Cisco Secure Web Appliance vs. Palo Alto Networks WildFire

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 WildFire
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Palo Alto Network’s WildFire is a malware prevention service. It specializes in addressing zero-day threats through dynamic and static analysis, machine learning, and advanced sandbox testing environments.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks WildFire
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks WildFire
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 WildFire
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks WildFire
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Check Point Quantum Security Gateway
Score 9.2 out of 10
Splunk Enterprise Security (ES)
Splunk Enterprise Security (ES)
Score 8.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Skyhigh Secure Web Gateway
Skyhigh Secure Web Gateway
Score 6.6 out of 10
Splunk Enterprise Security (ES)
Splunk Enterprise Security (ES)
Score 8.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks WildFire
Likelihood to Recommend
6.7
(9 ratings)
8.0
(8 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
6.4
(2 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Secure Web AppliancePalo Alto Networks WildFire
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
Palo Alto Networks Wildfire is well suited for pretty much anywhere that you need the latest and greatest network security. It is extremely good at protecting you from the latest malware threats that might pose a potential problem for your network/endpoints. We've been very please since we installed it and I would say cost of the Palo Altos is the only drawback. If money were no object I'd go with a Palo Alto with Wildfire every time. But unfortunately in some smaller branches it just doesn't make financial sense.
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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
  • This is could base and easily manageable for our collocation. While working within the could can review in live time potential treats that it has reported from other devices.
  • Worked very well with existing Palo Alto devices.
  • Another huge plus is the simplicity of managing and ease of scalability.
  • Its cost is competitive with similar/like products available.
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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
  • WildFire, like other sandboxes, has to stay up with malware sandbox evasion techniques, which necessitates larger file size limits.
  • More file formats should be able to be submitted and scanned by WildFire, which needs improved initial administration and setup.
  • It's quite pricey, and there's no warning choice for performance on the cloud.
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Likelihood to Renew
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Palo Alto Networks
It works very well and takes care of protecting us from threats new and well-known. It's been a game changer in terms of threat detection & prevention.
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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
Easy to use and works well. For the most part it's set it and forget it, but there's also some flexibility for high security environments and those with extra privacy concerns.
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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
PAN support is very good. You can get the reasonable and timely support on any conditions. When the product is already integrated with the PAN firewalls, you can choose the severity levels based on the effect. The customer service/TAC is very helpful, they even have additional recommendations of advises for product usability. Local partners are also assisting the cases and give their expertise.
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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
We wanted a single device to handle numerous jobs, such as antivirus, antimalware, vulnerability detection, url filtering, etc. Palo Alto provides this, while TippingPoint IPS is a more dedicated product. Caveat: I used TippingPoint over 5 years ago, so things may have changed.
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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
  • As we all know the product of Palo Alto is little bit expensive but its performance is far better than any of its competitors. So as I previously mentioned, Palo Alto should not sell WildFire Licence seperately.
  • If the firewall is internet facing then only we should buy WildFire Licence.
  • WildFire Licence is not necessary for internal firewall. If you are planning to buy a firewall for internal network where your traffic is not going towards internet so no need to buy WildFire Licence.
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