Azure Firewall vs Meraki MX comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
314
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (1st)
Azure Firewall
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
Firewalls (21st), Microsoft Security Suite (14th)
Meraki MX
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2024, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 22.6%, up from 18.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Firewall is 2.2%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Meraki MX is 3.7%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls
Unique Categories:
Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions
19.7%
WAN Edge
21.4%
Microsoft Security Suite
5.3%
Unified Threat Management (UTM)
16.3%
 

Featured Reviews

MURALI NIDAMANURI - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 11, 2024
Has good two factor authentication and client VPN for advanced threat protection across clouds and data centers
My customers use Fortinet FortiGate for SD-WAN, network security, branch-to-branch communication, site-to-site channel communication, multi-layer protection, authentication, and antivirus solutions. They span various industries, including IT setups, chip-level designing, VLSI companies, software…
GT
Aug 25, 2021
Good threat intelligence, scalable, and good support
I have deployed Azure Firewall for a couple of my clients. They primarily use it for protecting their workloads and limiting incoming connections. I also have a subscription but I use it primarily for testing The most valuable feature is threat intelligence. It is based on filtering and can…
PN
May 15, 2024
Completely cloud-controlled and provide an SD-WAN kind of experience for the customer with multiple WAN provider links to optimize
Meraki is very easy. It's very easy to manage the setup and all that stuff. I would rate my experience with the initial setup an eight out of ten, with ten being easy. Cloud Deployment: It is a solution where this can be managed through the cloud, Cisco's cloud. Meraki is the solution. You can manage it in Cisco's cloud. Generally, if you look into any router or that kind of thing, you need to put in the local IP, plug in, and do the configuration. Whereas in Cisco, you'll have a user ID and password. All your equipment will be listed in the Cisco Meraki cloud itself, where you can configure everything centrally and deploy it. Deployment time: The deployment took a few hours. Management is easy. It's centrally managed through the cloud. I don't see a challenge.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The SD-WAN function is very developed. It has SD-WAN functionality with security features in one device. We can manage from one single console SD-WAN and the security policy."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiGate is the simple configuration."
"We can detect any attack of viruses or malware at the first point of contact."
"Fortinet FortiGate is a stable solution."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are it is one of the most mature firewalls in the UTM bundle."
"The threat prevention is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"The pricing is great and very reasonable."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the APIs. They are the most widely known."
"I like its order management feature. It doesn't have the kind of threat intelligence that Palo Alto has, but the order management makes it much simpler to know the difference."
"Great security and connectivity."
"All its features are good. That's why we recommend it."
"The solution can autoscale."
"The SIEM that Azure Firewall provides us is very robust."
"The initial setup is straightforward; Azure Firewall does not have a complex implementation process. It is very simple; you just need to enable the service within Azure. It does not require any maintenance because it is managed by Microsoft, that is, it is a fully managed service."
"The feature that I have found the most valuable is the control over the network permissions and the network."
"The solution should be capable of self-scaling, which is one of the features we like about it."
"It has the most advanced security features, for example, layer 3 and layer 7 firewall capabilities and the end team and IPS protection. It also has IPS, and it has very good functioning of cloning services. You don't actually have to touch the device. If you have multiple companies in different countries, you don't really require this device to be touched. You can get it delivered directly to any office of a country, and then you can simply put your configuration over the cloud. It's very simplified and easy to manage. It gives a very good granular visibility about your network. Earlier, a lot of things were lacking in the network. We were unable to identify where the problem was, but after implementing Meraki MX, we are able to dig down and identify where is the problem. We can easily and quickly identify the sources and the root causes of the issues."
"It has very good features; it's easy to use, configure, set up, and deploy."
"Dual WAN connections are greatly simplified and point-to-point VPNs automatically connect regardless of what WAN connection is active."
"Simple to manage."
"In a week, we can make new policy and view what all our users did.​"
"Ease of management is the best thing about the solution."
"We've had no issues with the scalability or the stability of this solution"
"In general, Meraki MX is easy to work with."
 

Cons

"NGN, reporting and controls."
"The solution could be more user friendly."
"Security is a continuous process. In every product, there is a requirement for improvement. Its pricing should also be improved according to Indian market requirements. They must also improve on the reporting part. Its reporting can be more precise. If we can get a real-time report in a specific format, it will be helpful for customers to know about the current status of their security."
"The solution can have more features in a single box that can be multi-applied to integrate everything."
"The platform's interface could improve."
"It's my understanding that more of the current generation features could be brought in. There could be more integration with EDRs, for example."
"The documentation available for Fortinet FortiGate should be improved"
"I would like to see improvements with the antivirus and IPS as they are not working properly all the time."
"The threat intelligence aspect of this particular firewall is not at par with other providers."
"An Azure firewall is not a real firewall."
"Currently, it only supports IP addresses, so you have to be specific about the IPs that are in your environment."
"Right now, with Azure Firewall, we cannot have a normal inbound traffic flow. For inbound, Microsoft suggests using application gateways, so the options are very limited. I cannot use this firewall as an intermediate firewall because of the limitations, and I cannot point routing to another firewall. So if I want to use back-to-back firewall architecture in my environment, I cannot use Azure Firewall for that type of configuration either."
"There should be better monitoring and logging. Currently, it is put in Sentinel. It should be more seamless and from the interface."
"We find it's different implementing it region-to-region. It might help if it was universal across all regions."
"The reporting, logging, and monitoring features, as well as the flexibility of the policies, need to be improved."
"The solution lacks artificial intelligence and machine learning. It might be in the roadmap. However, currently, it's not available."
"Right now, you can postpone the update but eventually, if you don't do the update, it will install the updates automatically for you and that's something that is not working for me."
"MX can only be managed via a web interface, but I'm accustomed to using a CLI or a graphical interface. I would also like to see more reporting features. It doesn't provide enough information for me to know precisely about some clients."
"Meraki MX firewalls are great for small to medium-sized businesses, but other solutions are better for enterprise-sized companies."
"Management can be improved in Meraki MX."
"The client-side VPN is weak. The product could be improved with deployment templates."
"The solution's pricing should be reduced."
"The only stability issue is in Content Filtering. Sometimes we need to report these types of issues to Cisco support."
"Direct logging is something that can be introduced. In the absence of cloud management, the possibility of local configurations and on-premise logins becomes restricted. This limitation stands as a primary concern. When it comes to resolving issues, the inability to access login options hampers troubleshooting efforts. The stability is noteworthy; but when compared to alternative products, its stability is comparatively lower. Additionally, certain limitations are observed in terms of remote control. Price-wise, the solution stands out for its competitive and cost-effective nature compared to other alternatives. Operationally, it is user-friendly and requires minimal effort from administrators, making configuration hassle-free."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price could be better."
"The license for Fortinet FortiGate is affordable in my country."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate when compared to other solutions is high. However, my knowledge of the price is from third parties and I am not sure how accurate it is. I typically work in the technical area of my organization."
"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable."
"The main reason we chose Fortinet FortiGate was that the price was better than the competition."
"The cost of Fortinet FortiGate is competitive and not expensive compared to other enterprise- grade solutions. On average, the license cost per year is around seventy percent of the firewall's purchase price."
"Fortigate's pricing is competitive."
"Fortinet FortiGate as a less expensive solution than Palo Alto."
"The pricing should be competitive. If you compare Azure's pricing to that of security solutions from AWS or GCP, theirs is much more competitive. Azure Firewall should also have similar competitive prices so that it is accessible to small- and medium-sized organizations."
"It is pay-as-you-go. So, you pay based on the usage. If I remember it well, there is a basic fee, and there is a traffic fee. It is not per month. It is per hour or something like that. It is not so expensive."
"Before choosing this solution, we evaluated others, and we found this to be the most cost-effective."
"It is expensive, especially with the premium functions. For one of the clients, it was very expensive. You have to use it more at an enterprise level, and there, it was not at an enterprise level. So, it was very costly, but security-wise, it was a very wise decision to use it that way."
"Azure Firewall is expensive."
"Azure Firewall is more expensive. If Microsoft can make Azure Firewall cheaper, I can see that all clients will think of using it. One client used FortiGate because it is much cheaper. Some clients ask me for Cisco, but in the cloud estimate, I found its cost is the same as Azure Firewall."
"Azure Firewalls operate on a pay-as-you-go model, similar to cloud services."
"The solution is cheaper than other brands. My company has an enterprise contract and we finally got a good price with Azure."
"We just have to pay for the product and the license. We have a license for three years, and it is renewed every three years. It costs $1,200 for three years for one endpoint. Meraki had a good promotion for remote workers or remote workforce. The discount is very good. This promotion continues till the next fiscal year of Cisco."
"Our customers pay for the solution on a monthly basis."
"It can always improve pricewise regarding throughput."
"The solution is expensive compared to other vendors but you can get good discounts if you know the account manager. The product is less expensive than a normal Cisco subscription. The tool's hardware warranty is a lifetime but you need to purchase support which comes in three, five, and seven years subscriptions."
"The price varies depending on the hardware platform as well as the type of license and whether you're adding security or not."
"​Other content filtering solutions that I have used had more bells and whistles, but given the cost, complexity, and management overhead, I am very pleased with Meraki’s solution."
"Its licensing cost could be better."
"The product's price depends on use cases."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
21%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
23%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?
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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 is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firew...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the...
Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?
Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigat...
Fortigate 60d vs. Meraki MX67 for a small company without a dedicated IT Department
We have Meraki Mx devices now, we are looking to replace them. But that is because the Meraki MX platform lacks SSL I...
Which is better - Meraki MX or Cisco ASA Firewall?
Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software is the operating software for the Cisco ASA suite. It supports netw...
What do you like most about Meraki MX?
I am happy with the technical support for the solution. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.
 

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate
No data available
MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Amazon Web Services 2. Microsoft 3. IBM 4. Cisco 5. Dell 6. HP 7. Oracle 8. Verizon 9. AT&T 10. T-Mobile 11. Sprint 12. Vodafone 13. Orange 14. BT Group 15. Telstra 16. Deutsche Telekom 17. Comcast 18. Time Warner Cable 19. CenturyLink 20. NTT Communications 21. Tata Communications 22. SoftBank 23. China Mobile 24. Singtel 25. Telus 26. Rogers Communications 27. Bell Canada 28. Telkom Indonesia 29. Telkom South Africa 30. Telmex 31. Telia Company 32. Telkom Kenya
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Hyatt, ONS
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall vs. Meraki MX and other solutions. Updated: July 2024.
793,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.