We performed a comparison between Azure Firewall and Meraki MX based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Firewalls solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Whenever I need something, Fortinet improves and updates the software for me."
"The inspection and web security features are most valuable."
"The wireless control is helpful."
"It's super reliable. I don't think I've ever had a reliability issue with it."
"The most valuable features are SD-WAN, application control, IPS control, and FortiSandbox."
"Whenever we raise a complaint with FortiGate, their response and resolution times are minimal."
"The VPN is the most valuable feature."
"The SD-WAN is the most valuable feature."
"I can easily configure it."
"Azure Firewall's feature that I have found most valuable is its scalability."
"The solution can autoscale."
"It's auto-scalable, which is a great feature."
"The most valuable feature is the integration into the overall cloud platform."
"One of the notable advantages of Azure Firewall is its user-friendly interface, which closely resembles or shares similarities with other Azure components."
"The most valuable feature is threat intelligence. It is based on filtering and can identify multiple threats."
"Microsoft's technical support is very good. They're quite knowledgable and responsive."
"We switched to Meraki because it lets you see what's happening in your LAN and WAN in a graphic and web environment."
"The product's initial setup phase is very easy."
"A strong, reliable solution for small companies with little or no dedicated IT department."
"Point-to-point VPNs can dynamically follow IP changes with no need for static IPs."
"It's flexible, easy to configure, and easy to manage."
"The cloud management system is really valuable."
"WAN optimization is the best feature of the solution."
"The most valuable feature of Meraki MX is I can manage the solution from anywhere remotely, I can throttle bandwidth, and create all rules. Additionally, it is secure for our customers."
"The UI could be improved."
"The visibility of the network can be better. The GUI can be improved for better visibility of the network flow. Other solutions have better GUI in terms of network visibility."
"Fortinet Fortigate could benefit by simplifying some of their processes."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having a frequent ask questions(FAQ) area for people to receive quick answers to popular questions. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have an SMS notification feature. For example, if you cannot access your email you could receive an SMS message."
"There were quite a few problems with the stability of the system."
"It needs to improve its ISP load balancing."
"There are some problems that support cannot give you a logical reason as to why it happened. For example, I had a case where I was dealing with a WhatsApp application that was giving issues. Technical support gave more than one reason it could be giving issues, but none of them solved the problem. Eventually I solved the problem, but it was far from the solutions that support had given."
"The routing capability on the FortiGate devices has room for improvement."
"Azure Firewall should have a free trial version for new users so that they can evaluate it before deploying it."
"You have to have a defined IP range within your network to associate it with your network. The problem is you have to plan ahead of time if you expect to use the firewall in the future so that you don't have to reconfigure your subnets or that specific IP range. Other than that, I don't any issues. I use it for basic configuration for a single application, so I really don't try to leverage it for multiple applications where I might find some complexity or challenges."
"It's a little heavy compared to a FortiGate or other firewalls."
"This solution is not mature when it comes to handling perimeter traffic like internet browsing."
"The product could be made more customizable."
"It would be much easier if the on-premises, firewall rules, had some kind of export-import possibility in place, which is not the case right now."
"The development area and QA area could be improved. With those improvements, we can improve projects and take even less time to implement them."
"An Azure firewall is not a real firewall."
"Meraki tech support staff have a lot more visibility into your network than you do, which is frustrating at times. I understand the approach is to keep the dashboard easier to understand. This will frustrate more advanced users at times."
"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."
"From the improvement perspective, we need more monitoring capabilities. We want to have full-based access visibility, such as, what is happening when something is trying to reach and it is denying. We cannot see some parts of it. The integration of active directory with this product is not very fruitful. It has some bugs or lacks in the functionality of active directory integration. We are unable to identify where exactly and whether it has really applied our policy."
"The solution's pricing should be reduced."
"The client-side VPN is weak. The product could be improved with deployment templates."
"We can’t access GUI management and CLI opening features when the Internet is unavailable."
"It would be great if the Meraki devices let us see, in real time, the internet demand on a single device."
"In the next release, because the security is pretty basic, I think they could include additional security features."
Azure Firewall is ranked 16th in Firewalls with 33 reviews while Meraki MX is ranked 2nd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 57 reviews. Azure Firewall is rated 7.2, while Meraki MX is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Azure Firewall writes "Easy to use and configure but could be more robust". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Meraki MX writes "Cost-effective, simplified, easy to manage, and reliable with advanced security features and granular visibility". Azure Firewall is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate-VM, Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, Microsoft Defender for Cloud and OPNsense, whereas Meraki MX is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos XG, SonicWall TZ and Sophos XGS. See our Azure Firewall vs. Meraki MX report.
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