Good alternative firewall instead of all the Big ones (Checkpoint, Palo Alto, etc)
Updated March 13, 2025
Good alternative firewall instead of all the Big ones (Checkpoint, Palo Alto, etc)
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Firepower 1010
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Secure Firewall
The Cisco Secure Firewall is our central device for routing, and firewalling in the whole company (including branch offices). Firewall is the most important network component in the Network, that's why we choose the customer Cisco. With the Cisco Secure Firewall we are very happy, have mostly no problems. The biggest benefit is the easy management for me as a Firewall Manager.
Pros
- Good live monitoring
- Good performance
- Good overview of the devices
- easy connecting with other Cisco product (e.g. Cisco DUO, Cisco ISE, ...)
- Easy overview over the VPN Users
Cons
- When one colleague is working on a policy, it should be blocked to be edited by other users
- sometimes site-to-site Tunnel is not building an SA with every Network /Hostwhich is configured for this tunnel
- we chose to give every branch office an own firewall from Cisco, thats why it was a bit expensive for us
- in comparism to Checkpoint, Cisco is cheaper
SNORT is working very well, you can configure the exceptions very easy. But to be honest you don't have any difference to Checkpoint for example. You can easy import objects via CSV or import other rules via CSV. That is very good when you are thinking to change your firewall infrastructure to Cisco.
VPN is sometimes a bit tricky, especially for the site-to-site VPN. Sometimes, it doesn't get an SA for IPs that are configured in the VPN-tunnel. If you configure the whole net to the VPN-tunnel, it works. This is a bit weird and i don't understand it, but maybe i have to get in touch with the well-being Cisco Support.
Cisco Secure Firewall is not so complicated to configure, especially as a Firewall manager where your main business is to create new rules or create site to site tunnels and so on. You can easily do this on the Cisco Secure Firewall, with CheckPoint this was a bit more complicated.
Do you think Cisco Secure Firewall delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Cisco Secure Firewall's feature set?
Yes
Did Cisco Secure Firewall live up to sales and marketing promises?
I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process
Did implementation of Cisco Secure Firewall go as expected?
I wasn't involved with the implementation phase
Would you buy Cisco Secure Firewall again?
Yes
Cisco Secure Firewall Feature Ratings
Cisco Security
Security is a very high aspect or should be in every companies infrastructure.
Everyone needs a secure network with a Firewall and be critical with every accepting traffic to the external networks.
Everyone needs a secure network with a Firewall and be critical with every accepting traffic to the external networks.
no
nothing
because we have everything from Cisco and the connect with other products is very smooth
AI is a very nice feature especially for the firewall when you can say the AI to create a new rule for example.
yes
no touch with ai on this topic
Resilience and Reliability
for now no perspective
train the employees and trust in the security experts
- use the firewlal also in our fanshops
Using Cisco Secure Firewall
1200 - every user is using cisco Firewall every day. Just when the employees want to surf in the internet, they get in touch with the Firewall. Or when they have to connect to a device in another network.
5 - for managing the Cisco Firewall i would say you can learn it by "learning and doing".
But you also need experts with a deeper overview and knowledge if you have some big problems.
But you also need experts with a deeper overview and knowledge if you have some big problems.
- Surfing in Internet
- connect to device in another networks via https
- connect to a mgmt-server via Remotedesktop
Evaluating Cisco Secure Firewall and Competitors
- Scalability
- Integration with Other Systems
- Ease of Use
integration with other systems is a very big issue because our whole infrastructure is from Cisco
i was not evolved into the selection process
Cisco Secure Firewall Implementation
- was not evolved in implementation
Cisco Secure Firewall Training
- Online Training
- In-Person Training
- No Training
Very easy also without learning
Configuring Cisco Secure Firewall
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - the product does not support adding custom code
Cisco Secure Firewall Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
we didnt have premium support
for now i wasnt even in touch with the cisco support.
hope this is not needed also :)
hope this is not needed also :)
Using Cisco Secure Firewall
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- creating new rules
- creating new site to site tunnel
- configuring NAT
- configuring Intrusion Prevention
Cisco Secure Firewall Reliability
Integrating Cisco Secure Firewall
- Cisco Ise
- Cisco DUO
was very easy because every product we integrated is from cisco
nothing
nothing
Relationship with Cisco
Upgrading Cisco Secure Firewall
Yes - takes about 15 minutes, very smooth and you can do it easily via FMC
- closing known security gaps
- nothing in special
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