Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Reviews and Ratings

Rating: 7.6 out of 10

Score

7.6 out of 10

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Efficient Traffic Handling: Reviewers have consistently praised the fast traffic handling capabilities of the Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services, noting minimal latency and stable VPN connections. The efficient traffic management ensures smooth data flow and reliable network performance for users in various scenarios.

Easy Management Features: Users appreciate the user-friendly management functionalities offered by the Cisco ASA model, including easy creation of ACLs, NATs, and detailed object configurations. This ease of use simplifies network administration tasks and allows for quick adjustments to security settings as needed.

Comprehensive Security Capabilities: The advanced malware protection, IPS/IDS features, and SSL inspection provided by the Cisco ASA model have been highlighted as key strengths by multiple reviewers. These robust security measures work together to safeguard networks against a wide range of cyber threats effectively.

Reviews

32 Reviews

Excellent to manage VPN connections

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

July 25, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We actually used to manage all the remote connections from outside the organization. This include internal user VPN and vendors. Also, with these equipment is possible implement a hybrid strategic and combination of remote a local work. Also work to content filter and antivirus check of all the traffic the actually past for it

Pros

VPN connection and management
Antivirus filtering
Traffic filtering

Cons

IA filtering
Sandbox
Scabilit

Likelihood to Recommend

Is well suited to manage all the VPNs connections and the traffic filtering of those connections. Work well with the max capacity of concurrent connections without of a degradation of the service. <div>The scenarios that Cisco ASA is less suited if you what to do a online analysis of the traffic to detect malware or viruses that are not included in a existing virus database </div>

Alejandro Pineda

IT Planning in Information Technology at Tigo (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

Excellent performance and Security with Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 23, 2025

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services as the edge for the internet for VPN connections, web sites published to the intenet and apps that needs to be accessible from internet. We also use the outside connection as an alternative path in case the main connection to internet fails.

Pros

Easy GUI administration
VPN remote access and VPN Site to Site are easy to deploy
CLI commands remains the same of IOS

Cons

More options for layer7 filter
Could include IPS and IDS capabilities
More patches to remediate vulnerabilities

Likelihood to Recommend

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services can help you if you are looking for a device to sit on your edge and allow external connections from the internet, like NAT from public IP, VPN remote access, VPN site to site, it is easy to deploy and very reliable. You can use it also as your perimeter for outbound connectios. You don't need to pay for a suscription or extra licences to run this device.

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services review with 1 year of usages

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

November 21, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services is being used at edge of the network and inside the network to block and limit the traffic. These devices are very good with NAT and allow the access to the internal servers with the only allowed ports for security. Apart from that the device is handling the VPN, both IPSec and Remote access VPN for the production infrastructure. ASAs are deployed with Anyconnect premium licensing feature to help the remote access or work from home users to connect to the data centre and perform their day to day task with the inhouse applications.

Pros

Traffic handling is fast, i.e. with least latency
VPNs are stable and doesn't creates much issues
Efficiently handles the forwarded and NATed traffic
Management is easy
Packet tracer feature is up to the mark

Cons

Enhance the GUI, i.e. make the device management more user friendly
Troubleshoot part should be more efficient
There should be an option to initiate VPN tunnels without the real traffic
More customised notification options for audit should be available
Resource utilization should be optimized

Likelihood to Recommend

This firewall is best suited for the network edge/perimeter deployment. The next gen features works very well and the remote access VPN is also very much suitable for the organizations which have a huge user base working remotely. The Remote Access VPN is very much customizable and the authentication integration option like LDAP and RADIUS provides and addon.

Vinayak Mishra

Senior MS Security Engineer in Information Technology at NTT Ltd. (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

12 years of experience

Verified on LinkedIn

Grand OLD lady past its Prime

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

September 13, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services is used to filter students' access to our Racks of Cisco switches and routers. It ensures that only validated students can access the resources.

Pros

Provides us with details of users
Checks and most importantly blocks malignant, malicious software
Allows valid users access to the resources

Cons

Getting updates
Installing updates
Annoying ASDM and ASA image have to be updated separately

Likelihood to Recommend

I think that even though the Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services has done great service, it is time I retired it. Also, it is EOL. I Need to look at the next-gen 2100 series.

Peter Mckenzie

teacher at Chisholm Institute (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

6 years of experience

View profile

Great Cisco appliance with excellent added value in integrated product and services.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

May 15, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Network security is one of the pillars of any company. Our organization is highly focused on seeking the best available solutions in the market for this segment. We have acquired 2 units of Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services, model 5545-x, in high availability to meet the demand of a medium-sized site. Cisco's solution has all the functionalities of next-generation firewall, VPN, threat control, web and layer 7 protection in a single appliance. Its main goal was to create protection for the edge of the network.

Pros

The Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services model works perfectly for network edge protection scenarios.
It allows for the creation and connection of sites through site-to-site VPN configuration.
It enables remote connection and home office with remote SSL or IPSEC VPN.
It has layer 7 traffic protection and visibility.
It has anti-malware protection from start to finish.
The configuration is easy to perform.

Cons

FirePower services licenses are not perpetual.
The graphical console could be more intuitive.

Likelihood to Recommend

The scenario implemented by our teams was for edge protection. We also created a DMZ network for access to some servers and services. Our firewall has a remote SSL VPN license that allows remote access for several employees working from home or traveling on business. We created web access networks with content filtering, specific application protection with AVC, IPS, and protection against malware and external intruders. Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services is one of the best solutions in the market that we researched for a long time to protect our data and access from intruders.

Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Cisco Firewall Will Keep Your Data Safe

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

May 5, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize the 5500-X with FirePower services for our everyday use to monitor traffic coming in and going out of our network. We set up many network address translations for web pages that need to be reached externally and also have internal resources being accessed that still need protected. We've setup all of our access control lists and constantly keep them up to date so we don't have to worry about being attacked as easily as other companies who don't put forth the additional effort for their security and safety. We also utilize URL filtering and a couple of other security features that allow us to stay notified of issues on our network, so we can take specific actions being to keep our company safe.

Pros

Creating ACLs to grant/restrict specific access
Creating NATs to allow specific access
Creating Objects that can be greatly detailed
Monitor traffic and activity on the network

Cons

URL Filtering feature could be easier to utilize for beginners
I'd like to see a visual of VPN networks setup and show the functioning or malfunctioning status to assist in making troubleshooting easier
Recommendations on ACLs for beginners based on their account creation date

Likelihood to Recommend

We had a breach a few years ago and were able to identify the IP address of the attacker very quickly. Thanks to this, we were able to shut down access immediately. This definitely kept us from being further exploited and attacked. Firewalls are always appropriate to keep you and your data safe. You may not need/utilize all the additional features that can come with your firewall, but having a firewall to protect you is an absolute must!

Andrew Sparks

Network System Administrator in Information Technology at NCM Associates (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

Provides strong level of security and highly durable hardware

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

August 17, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using ASA 5500-X firewall for protecting our network. The firewall protects our network from unauthorised access. We also like that it has ASDM(GUI based interface ) in addition to CLI interface for configuring the device. The appliance provides many features considering its size and it perfectly fulfills all our requirements to the hilt. We use the LDAP authentication for providing access to our network/server.

Pros

Rich on features.
Easy to setup and use.
Easy to reconfigure the device in case of change in ISP.

Cons

I have not found anything to dislike in the device.

Likelihood to Recommend

ASA 5500-X appliances are well suited for SMB's, enterprises. They provide many security features for the users. The appliances are very durable and the hardware hardly fails- only very few times in some 5-8 year,s we had to restart the firewall to solve some issues relating to working of its functions. ASA is a good investment in the long run.

Verified User

Director in Corporate (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

15 years of experience

Cisco ASA 5500-X still commanding Respect

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 14, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco ASA 5500-X, we have deployed this firewall to most of our customers. We also run a pair of these in our data center and so far we have not experienced any issues with the setup. The firewalls are configured in an active/standby mode allowing connectivity back to the ISP via diverse routes and utilizing BGP. Direct peering with the ISP means we don't require managed layer 3 routers from the ISP, reducing the cost and removing another unneeded layer of hardware, and improving latency.

Pros

High Availability in Active/Acitve mode and the use of virtual context.
Straight forward software upgrades.
Provides robust AnyConnect remote access VPN for users.

Cons

The use of a VMware appliance to manage firepower is not really great, as this introduces another on-prem box to manage, this could all be done via the cloud.
Licensing is never straight forward, this could be improved.

Likelihood to Recommend

With a limited budget, this firewall can be deployed to do basic firewalling and routing as a starting point. Once in place with an improved budget firepower services can be activated with an additional license. Depending on the scenario an appropriate model can be bought to meet the needs of the business. These firewalls range from the small 5506-X to the massive 5585-X suitable for data center deployments.

Shephered Moyo

Systems Engineer in Information Technology at The M9 Group (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

View profile

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

June 13, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services can be deployed in a number of different scenarios which can vary from the protection of important business data to or separation of different user groups. I have personally deployed these devices on the perimeter of the network to delimit to internal network from the internet.

Pros

Application visibility and control
IPS
AMP

Cons

Local administration
Complex policies - you need training
Not as slick as the FTD
It's not FTD, its an ASA with FIrepower, therefore two areas of configuration

Likelihood to Recommend

The ASA with Firepower services is well suited for deployment on the edge of the network. It should be noted however that if you had the choice that the FTD image is deployed on the ASA however I appreciate that many IT departments can run ASA but there is less experience with the FTD image. I would not try and run an ASA with FPR without an FMC as you lose functionality.

Simon Watkins

Senior Network Architect in Corporate at Prosperity 24/7 (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

Reseller

5 years of experience

View profile

ASA Firewalls still a good value for branch offices

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

December 10, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The Cisco 5500-X is currently used as one of our branch Firewall, it manages traffic from the inside LAN to the WAN, also connects two branches via a site to Site-VPN. Although we are not using the IPS capabilities, we can see all the traffic going in and out.

Pros

Traffic monitoring.
Site-to-Site VPN.
IPS (Needs a valid license).
Stateless Firewall.
You can upgrade ASA image to Firepower.

Cons

Better integration with Firepower IOS.
ASA system still using Java for GUI.
Firepower needs Firesight Management console to manages rules.

Likelihood to Recommend

It is fine if you need a branch firewall, usually on branches that don't offer services outside the organization a stateless firewall like ASA 5500-X will do the job. Function like monitoring, VLAN, and VPN are managed relatively easily on the ASA platform. You can upgrade to a much slick GUI by upgrading the IOS to Firepower, however, you will need to start from zero since the configuration isn't compatible between ASA and Firepower. Cisco hardware is pretty durable.

David Orellana

IT Network Specialist in Information Technology at Wood's Homes (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

View profile

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Reviews and Ratings

Cisco Firewall Will Keep Your Data Safe

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

May 5, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

Creating ACLs to grant/restrict specific access
Creating NATs to allow specific access
Creating Objects that can be greatly detailed
Monitor traffic and activity on the network

Cons

URL Filtering feature could be easier to utilize for beginners
I'd like to see a visual of VPN networks setup and show the functioning or malfunctioning status to assist in making troubleshooting easier
Recommendations on ACLs for beginners based on their account creation date

Likelihood to Recommend

Andrew Sparks

Network System Administrator in Information Technology at NCM Associates (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience