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Cisco IOS Security vs Cisco Meraki MX comparison

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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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco IOS Security delivered significant ROI through improved routing, security, stability, and cost-efficiency, despite competitive vendor pressures.
Sentiment score
4.9
Cisco Meraki MX offers long-term cost-effectiveness through operational savings, improved efficiency, and reduced equipment and training expenses.
The return on investment is satisfactory with Cisco products as they have long lifespans, and our customers are satisfied with them.
Head of Cyber Defense Department and Network Technologies Department at Verso Altima
I have seen a return on investment with Cisco Meraki MX because of the time saved through cloud management.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
You can eliminate some positions because it manages itself.
Enterprise Networking Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
It greatly helps out when I am moving away from the expensive MPLS circuits or MPLS hardware.
Senior Manager Networking at David Yurman
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
Cisco IOS Security support is generally praised for speed and skill, though some report delays and complexity in access.
Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Meraki MX customer support is praised for responsiveness and effectiveness, despite occasional issues with Level 1 support.
My impression is that the support quality has deteriorated over time.
Head of Cyber Defense Department and Network Technologies Department at Verso Altima
The support is excellent, earning a rating of ten out of ten.
Principal Consultant at Epitome Infotech Solutions (P) Ltd
Every time I got a hold of someone, I was always able to resolve my issues.
Systems Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
When we raise a ticket with Meraki MX, they instantly become available to support us for configurations or troubleshooting.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Cisco IOS Security offers scalable, enterprise-level solutions but may increase costs and limit universality due to required hardware.
Sentiment score
6.6
Cisco Meraki MX is scalable for SMEs with easy deployment but may face limitations in high-bandwidth or large-scale scenarios.
When you have hundreds of thousands of people it is very difficult to scale in Meraki.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The scalability of Cisco Meraki MX is rated 10 out of 10; you can scale up and scale down with no effort.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
Cisco Meraki MX scales with my growing needs for my organization very well because they are easy to deploy.
Network Engineer at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco IOS Security is generally reliable with occasional issues, frequently updated for stability, scoring 7-10 in satisfaction.
Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Meraki MX is considered stable with high ratings, minor issues, and generally meets expectations despite some VPN concerns.
We find Cisco products stable and thoroughly tested before new software or firmware versions are released.
Head of Cyber Defense Department and Network Technologies Department at Verso Altima
I find Cisco IOS Security to be a very stable product.
Partner/Owner and Director of Human Resources at Up arrow Systems
There have been no outages, no stability issues, and we have not found any vulnerabilities during security audits.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
I have had zero downtime at all with Cisco Meraki MX.
Enterprise Networking Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I assess the stability and the reliability of Cisco Meraki MX as good, and I have experienced no downtime, crashes, or performance issues.
Network Engineer at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco IOS Security struggles with integration, usability, cost, lacking features, complex licensing, performance, and requires enhancement and support.
Cisco Meraki MX requires improvements in reporting, flexibility, cost, control, scalability, language support, connectivity, and setup complexity.
Cisco changes their licensing policy quite frequently, which is becoming confusing and complicated.
Head of Cyber Defense Department and Network Technologies Department at Verso Altima
It should automatically remediate and find out the issue and then resolve it on its own without interrupting the work of the employees.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Data is the only path, so optimization is essential.
Chief Commercial Officer at InnovAge Home Care
An improvement would be to use Cisco Meraki MX as a software solution as well, which might reduce the cost.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
 

Setup Cost

Cisco IOS Security is costly, favoring medium to large enterprises with longer-term savings over SMB challenges.
Cisco Meraki MX pricing is valued for cloud management but is costly, with potential discounts available through negotiation.
The cost of Cisco IOS Security for customers is on the higher end of pricing compared to the competition, depending on the targeted customers.
Head of Cyber Defense Department and Network Technologies Department at Verso Altima
I get it for $25,000, a device that can connect up to 75-100 users, whereas in Meraki MX, it goes to 75,000-80,000 per access point.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The price could be reduced by around 30% to make it more comfortable.
Technical Presales at Vcom Technologies
If Cisco can make the pricing less, customers can purchase more licenses.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
 

Valuable Features

Cisco IOS Security offers scalable, stable solutions with VPN, AAA, firewall integration, and user-friendly management for high-demand environments.
Cisco Meraki MX offers centralized management, security, easy configuration, and robust performance, enhancing usability, connectivity, and deployment efficiency.
This solution, called Network Access Controller, handles authentication, authorization, and accounting for devices accessing the network.
Partner/Owner and Director of Human Resources at Up arrow Systems
The best features of Cisco IOS Security are its integration with software management tools such as Cisco DNA Center and Cisco ICE, which provide centralized policy and network access control.
Head of Cyber Defense Department and Network Technologies Department at Verso Altima
Meraki MX is among those top solutions in their exceptional approach towards VPN-less, Zero Trust client access to office private networks.
Managing Director at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Advanced security is the second tier of Cisco Meraki MX. It brings you the main next-generation firewalling features such as URL filtering, advanced malware protection, and threat protection.
Presales System Engineer at Logicom Sales Inc
Cisco Meraki MX API makes it really easy for me to automate a lot of changes over several thousand devices.
Technology Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco IOS Security
Ranking in Firewalls
38th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (17th)
Cisco Meraki MX
Ranking in Firewalls
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
Unified Threat Management (UTM) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Cisco IOS Security is 0.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Meraki MX is 3.8%, up from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Firewalls Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Meraki MX3.8%
Cisco IOS Security0.6%
Other95.6%
Firewalls
 

Featured Reviews

Danijel Cerovecki - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Cyber Defense Department and Network Technologies Department at Verso Altima
Have faced challenges in keeping licensing clear and consistent while ensuring reliable network protection
We are a Gold Partner with Cisco. Our customers come from various industries, including service providers, and we target service providers and enterprise customers.We do not extensively use Zone-Based Firewalls in Cisco IOS Security, instead typically deploying standalone firewalls such as Cisco FTDs or Cisco ASA devices. For threat analytics and vulnerability scanning, we utilize third-party vendors with dedicated devices and software. We use products such as Tenable from Nessus for this type of analysis. We have implemented Secure Access Control Server in Cisco IOS Security, which combines multiple security mechanisms including AAA, 802.1X for network access control with Cisco ICE, TrustSec for identity-based segmentation, and Cisco DNA Center. Cisco IOS Security's VPN support is comprehensive and increasingly important in daily communication, from basic site-to-site tunnels to remote access VPNs and SD-WAN secure VPNs. Protecting and encrypting communication is essential in modern networks. The challenges with Cisco IOS Security are more operational than product-related. There is an understaffing issue, making automation and orchestration capabilities particularly valuable. For the products themselves, we only encounter routine operational matters such as addressing new vulnerabilities and patching. For those considering Cisco IOS Security, it is important to understand that Cisco offers a complete ecosystem. When embracing the Cisco ecosystem fully, customers receive excellent products and comprehensive solutions. On a scale of 1-10, I rate Cisco IOS Security a 9.
CY
Systems Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Cloud-managed firewalls have simplified clinic networks and have empowered rapid remote deployment
If there was anything I can say I don't about it, I wish the automation was a little bit more friendly. If someone doesn't know too much about automations, I wish it had the ability within the platform to say, 'I want to run this automation within this network. Here's the new network that's coming on board. I'm utilizing the same firewalls, the same switches, same MVs. Here's the subnet that I'm going to use. Here are the IPs for the devices.' It should be able to give me that run book and configure it. That would be my main thing within the automation. I don't have much else to complain about. Everything is pretty straightforward. Back in the day, about five years ago, I tried to run 10 terabytes of data on an MX95 with a gig fiber coming in. The firewall was doing all the routing at the time and all the Layer 3. I did see some degraded performance trying to push that data through my MS350 10 gig switch. Once I moved the Layer 3 off the firewall and placed it on my core switch, I saw a better improvement. However, that was five years ago, and I'm not pushing that type of data out now. If the splash page was a little bit more appealing and more configurable, I think that would be nice.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise24
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco IOS Security?
The cost of Cisco IOS Security for customers is on the higher end of pricing compared to the competition, depending on the targeted customers.This can be a major issue as enterprise customers are o...
What needs improvement with Cisco IOS Security?
Regarding improvements in Cisco IOS Security, what consistently confuses me is the inability of Cisco to maintain a clear licensing policy.This is an issue that I have observed for years now. Cisco...
What is your primary use case for Cisco IOS Security?
The main use cases for Cisco IOS Security include elementary device hardening, access control, control-plane policing, AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting), network security, Layer 2...
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 Inspection, Granular Firewall rules (Block only, no allow setting), client vpn re...
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 network security and firewall options. We researched both Meraki and ASA. We liked t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Meraki MX?
I find the pricing for Cisco Meraki MX reasonable and competitive given the features provided and the target market. I believe it is acceptable.
 

Also Known As

IOS Security
MX64, MX64W, MX84, MX100, MX400, MX600
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Arup Group, Brunel University London, City of Biel, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, K&L Gates , New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Offshore Northern Seas, Transplace
Hyatt, ONS
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS Security vs. Cisco Meraki MX and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
921,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.