We performed a comparison between Cisco IOS Security 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 we raise a complaint with FortiGate, their response and resolution times are minimal."
"The stability and scalability of this solution are satisfactory. Its SD-WAN, VPN, and URL filtering features are very useful."
"Fortinet FortiGate's ease of management is the most valuable feature."
"It works very well. It has a lot of different functionalities. Its cost is also fine for our customers."
"It is a good source for firewall protection."
"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 most valuable feature is the web filter."
"Some of the valuable features are the firewall, IPS, web filter, and gateway capabilities. Additionally, it is easy to use and flexible."
"The hardware is pretty stable. It's also a very good product performance-wise. Initially, it wasn't mature like a firewall and there were other leaders, but now they have included almost all the features of next-generation security. Basically, it's a good product to work with."
"The stability of this solution is excellent."
"Technical support for this solution is very good."
"The technical support is good."
"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."
"The product has valuable features for business intelligence."
"The VPN connection portal scan works flawlessly, which was a big plus for us."
"Cisco IOS Security increases the overall security of our network, performs authentication, and provides level 15 access and privileges."
"The solution is good for load balancing."
"When you try to create an IP or when you have an alert about when a website is banned, these features are helpful."
"Dual WAN connections are greatly simplified and point-to-point VPNs automatically connect regardless of what WAN connection is active."
"I like the automatic firmware updates. We use the Active Directory to authenticate VPN users."
"The solution is easy to set up."
"Deployment takes no more than one working day."
"Meraki MX offers advanced filtration options, plus it behaves like a router and a firewall at the same time."
"It prevents us from being hacked and delivers information about who and where the attack came from."
"The stability could be a bit better."
"Quality control on their firmware versions needs improvement. When they introduce new firmware, there tend to be bugs."
"Fortinet FortiGate can improve by integrating the web application firewall and the DDoS protection part of the solution. Having a WAF feature, web application firewall, and proxy together would be a good benefit."
"There are some cloud-based features that could be much more flexible than they currently are."
"As far as wanting more scalability or things in the network diagram, it's going to cost you."
"Sometimes you do need to know some CLI commands, so it's a bit harder for technicians or new people that don't know it."
"The ease of use could be improved."
"I would like to see improvements with the antivirus and IPS as they are not working properly all the time."
"I think they should bring back remote VPN for users."
"We cannot directly upgrade the system. The tool's deployment is also very difficult in legacy environments. The tool needs to have bigger ports as well."
"The routers, don't have like long-term tendency features, or higher availability features available for the IOS. It could also use a better user interface."
"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."
"Sometimes I find it difficult to manage. Some configurations are difficult for new engineers, for example."
"There could be a bit more functions on offer that could make it easier to use."
"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."
"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."
"We have been having a problem with the VPN. When the energy goes down and is back again, the VPN link doesn't get established. We have to manually turn off the modems and other pieces of equipment and manually establish the VPN. It has been around one month since we have been having this problem, and we don't have enough support from Meraki to solve the problem."
"The only stability issue is in Content Filtering. Sometimes we need to report these types of issues to Cisco support."
"FortiGate is cheaper than Meraki. Even the license renewal is less than Meraki."
"The current lead time is longer for Meraki MX, and it needs to be improved."
"Right now, you can postpone the update but eventually, if you don't do the update, it will install the updates automatically for you and that's something that is not working for me."
"I do not have the kind of feature I need for SSL decryption in Meraki MX. It would be great to see the SSL decryption feature in Meraki MX."
"The product doesn't support route summarization and BGP dynamic routing protocol."
"In the next release, because the security is pretty basic, I think they could include additional security features."
Cisco IOS Security is ranked 23rd in Firewalls with 21 reviews while Meraki MX is ranked 2nd in Unified Threat Management (UTM) with 22 reviews. Cisco IOS Security is rated 8.0, while Meraki MX is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cisco IOS Security writes "It's a reliable solution that will be around for a long time, but the configuration and reporting interfaces need improvement". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Meraki MX writes "Great solution that can manage multiple devices (security, switches, APs, Cameras) with a single pane of glass". Cisco IOS Security is most compared with Cisco Secure Firewall, Fortinet FortiOS, Netgate pfSense, OPNsense and Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, whereas Meraki MX is most compared with Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls, Cisco Secure Firewall, Sophos XG, Netgate pfSense and SonicWall TZ. See our Cisco IOS Security vs. Meraki MX report.
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