Azure Firewall Manager vs Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center comparison

Microsoft and Cisco are both solutions in the Firewall Security Management category. Microsoft is ranked #10 with an average rating of 9.3, while Cisco is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.7. Microsoft holds a 1.9% mindshare in Firewall Security Management, compared to Cisco’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of Cisco users who would recommend it.

Azure Firewall Manager

Read 9 Azure Firewall Manager reviews

788 Views
481 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Cisco Secure Firewall Manag...

Read 27 Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center reviews

455 Views
455 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Azure Firewall Manager

Cisco Secure Firewall Manag...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 4, 2024

Azure Firewall Manager and Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center are competing products in the network security landscape. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center emerges as the superior product due to its advanced features and comprehensive management capabilities, which users find worth the investment, despite Azure Firewall Manager showing competitive pricing and support satisfaction.

Features: Azure Firewall Manager provides seamless integration with Azure services, central management capabilities, and enhanced security policies. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center offers strong analytics, advanced threat protection, and extensive policy control, making it suitable for complex network environments.

Room for Improvement: Azure Firewall Manager could improve with more robust analytics, enhanced threat detection, and expanded policy control features. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center can benefit from more competitive pricing, simplified deployment options, and integration flexibility with non-Cisco products.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Azure Firewall Manager provides cloud-native deployment optimized for quick setup and effective management within Azure. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center offers an intricate on-premises or cloud-based deployment model with detailed documentation and robust customer service, beneficial for troubleshooting complex issues.

Pricing and ROI: Azure Firewall Manager is cost-effective with a flexible pricing model, offering good ROI through integration within Azure. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center involves a higher initial cost but justifies this with substantial long-term ROI due to its comprehensive features and robust security infrastructure.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Firewall Manager vs. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager vs. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

September 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 869,202 peers since 2012

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

Azure Firewall Manager

Ranking in Firewall Security Management

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

4.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Microsoft Security Suite (28th)

Cisco Secure Firewall Manag...

Ranking in Firewall Security Management

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Firewall Security Management category, the mindshare of Azure Firewall Manager is 1.9%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is 1.4%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewall Security Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center	1.4%
Azure Firewall Manager	1.9%
Other	96.7%

Firewall Security Management

Featured Reviews

Sikkander Batcha

DevOps Engineer at CloudIQ

Has managed traffic effectively but lacks visibility and advanced control features

Azure Firewall is typically behind other vendor firewalls because we don't see what kind of traffic is traveling through it. That is one drawback. The main drawback is that we need log support from Azure Firewall, which can be quite costly. There is no login feature in Azure Firewall because only the IAM feature is available in the Azure site; we manage it only through the Azure portal, not through any other portal. Other vendors, such as Palo Alto, provide GUI or CLI interfaces to manage their firewalls, whereas we only manage Azure Firewall through the Azure portal. In the future, I would like to see additional features in Azure Firewall Manager to make it more competitive, such as technologies like App-ID and User-ID that Palo Alto has. Azure Firewall currently only allows traffic based on layer four and sometimes layer seven, so they need to improve in those areas compared to other vendors.

Read full review

Yonas Abebe

Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC

Great dashboard with extensive visibility and good support

I expect more integration with AI. I expect Cisco to be easier for users in India, especially for junior users. For a junior one, it may somehow be complex, especially when configuring something. I remember version 6.4 had an integration with Eddie, allowing me to define a policy according to my users, however, the latest version, lacks this integration. The logging of FMC should be improved as it does not offer real-time solutions like DazaSodo.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We are utilizing Azure Entra ID for group labeling, so Active Directory, or now it is Entra ID, securing our application for everyone who accesses it, and Azure Firewall Manager is definitely securing our projects and all its features are fine."

"Azure Firewall Manager centralizes network security management with a hub and spoke architecture."

"The best feature of Azure Firewall Manager is that it is easy to maintain and configure."

"The tool's support is good."

"From a traffic management perspective, it's a good firewall because it's automatically scalable based on the traffic availability."

"The solution has improved our organization with its firewall."

"It is easy to install and does not require any plugins for your browser."

More Azure Firewall Manager pros

"One of the most valuable features of Cisco Secure Firewalls is their seamless integration with other Cisco products."

"Cisco's support and services are far superior to any other security product in Pakistan."

"The solution is useful and powerful."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the intrusion prevention system."

"My clients have never contacted me with any issues, so I believe the solution is stable."

"I like its system management and filtering options as a layer seven firewall."

"The technical support team is responsive and supportive."

"The most valuable feature of the Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is the UTM."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center pros

Cons

"For Azure Firewall Manager, the learning curve for new people is a bit challenging, but the integration should be more straightforward for configuring a centralized system."

"The configuration and settings require substantial time for learning, particularly for new users. Improvements in ease of configuration would benefit users significantly."

"The tool's security features need to improve. It needs also to include a monitoring system for logs. It is also complicated to find a query on the Azure firewall."

"Azure charges for many aspects including scaling, automated scaling deployment, and traffic management, which leads to higher costs."

"The configuration and settings require substantial time for learning, particularly for new users."

"The price is okay. This said, the solution is certainly expensive in comparison with other cloud services."

"The cost is a significant concern because we are in a region where the dollar is not our default currency, and converting to dollars makes it very expensive."

"Azure charges for many aspects including scaling, automated scaling deployment, and traffic management, which leads to higher costs."

More Azure Firewall Manager cons

"The tool is a little bit pricey. I was not involved much with finance, but it appeared to be really expensive."

"Due to the lack of enough tutorials available online, I face problems with Cisco."

"Areas for improvement include pricing points and the range of products available at any given time."

"We use the suggested standard policies that come with the equipment. We don't put much effort into customizing these policies, which we know is a risk. We're moving to a more advanced IT area that will change how we manage the firewall policies. Cisco offers many ways to manage the equipment, but our team lacks extensive knowledge. We're moving these responsibilities to a specialized security team."

"Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center's logging functionality could be improved."

"It's not very user-friendly and can be somewhat disorganized."

"The interface is an area that could be improved."

"The initial setup is a bit complex."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is certainly expensive in comparison with other cloud services."

"The price of the solution is reasonable but it is reasonable for the features."

"My license offers all the protection, like malware protection, VPN protection, IDS, IPS, and endpoint protection."

"When you are using a Cisco solution you know it will be expensive. Cisco makes you pay for everything individually. We pay for the licenses that we need."

"I rate Secure Firewall Management Center eight out of 10 for pricing."

"I use the free version of the product."

"The price of the solution is expensive. We do not have to pay more than the standard licensing fees."

"It is rather expensive."

"Technical support is an additional annual cost and is not included with the license."

"The solution is expensive. We have a multi-license, and we pay extra for support."

More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Firewall Security Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

Retailer

Performing Arts

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Azure Firewall Manager?

The most valuable feature of Azure Firewall Manager is the testing and configuration.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Firewall Manager?

The pricing for Azure Firewall Manager seems okay compared to its good features. Although extra expenses are incurred for additional services, these are not directly related to the firewall, and th...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Firewall Manager?

Azure Firewall Manager is good most of the time, but it could be improved regarding cost. The cost is a significant concern because we are in a region where the dollar is not our default currency, ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?

The platform has significantly enhanced our organization's operations by providing secure communication channels between different office locations.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?

I would rate setup cost as four for now.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center?

Licensing has been a challenge with Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center, and personally, I would consider switching to another solution. We are thinking of taking a Fortinet or another solution...

See all answers

Comparisons

Azure Firewall vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 29% of the time

FortiGate Cloud-Native Firewall (FortiGate CNF) vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 27% of the time

AlgoSec vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 14% of the time

Palo Alto Networks Panorama vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 13% of the time

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud vs Azure Firewall Manager

Compared 9% of the time

More Azure Firewall Manager Competitors

Palo Alto Networks Panorama vs Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

Compared 71% of the time

Cisco Security Cloud Control vs Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

Compared 29% of the time

More Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager

October 2025

Download Azure Firewall Manager product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

October 2025

Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center report

Download Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center product report

Overview

Azure Firewall Manager is a security management service that provides central security policy and route management for cloud-based security perimeters.

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

The Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center is the administrative nerve center for select Cisco security products running on multiple platforms. It provides unified management of Cisco Secure Firewalls with Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) software for port and protocol control, application control, IPS, URL filtering, and malware protection functions. Firewall Management Center is the centralized event and policy manager for:

● Cisco Secure Firewall with the Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) OS

● Cisco ASA with FirePOWER Services

● Cisco Secure IPS (Firepower Next-Gen IPS / NGIPS)

● Cisco FirePOWER Threat Defense for ISR

● Cisco Malware Defense (AMP)

Cisco

Buyer's Guide

Azure Firewall Manager vs. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

September 2025

Free Report: Azure Firewall Manager vs. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall Manager vs. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Azure Firewall Manager vs. Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center report.

See our list of best Firewall Security Management vendors.

We monitor all Firewall Security Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.