We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security and Fortinet FortiGate-VM 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.
"This solution has solid UTM features combined with a nice GUI."
"The web filtering facility and application control are the most valuable features from the point of view of our clients. The VPN feature is also quite popular amongst our clients. Two-factor authentication is one of the good features in Fortinet. These features are important for the current scenario of security. Security has become a necessity nowadays. With cyber-attacks becoming more common, protecting an organization's data is one of the major tasks. It is also very stable and scalable, and it is very straightforward to configure. Their technical support is also good."
"Whenever I need something, Fortinet improves and updates the software for me."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"Good load balancing feature."
"FortiGate firewalls are easy to manage through a user-friendly web interface. They also have advanced features like DDoS and DLP. However, I wouldn't recommend enabling all of these features on one device because it can cause performance issues."
"From the firewall perspective, the rules and policies are very sufficient and easy to use."
"The integration with Active Directory is one of the good features. Most of the customers are now looking for the Single Sign-on feature. So, being able to integrate Active Directory with the firewall is useful. It is also easy."
"The solution is stable."
"The solution is very user-friendly and easy to deal with."
"Cisco has always been a premium product. There's a lot of other entry-level solutions. This is more robust."
"Cisco IOS Security is a mature product with extensive capabilities, serving as the base for the defense layer. It offers good network visibility, which helps in rapid response through the Rapid Threat Containment feature. Its deployment and configuration are straightforward."
"The product's stability is good."
"It covers everything we need it to without looking to secondary solutions."
"The product has valuable features for business intelligence."
"Cisco IOS Security increases the overall security of our network, performs authentication, and provides level 15 access and privileges."
"In terms of specific features, I like FortiGate's load balancing, interface, and priority on the network."
"The most valuable features are network security, VLAN, network protection, and encryption are very valuable to us."
"The product is quite user-friendly so we didn't have a lot of issues that needed to be addressed."
"The combination of SD-WAN and VPN capabilities is the most valuable feature."
"The user interface, stability, and scalability are the most valuable features."
"The platform has a good user interface."
"We use it to ensure that our network is properly protected from viruses and malware."
"The product is easy to implement."
"Performance and technical support are the main issues with this solution."
"There are a lot of bugs I have found in the solution and it is difficult to upgrade. These areas need improvement."
"The updates Fortinet provides are sometimes unstable."
"The initial setup is complex."
"They have to just improve its performance when we enable all UTM features. When you enable all the features, the performance of FortiGate, as well as of Sophos and SonicWall, goes down."
"Some of the web policy reports could be improved."
"They need to improve their technical support."
"I would like to see more advanced developments of a wireless controller in the future."
"Cisco IOS Security could improve by having more compatibility with other Cisco solutions."
"Cisco is an expensive firewall, so the pricing can be improved."
"In the next release of this solution, we would like to see support for the 100BT and 7000 models."
"We have a very bad experience on the support. They take too much time requesting logs, and they are not coming directly online to resolve the issues."
"The graphical user interface or the GUI could be better. Beginners can use some devices with the GUI, but some security devices are configured using CLI. It would also be better if it had its own Intrusion Protection Service and Intrusion Detection Service on the server."
"An area for improvement in Cisco IOS Security is the performance because it's not as stable sometimes. There's also some latency in the solution, which could be improved. Cisco IOS Security integrates with other solutions, but you'll encounter many errors after integration, so this is another area for improvement. I'd like to see enhanced performance and a simplified setup in the next version of Cisco IOS Security."
"The configuration and reporting interfaces need a lot of improvement. It needs to be more accessible forsolide without a strong technical background. If you had a simplified dashboard, the lower-level techs could manage the solution and provide services. Cisco IOS Security requires someone who is highly trained to operate it."
"I think setup could be one area for improvement, because sometimes we don't have people inside so we have to move to the place."
"The product is satisfactory. I haven't identified any features to improve, and based on the number of deployments I've handled with FortiGate-VM, there haven't been any complaints from the customer's side."
"Sizing can be challenging for customers interested in using Fortinet FortiGate-VM."
"The price and licensing of the solution can be better."
"It is a very good product, and it is good at standing by itself. It can maybe have a little bit of integration with other products, but it is not that important for most use cases."
"Fortinet could improve the availability and delivery of its products. It takes four to six weeks for every purchase to arrive."
"They could simplify the troubleshooting process."
"The tool does not have a good name in the market, consisting of enterprise-class businesses, making it an area where the product lacks and needs to improve."
"Technical support could be better."
Cisco IOS Security is ranked 22nd in Firewalls with 47 reviews while Fortinet FortiGate-VM is ranked 9th in Firewalls with 113 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while Fortinet FortiGate-VM is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Cisco IOS Security writes "User-friendly and excels in documentation, making it easier to resolve issues". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Fortinet FortiGate-VM writes "An easy-to-manage and configure tool that provides ample documentation to help with the setup phase". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Meraki MX, Fortinet FortiOS, Netgate pfSense and OPNsense, whereas Fortinet FortiGate-VM is most compared with Azure Firewall, Palo Alto Networks VM-Series, Fortinet FortiOS, OPNsense and Netgate pfSense. See our Cisco IOS Security vs. Fortinet FortiGate-VM report.
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