Check Point Quantum Force vs Cisco Secure Firewall comparison

Check Point Quantum Force vs. Cisco Secure Firewall

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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

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

Has strengthened perimeter security through AI-driven protection and unified management

Abnet Tsegaye Belay

Cybersecurity Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

I have noticed some limitations with Check Point Quantum Force. There is a limitation in integrating with existing infrastructure, such as orchestration and logging, specifically with VPNs. VPNs are hard and sophisticated to deploy on this firewall. However, it is improving currently. Some performance aspects need higher resources. If you do not give it higher resources, it will slow down your network. It is a trade-off - if you have higher resources, you will have good performance. The complexity of configuring a VPN needs to be improved because we need to go back and forth to configure VPNs. It has to be simpler to understand.

Unified policies streamline network management but complex licensing requires attention

Phil Shiflett

Senior Manager, Network Engineering at TTi Power Equipment

Cisco Secure Firewall has some growth opportunities in terms of visibility and control capabilities regarding managing encrypted traffic. It has the ability to analyze encrypted traffic, and there is potential for more integration with APIs and AI to enhance these capabilities. Cisco Secure Firewall needs improvement in deployment time and the capability to access the CLI during support calls. I often encounter issues when technical support uses a CLI that is not familiar to me while troubleshooting through the GUI. My ongoing complaint for the last six years has been the lack of CLI functionality, which hinders my ability to work on the firewall, alongside concerns regarding deployment time. For the next release, they should look at the features offered by competitors such as Fortinet, including the ability to perform packet capture directly from the interface. If they enhanced their troubleshooting efficiency related to packet capture for each specific rule, it would simplify the process significantly.

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate IPS are firewall and filtering."

"It is pretty straightforward to manage and has robust capabilities. I appreciate that Fortinet FortiGate can be a central controller for other Fortinet products, such as switches and access points."

"Fortinet FortiGate positively provides my clients' organizations with a high return on investment."

"It has the same functionalities throughout the range of products."

"Run Script is the best tool to use in Fortinet FortiGate with multiple environments."

"The UTM feature is quite good. FortiAP is easy to deploy because both Fortigate and FortiAP are under the same brand. Otherwise, you need to do more work on the configuration."

"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate are the different types of profiling. It has been the most effective for me. The WAF and the antivirus profile are the most effective in network protection."

"The IPS and the application control feature are the most valuable."

"Check Point Quantum Force has positively impacted my organization because we did not have any other network devices earlier, and after purchasing Check Point Quantum Spark, the issues have been reduced for users, and currently, everything is operating smoothly."

"The outcomes from Check Point Quantum Force firewall gave us the ability to be fit and secure from the cyber world."

"Since I started using Check Point Quantum Force, everything works efficiently, and I have seen a decrease in security incidents."

"What I like about Cisco is the security zone. By default when you configure it, it gives you a security zone, which other firewalls don't have."

"The most valuable features of this solution are the integrations and IPS throughput."

"The firewall power that comes with Cisco ASAv is the most valuable asset. They are are very easy to manage."

"The technical support is excellent. I would rate it as 10 out of 10. When there has been an issue, we have had a good response from them."

"Once configured to suit your needs, these firewalls are rock solid appliances."

"I'm a big fan of SecureX, Cisco's platform for tying together all the different security tools. It has a lot of flexibility and even a lot of third-party or non-Cisco integration. I feel like that's a really valuable tool."

"The feature of Cisco Secure Firewall that I appreciate the most is its ability to be used via the cloud, so we don't have to deploy service engineers on-site at any time."

"I appreciate the uniformity of being able to push the policies out with Cisco Secure Firewall. That was one of the reasons we acquired it, so we could push the policies out everywhere."

More Cisco Secure Firewall pros

Cons

"From a support perspective, I had more issues that I didn't think the person on my case handled the way I was expecting. We called them for a geolocation issue and we didn't get any proper assistance."

"It's one of the more expensive brands."

"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor."

"There could be more integration between the logging and analytical platforms to make it more seamless and integrated."

"Fortinet FortiGate is a firewall solution and once it's deployed, you can rest assured that your system is secure."

"The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone."

"They can do more tests before they release new versions because I would like to be more assured. We had some experiences where they release something new and great, but some of the old features are disabled or they don't work well, which impacts the product satisfaction. The manufacturer should be able to prove that everything works or not only that it might work. This is applicable to most of the other services, software, and hardware companies. They all should work on this. We cannot trust every new release, such as a beta release, on the first day. We wait for some comments on the forums and from other companies that we know. We always wait a few weeks before we use the updated version. They should also extend the VPN client application, especially for Linux versions. Currently, it has an application for Linux devices, but it doesn't work the way we want to connect to the VPN. They use only the old connection, not the new one. They have VPN client applications for Windows and Mac, but they can add more useful features to better manage the devices and monitor the current health of each device. Such features would be helpful for our company."

"Updating the software during issues can be quite convoluted, especially if there is an unexpected attack, such as on a Saturday."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"The complexity of configuring a VPN needs to be improved because we need to go back and forth to configure VPNs."

"I chose nine out of ten because the support is not provided properly; that is the reason I have some issues with support."

"Recently, we have been having an issue with the ASA firewall. We haven't found the root cause yet and are still working on it. We failed over the firewall from active to passive and suddenly that resolved the issue. We are now working to find the root cause."

"Antivirus features must be integrated for end user security."

"it is not very user-friendly for the administration."

"I'm not a big fan of the FDM (Firepower Device Manager) that comes with Firepower. I found out that you need to use the Firepower Management Center, the FMC, to manage the firewalls a lot better. You can get a lot more granular with the configuration in the FMC, versus the FDM that comes out-of-the-box with it. FDM is like Firepower for dummies."

"They need to do an overhaul of the management console."

"We are still running the original ASAs. The software that you are running for the ASDM software and Java application has never been a lot of fun to operate. It would have been nice to see that change update be redesigned with modern systems, which don't play nicely with Java sometimes. Cybersecurity doesn't seem to love how that operates. For us, a fresher application, taking advantage of the hardware, would have been a better approach."

"The initial setup can be a bit complex for those unfamiliar with the solution."

"The Cisco Firewall UI could be improved."

More Cisco Secure Firewall cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of the solution is very competitive."

"Pricing for Fortinet FortiGate SWG is more suitable for enterprise or large-sized organizations because they are the ones who can afford it versus small and medium-sized organizations."

"We purchased a five-year bundle package, which worked out cheaper than competing solutions."

"The pricing is based on a licensing model for each IPS in your environment."

"The solution is cheap."

"I think price-wise, the solution is totally reasonable since it has many products to serve, starting from small homes to massive scale sites."

"We pay for the solution annually."

"Currently, we are paying about $1,500 a month for three sites."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"It's more expensive than Fortinet and Juniper. The price is high compared to other vendors. In general, for the license, it's not that expensive."

"The Cisco licensing agreement in Bangladesh is different than the one in India and in Dubai. It is not a problem, but if you want to subscribe to the yearly subscription, the original cost is really high. Also, if you go for an anti-virus, you pay for an additional yearly subscription."

"Licensing is not only for Secure Firewalls, and it's too complicated."

"It requires additional licensing to enable 10G ports."

"Cisco is known as a premier product and it comes with a premier price point sometimes. Sometimes that makes it challenging for some customers to bite off. They see the value when we get into a proof-of-value scenario."

"The pricing was pretty comparable to other solutions when we purchased it."

"Purchasing from the AWS Marketplace was easy. It was just point and click."

"They're not too expensive. They're a little more expensive than other products, but you are getting the name, the company, and the support."

More Cisco Secure Firewall pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user206346

Security Consultant at Webernetz.net - Network Security Consulting

Mar 11, 2015

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

No data available

Computer Software Company

20%

University

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	350
Midsize Enterprise	130
Large Enterprise	187

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	180
Midsize Enterprise	126
Large Enterprise	212

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Which is better - Fortinet FortiGate or Cisco ASA Firewall?

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Comparisons

Compared 17% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 9% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

No data available

Palo Alto Networks WildFire vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 8% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 4% of the time

Cisco Meraki MX vs Cisco Secure Firewall

Compared 3% of the time

More Cisco Secure Firewall Competitors

Product Reports

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Download Check Point Quantum Force product report

Firewalls

September 2025

Cisco Secure Firewall

Download Cisco Secure Firewall product report

Also Known As

No data available

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Firewall, Cisco ASA NGFW, Adaptive Security Appliance, Cisco Sourcefire Firewalls, Cisco ASAv, Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewall, Cisco Secure Firewall ASA Virtual - BYOL

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate excels in providing integrated VPN, firewalling, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) with centralized management and high availability. It supports remote access and comprehensive threat protection, making it a preferred choice for securing networks.

Fortinet FortiGate offers a robust security platform with features such as strong intrusion prevention, application control, and web filtering. Its integration with Active Directory and SD-WAN functionality provides scalable solutions for large networks. Users appreciate its ease of use through centralized management interfaces, ensuring robust security with flexible configurations. However, FortiGate could enhance its graphical interface and technical support responsiveness, address firmware bugs and costly licensing, improve logging, integrate better with third-party tools, and strengthen scalability and memory for log storage. Complexity in configuration and the need for intuitive features are noted challenges, and there's a demand for advanced security, zero-trust capabilities, and AI integration.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN: Secure remote access and connectivity.
Firewalling: Protects networks from unauthorized access and attacks.
UTM: Offers a comprehensive approach to threat management.
SD-WAN: Optimizes traffic routing for efficient network performance.
Web Filtering: Controls and monitors web access and ensures Internet security.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Centralized Management: Simplifies administration and monitoring.
High Availability: Ensures consistent security and network availability.
Scalability: Adapts to the needs of growing networks.
Comprehensive Threat Protection: Provides robust security measures.
Ease of Use: Minimizes the complexity of security management.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries like education, finance, and government. Companies use it for firewall protection, VPN, and SD-WAN capabilities, ensuring secure perimeter and data center security. It facilitates remote access management and traffic routing optimization, offering reliable security and connectivity solutions.

Fortinet

Check Point Quantum Force is an advanced cybersecurity platform providing robust protection for enterprise environments. Designed for flexibility and scalability, it effectively safeguards sensitive data and ensures secure network operations.

As a next-generation cybersecurity platform, Check Point Quantum Force integrates multiple security layers to address emerging threats. It offers powerful threat prevention tools, adaptive security policies, and real-time threat intelligence. The platform caters to dynamic business needs, supporting seamless integration across technology infrastructures.

What are some of the key features of Check Point Quantum Force?

Threat Prevention: Real-time analysis and mitigation of potential cyber threats.
Adaptive Security: Automated security policy adjustments based on activity insights.
Scalability: Supports growth with seamless cybersecurity infrastructure expansion.
Threat Intelligence: Continuous updates providing insights on recent threats.

What benefits or ROI should users evaluate in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Affords long-term savings through minimized risk of data breaches.
Enhanced Security: Provides comprehensive protection against varied cybersecurity threats.
Operational Continuity: Ensures minimal disruption to business functions with proactive security measures.
Ease of Integration: Simplifies integration into existing IT systems without extensive overhauls.

Check Point Quantum Force is implemented in industries like finance, healthcare, and retail, offering tailored security solutions to meet sector-specific regulatory and operational demands. By leveraging its adaptable architecture, businesses in these industries effectively manage risk while ensuring customer data privacy and compliance with industry standards.

Check Point Software Technologies

Cisco Secure Firewall provides comprehensive network security with advanced features such as application visibility, URL filtering, and malware protection. It combines a user-friendly interface with robust VPN capabilities, making it a reliable choice for varying network environments and industry applications.

Cisco Secure Firewall offers exceptional protection with its integration into Cisco's broader ecosystem, ensuring enhanced threat detection and policy unification. Despite its complexity in command-line interfaces and management, Cisco Secure Firewall remains a potent tool for safeguarding data. It is widely adopted for edge security, VPN services, perimeter defense, and traffic segmentation, especially in hybrid settings. Essential sectors like banking and telecom benefit from its stable connectivity and centralized security management. Though there are challenges with costs and support for third-party APIs, the firewall's scalability and high availability provide comprehensive support for protecting network assets.

What are the key features of Cisco Secure Firewall?

Application Visibility: Offers in-depth visibility of application traffic to monitor and protect against threats.
Advanced Malware Protection: Protects against known and emerging malware threats with powerful detection capabilities.
URL Filtering: Manages and restricts access to websites, enhancing organizational data security.
VPN Capabilities: Ensures secure remote access and encrypted communication through strong VPN features.
Integration with Cisco Ecosystem: Enhances security measures with seamless integration with Cisco's suite of security tools.

What benefits and ROI should be expected from Cisco Secure Firewall?

Comprehensive Protection: Offers multi-layered security for diverse network environments, increasing overall data protection.
Performance Efficiency: High availability and scalability lead to improved network performance and resource management.
Management Simplification: Centralized security management streamlines policy deployment across networks.
Enhanced Threat Detection: Integration capabilities improve threat detection and mitigation for better security posture.

Cisco Secure Firewall is widely implemented across sectors like banking, education, ISPs, and telecoms. It fortifies data centers and network edge security, delivering strong protection for client access, hybrid environments, and intrusion prevention. In these industries, firewall solutions ensure secure connectivity and manage RTU traffic effectively, leveraging centralized management and integration with Cisco's security tools.

Cisco

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

There are more than one million Adaptive Security Appliances deployed globally. Top customers include First American Financial Corp., Genzyme, Frankfurt Airport, Hansgrohe SE, Rio Olympics, The French Laundry, Rackspace, and City of Tomorrow.

Check Point Quantum Force vs. Cisco Secure Firewall