Cisco IOS Security vs Hillstone E-Series comparison

Cisco and Hillstone Networks are both solutions in the Firewalls category. Cisco is ranked #20 with an average rating of 8.4, while Hillstone Networks is ranked #36 with an average rating of 8.0. Cisco holds a 0.3% mindshare in Firewalls, compared to Hillstone Networks’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Hillstone Networks users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Cisco IOS Security and Hillstone E-Series compete in the enterprise security solutions category. Hillstone E-Series appears to have the upper hand due to its advanced threat intelligence capabilities.

Features: Cisco IOS Security offers robust firewall protection, seamless integration with other Cisco products, and a multi-layered security environment. Hillstone E-Series provides advanced threat prevention, user-friendly configuration, and superior threat detection capabilities.

Room for Improvement:Cisco IOS Security requires better scalability, improved support for newer protocols, and enhanced reporting. Hillstone E-Series needs better reporting functionalities, comprehensive documentation, and more responsive customer service.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:Deployment of Cisco IOS Security is straightforward with strong customer service. Hillstone E-Series deployment is relatively seamless but could benefit from improved customer service response times.

Pricing and ROI:Cisco IOS Security is costly yet delivers good ROI. Hillstone E-Series balances cost and performance effectively, offering excellent value for the price, making it more competitive.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco IOS Security vs. Hillstone E-Series Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco IOS Security vs. Hillstone E-Series

June 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Firewalls category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.4%, up from 17.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco IOS Security is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hillstone E-Series is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Firewalls

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.

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Binoob John

Partner/Owner and Director of Human Resources at Up arrow Systems

Rrobust network security and device authentication with advanced access control features

This solution should be implemented for most enterprise-level customers. It ensures that users accessing the corporate network or wireless network with their own devices are authenticated and authorized. As a network administrator, I can track who is accessing the network, what devices they are…

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TahirMahmood

IT Manager at Zubair Feeds

Offers good features like URL filtering, IPS, and IDS to users

We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the firewall, where too much memory was consumed, and the firewall was hanging a lot. When we updated the tool's features, everything became okay. The tool only had some memory-related problems. It took the tool a month to fix the issues.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We are very happy with the general bandwidth agility we have seen from one website to another website."

"The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex."

"FortiGate is flexible and easy to use."

"The scalability is easy with switches and access points that are basically plug-and-play for the most part."

"The main benefit is the grouping of our security monitoring."

"What's most important is the ease of use."

"Their interface is very easy to use, it is without bugs."

"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The solution is stable."

"What I have used the most and received the most benefit from is the IPsec technology."

"Cisco is head-and-shoulders above all of the competition when it comes to technical support."

"The capabilities for scalability with this product are huge"

"The most valuable feature is the scalability. The nice thing with the bigger vendors is that they're very good at scale."

"I'm able to transfer data over internet network security. With the GRE I'm able to transfer data within one bunch to another bunch in a public way, like the internet. The communication is encrypted and is private. It gives me added privacy."

"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."

"One of the main features is that the hardware is extremely reliable."

More Cisco IOS Security pros

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"The most valuable features of the Hillstone E-Series are its hardware capacity, innovation, and the throughput that the hardware can take."

"The initial setup was straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy."

"Very reliable solution with good scalability and straightforward implementation."

"This solution has two main features that we find very valuable; a threat-intelligence option, and a web/application filtering option. The technical support team are very good and very quick."

"I am impressed with the application filtering feature."

"Five out of five ROI."

"The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness."

More Hillstone E-Series pros

Cons

"The command line is complicated, and the interface could be better."

"Technical support is good but the response time could be faster."

"The advanced models are expensive."

"They've become quite expensive."

"Compared to some other products, the DLP is not at par for the moment."

"The platform's compatibility with Wi-Fi equipment needs improvement."

"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."

"We had a minor problem where there was a major system upgrade on the hardware platfrom and the Mac client was not available as soon as it might have been. The PC client was available immediately, but we had to wait a month or so, before there was a mac client. I was slightly irritated that it was not ready on time, but it was eventually resolved."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"Sometimes I find it difficult to manage. Some configurations are difficult for new engineers, for example."

"With respect to user-friendliness, it is a command-line interface and those with such experience will get along just fine, whereas others may struggle."

"If they could increase the performance a little better because the device sometimes gets slow."

"It would be ideal if the solution had more capacity."

"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."

"Cisco is an expensive firewall, so the pricing can be improved."

"The solution is complex and can be more user-friendly."

"The pricing is the only con for this product."

More Cisco IOS Security cons

"The solution doesn't have a web proxy built into the system like Sophos. This is something they should work to change."

"The tool only had some memory-related problems."

"SSL VPN license cost is not cheap."

"Support from Hillstone E-Series has a shortcoming that needs improvement."

"Having frequent live webinars on a monthly basis would really help."

"The current usage reporting is very basic."

"The tool needs to improve its price."

"The tool provides just a general report. It does not provide a granular report. Hence, the tool should work on its reporting feature."

More Hillstone E-Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive. You need to pay for the subscription every year, which is very expensive. The subscription includes technical support and hardware exchange in case of failure."

"We have the full version of Fortinet FortiGate and we are on a three-year contract with a commitment of five years."

"Fortigate's pricing is competitive."

"Each feature costs money, so it is important to study your needs."

"There is no challenge in Fortinet FortiGate pricing."

"It is an inexpensive solution."

"It's a very full-featured and it's priced well solution."

"If you purchase a one-year subscription with the hardware and then you want to renew for the second year, it is very costly."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is okay. It is competitive. It costs more when you need get more features."

"We can purchase its licenses as per specific business requirements."

"I rate Cisco IOS Security's pricing a ten out of ten."

"The pricing is average and includes all features with support."

"The cost of the license, to the best of my knowledge, is approximately two thousand dollars."

"Price is certainly something that the IOS technology has fallen behind the competition on."

"The pricing is very expensive. Normally I do a yearly contract; I don't know the exact pricing, but it's around $75,000 USD per year. That's the standard licensing."

"The licenses for this solution are expensive."

More Cisco IOS Security pricing and cost advice

"The licensing model is very complex with many subcategories of licenses you can purchase. They could make it more simplified for customers to understand."

"Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low."

"The tool's pricing is reasonable. It depends on the model. The product's pricing is around 600 USD. You need to buy a software license to activate the features. You need to pay around 150 USD for that."

"The cost per year for licensing, and hardware, is approximately $850 for the basic plan."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

15%

Computer Software Company

15%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

28%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cisco IOS Security?

Cisco IOS Security is a mature product with extensive capabilities, serving as the base for the defense layer. It off...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco IOS Security?

Pricing can be reduced. I rate the current price for the product a four out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco IOS Security?

While I do not have specific recommendations for improvement, pricing can be reduced.

See all answers

What do you like most about Hillstone E-Series?

The most valuable feature of the Hillstone E-Series is its user-friendliness.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hillstone E-Series?

Hillstone's pricing is economical and neither very high nor very low.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Hillstone E-Series?

We received an update for the tool in July. The update was provided for the tool as there was a problem with the fire...

See all answers

Comparisons

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 21% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 11% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 26% of the time

OPNsense vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 16% of the time

Meraki MX vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 11% of the time

Fortinet FortiOS vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 11% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Cisco IOS Security

Compared 8% of the time

More Cisco IOS Security Competitors

Hillstone A-Series vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 14% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 8% of the time

Sophos XG vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 8% of the time

OpenVPN Access Server vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 7% of the time

Sangfor SSL VPN vs Hillstone E-Series

Compared 6% of the time

More Hillstone E-Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

June 2025

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco IOS Security

June 2025

Download Cisco IOS Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Firewalls

May 2025

Download Hillstone E-Series product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

IOS Security

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

Cisco IOS Software delivers a sophisticated set of security capabilities for a comprehensive, layered security approach throughout your network infrastructure. Cisco IOS security technologies help to defend critical business processes against attack and disruption, protect privacy, and support policy and regulatory compliance controls.

Cisco

Hillstone E-Series is a comprehensive network security solution designed to protect organizations from advanced threats. It offers a range of features including a firewall, intrusion prevention system (IPS), virtual private network (VPN), and application control.

With its advanced threat intelligence capabilities, E-Series can detect and prevent sophisticated attacks, ensuring the security of critical data and systems. It also provides granular control over applications, allowing organizations to enforce policies and optimize network performance.

E-Series is easy to deploy and manage, with a user-friendly interface and centralized management console. It offers high-performance throughput and scalability, making it suitable for small businesses to large enterprises. With its robust security features and ease of use, Hillstone E-Series is an ideal choice for organizations looking to enhance their network security posture.

Hillstone Networks

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

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

Bank of China Macao, Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano, Ministry of Labor in San Salvador, FEDCO

Buyer's Guide

Cisco IOS Security vs. Hillstone E-Series

June 2025

Free Report: Cisco IOS Security vs. Hillstone E-Series

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco IOS Security vs. Hillstone E-Series and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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