No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall vs Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Ranking in Firewalls
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
592
Ranking in other categories
Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (1st), WAN Edge (1st), ZTNA (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)
Arista Edge Threat Manageme...
Ranking in Firewalls
40th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
71st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Firewall Security Management (20th)
 

Featured Reviews

JK
IP Network Security Specialist at MTN Ghana
Process-Level CPU Visibility: Introduce detailed CPU-usage metrics per subsystem (e.g., IPS engine, logging) so administrators can quickly identify and address performance spikes.
Analytics with FortiAnalyzer. Being able to pull in logs not just from our FortiGates but from all our other firewalls and then get them in one view has been a game changer. Whether I’m building an executive dashboard or doing a deep dive forensics session, I get everything I need without navigating consoles.Straightforward Application Control. FortiGate spots and blocks unwanted apps (eq. like BitTorrent or streaming services) with accuracy. Segmentation with VDOMs. We’ve carved our data center into four logical ‘mini-firewalls’ enterprise, core, billing, and WAF—all on one box. Each has its own rules and logs, and any traffic between them still gets inspected. It’s like having multiple appliances without the extra hardware. Always-Up-to-Date Threat Feeds. Daily signature updates and AI-driven threat sensing mean we’re blocking the latest vulnerabilities almost as soon as they’re announced.
TarunKumar11 - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Secure internet access has reduced threats and simplifies firewall management for distributed teams
Threat detection needs improvement; Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall should follow Alto and Fortinet. One limitation that I've seen is AI-driven automation which needs to vastly improve. It has fewer third-party integrations, and therefore the adoption amongst very large enterprises is less; it's largely with the SMBs. Customer support can be improved. It's a smaller global footprint that Arista provides, with fewer certified partners in some regions and limited 24/7 support for premium vendors. I've categorically mentioned that it has sophisticated threat detection capabilities but they can be bettered. AI-driven automation can be improved, and therefore, I think the adoption with large enterprises can be much better. I think the current AI capabilities of Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall are a bit limited compared to other vendors. It primarily relies on threat intelligence feeds, signature-based detection, and reputation services. Currently, I would rate its AI capabilities as probably a seven out of ten because it does not provide for extensive GenAI or advanced ML-driven autonomous capabilities like some of its competitors. Threat intelligence aspects can be further improved, and I think there's a lot that the product can do with respect to the usage of AI. AI-driven automation and threat detection can vastly improve. I don't think they were purchased through AWS Marketplace. The adoption has to increase amongst large customers, and threat intelligence needs to improve for many customers to adopt, enhancing the security ecosystem that is relatively small.
BC
Sales And Brand Strategist at CrossConnect
Smart switching has transformed data center security and now simplifies stateful segmentation
To improve Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall, I think right now awareness is the biggest area for improvement. Cisco should focus on raising awareness about what the firewall on the switch actually is and how policy has changed. That is a massive story that has not been emphasized enough regarding saving time and effort due to the combination of all these tools. From a feature perspective, I am discovering new features as we deploy, so I do not know if there is a good answer yet because we are at the forefront of this technology. I can tell you that whenever we ask for a feature while working with Cisco, within a day, we get the feature added. For instance, understanding flow data is crucial. Within the N9300, to be able to apply the policy as we are discussing, you need to understand your network flow and what communicates with what. We were able to collaborate with the Cisco BU to refine how we consume that data and migrate old policies to the new structure necessary with Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall and HyperShield.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The solution is very, very easy to use, the user interface is very nice, the product offers pretty good customization, configuration has been straightforward and simple, the reporting is quite good, the initial setup is straightforward as well, and we've found the pricing to be pretty good."
"The integration with Active Directory is one of the good features. Most of the customers are now looking for the Single Sign-on feature. So, being able to integrate Active Directory with the firewall is useful. It is also easy."
"FortiGate is very easy to use, and to configure."
"My clients appreciate it for its features. It is easy to install and manage, and it offers all-around protection, including web filtering, content filtering, IPS, and IDS."
"We are using this solution to protect our network on every site."
"The most valuable feature is the SSL VPN, as it allows us to connect and it separates this product from other firewalls."
"I’ve personally used Cisco ASA and PIX architecture and after using Fortinet, I always prefer FortiGate products in terms of functionality and ease of use."
"Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted our organization by preventing hackers from accessing our network."
"I would say that if you're a small and medium enterprise or an education institution and you have a distributed organization looking for a cost-effective and easy-to-manage next-generation firewall solution with fairly good security, VPN, filtering, and centralized management, then Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall is an excellent choice."
"Phish Blocker is a valuable feature."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall has positively impacted my organization by reducing botnet attacks."
"A year and a half after working with them, it has paid off tenfold, and we would not have been where we are now if we had gone with the traditional Nexus platform."
"Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall optimizes the experience in a hybrid or distributed enterprise setup, and it has improved considerably with centralized management enhancements, making the experience much better now."
"The most valuable feature is the integration with all of the other Cisco tools that we have, and its platform-first approach."
"Specific outcomes that show the positive impact of Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall include that, with a single management environment to perform many different network changes on, we find that we can aggregate different change requests through the change management program without having to split things up."
"I believe there is a return on investment with Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall for every company that deploys it, as they typically see returns quickly, often within a few months, and the value measured is reasonable and comes back quickly."
"What I appreciate most about Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall is the visibility that I gain into the network."
 

Cons

"Fortinet is huge in today's market and they've become quite expensive."
"When it's overloaded, it works slower and overheats."
"FortiManager has not been my favorite. I don't use it and cannot say I really care for FortiManager for managing the firewalls."
"FortiGate's reporting features could provide a better picture of what is happening in the box."
"​It needs to improve its ISP load balancing.​"
"I have contacted the support from Fortinet FortiGate IPS. The service was good but the speed could be better."
"The cloud management should improve."
"Fortinet FortiGate IPS could improve the VPN. There are times it is slow."
"The product has a lot to improve in the area of policy implementation."
"Threat detection needs improvement; Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall should follow Alto and Fortinet."
"The documentation is not clear."
"Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall can be improved, particularly the user interface, which is not very good, and also the logs, which are not very good."
"Regarding how Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall can be improved, I would say pricing and discount structures could be enhanced."
"Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall could be improved by refining the documentation around the migration path from Cisco Defense Orchestrator or Farsight Manager because when we were early adopters, the migration path was quite unset and very vague and ambiguous."
"My experience with deploying Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall has been effective, with certain challenges and successes."
"For improving Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall, licensing is always a pain point and represents the worst aspect of the solution."
"The biggest issue we encountered was a gap between expectations for features relating to the design team versus the coding team."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing a five out of ten"
"As far as I'm aware, in our case, it's just a yearly pricing arrangement with no additional licensing costs."
"When comparing the price of Fortinet FortiGate SWG to other solutions it is expensive. The price could be better."
"The licensing scheme of Fortinet is better than Cisco. It is more logical."
"The pricing is comprehensive and clear. You can easily understand what you are purchasing, including which features correspond to each license and maintenance contract. Overall, the information is straightforward. Additionally, compared to other vendors, their prices are competitive."
"Before choosing a piece of equipment you have to take into account the cost-benefit offered by each one. Sometimes it is not worth paying a very cheap price to have a minimum level of security."
"Fortinet FortiGate's price can be reduced."
"Fortinet costs are 25% lower than the high-cost provider. There is an equipment cost and a recurring monthly cost for licenses and technical support."
"I consider it an averagely-priced tool."
"The tool is quite cheap."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewalls solutions are best for your needs.
902,495 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Construction Company
36%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Real Estate/Law Firm
3%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business369
Midsize Enterprise139
Large Enterprise195
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...
What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?
From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...
What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?
As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...
What needs improvement with Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall can be improved, particularly the user interface, which is not very good, a...
What advice do you have for others considering Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
My advice to others looking into using Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall is that it is effective and accompli...
What is your primary use case for Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall?
My main use case for Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall is as a perimeter firewall. I use it as a perimeter fi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall?
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall is that it was minimal compar...
What needs improvement with Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall?
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall could be improved by refining the documentation around the migration path from Cisco Defen...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall?
My main use case for Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall is the consolidation of multiple tools into one management platform.A...
 

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya
Information Not Available
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Arista Edge Threat Management NG Firewall vs. Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,495 professionals have used our research since 2012.