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Cisco Secure Firewall Logo

Cisco Secure Firewall pros and cons

Vendor: Cisco
4.1 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.
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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Cisco Secure Firewall is praised for its stability and reliability, ensuring minimal downtime and seamless functionality.
The integration with Cisco products enhances security and offers comprehensive protection across different platforms.
Valued features include anti-malware, DDoS protection, and intrusion prevention, which significantly bolster network defense.
Cisco tech support receives high praise, providing excellent assistance and ensuring quick resolution of issues.
Ease of deployment and management allows for efficient setup and configuration, contributing to better security posture and time savings.

CONS

Navigating logs and finding specific flows is challenging, even for experienced users.
Firewalls are not designed for beginners, lacking good reporting or options.
Licensing is complex, making it difficult to manage.
Customer service is described as non-existent, with a complex approval system.
Upgrades and integration have stability issues and require improvement.
 

Cisco Secure Firewall Pros review quotes

it_user1998 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Expert at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Aug 30, 2012
I have never seen such a powerful device which can handle 2 million connections at 20Gbps speed.
it_user2871 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a university with 51-200 employees
Nov 28, 2012
Cisco delivers a powerful firewall -- it’s not just a firewall but also a modular device that can deliver IPS hosting and wireless LAN controller as well.
it_user3483 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at Unify Square
Dec 11, 2017
ASA is stable and with a low level of work required on the maintenance side.
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Secure Firewall. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
892,868 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user6381 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Infrastructure at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
May 5, 2013
We choose Cisco ASA 5500 Series for our branch office primarily because it is a stable firewall.
it_user5274 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Manager at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 6, 2013
In my opinion it is a nice firewall product at a low price and good value for medium and large enterprises.
DS
Owner at David Strom Inc.
Aug 20, 2017
The user interface of the Prime Security Manager is, well, prime and one of the best pieces of software I have seen from them, and the features are on par if not better than what their competitors offer.
MZ
Middle-Tier Admin Integrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Aug 22, 2016
Customer Service: Excellent Technical Support: Excellent
RS
Network Security Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Aug 23, 2015
Cisco ASA is a reliable product and it benefits you a lot in your network.
it_user212682 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Mar 24, 2015
The most valuable features are the IPS and Botnet software modules.
it_user208434 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Mar 28, 2015
Firewall rules are easy to understand, and enable or disable.
 

Cisco Secure Firewall Cons review quotes

it_user1998 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Expert at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Aug 30, 2012
The product is expensive. A 5580 series costs more than $50000.
it_user2871 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a university with 51-200 employees
Nov 28, 2012
Latency and delay due to configuration and monitoring of multiple VLANs and traffic.
it_user3483 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at Unify Square
Dec 11, 2017
You have to know the ASA command line very well because not all operations are available in the graphical interface
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Secure Firewall. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
892,868 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user6381 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Infrastructure at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
May 5, 2013
Extraordinary learning curve, especially if you do not have previous skill with Cisco PIX or routers.
it_user5274 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Manager at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 6, 2013
When I integrate Cisco ASA with Cisco IPS it creates lots of problem such as an increase in CPU utilization - as a result I have to stop the IPS service.
DS
Owner at David Strom Inc.
Aug 20, 2017
Prime manager is just for the CX line for now. CX features also add about a 30% overhead on throughput.
MZ
Middle-Tier Admin Integrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Aug 22, 2016
Price maybe...
RS
Network Security Consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Aug 23, 2015
It would be great if they would add web filtering functionality to this product.
it_user212682 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Mar 24, 2015
Since most features are license based and some licenses are time-based, there should be a way for the device to alert via SNMP that licenses are about to expire.
it_user208434 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Mar 28, 2015
The new NAT configuration is difficult to understand especially for people familiar with the pre v8.3 code.