo Alto Networks
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
Our experience with Cisco's support was terrible. Other than the fact that they don't respond to service-related emails with urgency, they also keep on changing the policies that affected us. Recently, they came up with a new look for the same software, which was insanely slow. Renewal of keys for the old interface took months. Overall, the support was not very friendly from the users' point of view.
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Palo Alto Networks
Palo support is excellent, and I have never had to wait when contacting them for support. One of the best support teams in the business, in my opinion.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
At home I have a McAfee service that does similar tasks and helps manage the users of my internet. McAfee seems more user friendly and easier to set exceptions.
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Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto is a much much better product. detailed options and controls, more visibility, and usability. Better performance and durability.
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Security! Security! Security! We are financial company that work with very sensitive information. A lot of unsafe traffic was blocked on the Cisco IronPort WSA over years of using it. We did not earn on it but absolutely sure that we did not lose 'gazillion' of dollars being infected or scammed.
  • Easy to configure and use, no need to teach new personnel how work with this product (hopefully saving time = saving money).
  • Unfortunately the price of license subscription made financial managers push IT dept. to look for something cheaper.
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Palo Alto Networks
  • We stopped to looking for external content filtering after acquiring PA URL Filtering
  • The dynamic updates help us to mitigate security issues caused by BAD URLs
  • Palo Alto Networks Advanced URL Filtering is helping us to achieve the high reliability of the Network
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